Butler County
County
Butler County Courthouse in El Dorado (2011)
Location within the U.S. state of Kansas
Kansas's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 37°47′N 96°50′W / 37.783°N 96.833°W / 37.783; -96.833
Country	United States
State	Kansas
Founded	August 25, 1855
Named for	Andrew Pickens Butler
Seat	El Dorado
Largest city	Andover
Area
• Total	1,447 sq mi (3,750 km2)
• Land	1,430 sq mi (3,700 km2)
• Water	17 sq mi (40 km2)  1.2%
Population  (2020)[1]
• Total	67,380
• Estimate  (2021)[2]	67,889
• Density	47.1/sq mi (18.2/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Area code	316
Congressional district	4th
Website	bucoks.com

Butler County is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas and is the largest county in the state by total area.^[3] Its county seat is El Dorado and its most populous city is Andover.^[4] As of the 2020 census, the county population was 67,380.^[1] The county was named for Andrew Butler, a U.S. Senator from South Carolina who coauthored the Kansas–Nebraska Act.

History

Early history

For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. From the 16th century to 18th century, the Kingdom of France claimed ownership of large parts of North America. In 1762, after the French and Indian War, France secretly ceded New France to Spain, per the Treaty of Fontainebleau. In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France, but keeping title to about 7,500 square miles.

In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre. In 1848, after the Mexican–American War, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo with Spain brought into the United States all or part of land for ten future states, including southwest Kansas. In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state.

19th century

In 1855, Butler County was founded. It was named in honor of a U.S. Senator from South Carolina, Andrew Butler (1796-1857), who was one of the authors of the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 and a strong advocate of Kansas becoming a slave state.^[5]

In 1877, the Florence, El Dorado, and Walnut Valley Railroad Company built a branch line from Florence to El Dorado, in 1881 it was extended to Douglass, and later to Arkansas City.^[6] The line was leased and operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The line from Florence to El Dorado was abandoned in 1942.^[7] The original branch line connected Florence, Burns, De Graff, El Dorado, Augusta, Douglass, Rock, Akron, Winfield, Arkansas City.

In 1887, the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway built a branch line north–south from Herington to Caldwell.^[8] This branch line connected Herington, Lost Springs, Lincolnville, Antelope, Marion, Aulne, Peabody, Elbing, Whitewater, Furley, Kechi, Wichita, Peck, Corbin, Wellington, Caldwell. By 1893, this branch line was incrementally built to Fort Worth, Texas. This line is called the "OKT". The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway was foreclosed in 1891 and was taken over by Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway, which shut down in 1980 and reorganized as Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Railroad, merged in 1988 with Missouri Pacific Railroad, and finally merged in 1997 with Union Pacific Railroad. Most locals still refer to this railroad as the "Rock Island".

21st century

In 2010, the Keystone-Cushing Pipeline (Phase II) was constructed north to south through Butler County (near Potwin, Towanda, Augusta, Douglass), with much controversy over tax exemption and environmental concerns (if a leak ever occurs).^[9][10] A pumping station named Burns was built 2 miles north of Potwin, and new power lines were built from a high-voltage line 0.3 mile east of De Graff.^[11]

In an unusual technical glitch, a farmstead about 4 miles northeast of Potwin became the default site of 600 million IP addresses (due to their lack of fine granularity) when the Massachusetts-based digital mapping company MaxMind changed the putative geographic center of the contiguous United States from 39.8333333,-98.585522 to 38.0000,-97.0000.^[12][13]

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has an area of 1,447 square miles (3,750 km²), of which 1,430 square miles (3,700 km²) is land and 17 square miles (44 km²) (1.2%) is water.^[14] It is the largest county by area in Kansas.

Adjacent counties

Major highways

Sources: National Atlas,^[15] U.S. Census Bureau^[16]

• Interstate 35
• U.S. Route 54
• U.S. Route 77
• Kansas Highway 96
• Kansas Highway 177
• Kansas Highway 196
• Kansas Highway 254

Demographics

Butler County is part of the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, 59,482 people, 21,527 households, and 16,059 families resided in the county. The population density was 42 inhabitants per square mile (16/km²). There were 23,176 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile (6.2/km²). The county's racial makeup was 94.94% White, 1.38% Black or African American, 0.91% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.66% from other races, and 1.69% two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.25% of the population.

There were 21,527 households, of which 37.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.60% were married couples living together, 8.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.40% were non-families. 21.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.67 and the average family size was 3.13.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 28.60% under the age of 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 28.80% from 25 to 44, 21.70% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.80 males.

The county's median household income was $45,474, and the median family income was $53,632. Males had a median income of $38,675 versus $26,109 for females. The county's per capita income was $20,150. About 5.40% of families and 7.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.00% of those under age 18 and 6.40% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Presidential elections