Sedgwick County, Kansas


Sedgwick County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. The county seat is Wichita, the most populous city in the state. As of the 2010 census, the population was 498,365 with a 2019 estimate of 516,042 making it the second most populous county in Kansas.

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.
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

Sedgwick County was founded in 1867, and named after John Sedgwick, who was a Major General in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
In 1887, the Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway built a branch line north-south from Herington to Caldwell. 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".

20th century

Sedgwick County was the setting for the murders committed by the BTK strangler from 1974 until 1991. Dennis Rader, an employee of the Sedgwick County city of Park City was arrested in early 2005 after he began sending incriminating letters taunting the police in 2004. He had not been heard from since 1979. Ken Landwehr of the Wichita Police Department led the task force which captured Rader, setting a new standard of serial crime detection in the process, which is still studied by police departments across the world. Rader is serving 10 life sentences at the El Dorado Correctional Facility in El Dorado.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.

Adjacent counties

Sedgwick County is part of the Wichita, KS Metropolitan Statistical Area.
As of the census of 2000, there were 452,869 people, 176,444 households, and 117,688 families residing in the county. The population density was 453 people per square mile. There were 191,133 housing units at an average density of 191 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 79.38% White, 9.13% Black or African American, 1.11% Native American, 3.34% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 4.17% from other races, and 2.81% from two or more races. 8.04% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 176,444 households out of which 34.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.70% were married couples living together, 10.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.30% were non-families. 28.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.14.
In the county, the population was spread out with 28.20% under the age of 18, 9.50% from 18 to 24, 30.30% from 25 to 44, 20.60% from 45 to 64, and 11.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.20 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $42,485, and the median income for a family was $51,645. Males had a median income of $37,770 versus $26,153 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,907. About 7.00% of families and 9.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.90% of those under age 18 and 7.00% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

It is the birthplace of famous restaurants such as White Castle and Pizza Hut. It is also the aviation headquarters of well known Cessna and Learjet.

Government

Presidential elections

Sedgwick County is fairly conservative for an urban county. It has only gone Democratic in a presidential election once since 1944. Democratic strength is concentrated in Wichita, while the suburban areas are strongly Republican.

Laws

Sedgwick County was a prohibition, or "dry", county until the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 and voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30 percent food sales requirement. The food sales requirement was removed with voter approval in 1988.

Transportation

Airports

The following public-use airports are located in Sedgwick County:
The following are closed airports:

Unified school districts

Cities

Sedgwick County is divided into twenty-seven townships. The cities of Bel Aire and Wichita are considered governmentally independent and are excluded from the census figures for the townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size. The county use to have one more township, Wichita Township, but it no longer exists.
TownshipFIPSPopulation
center		PopulationPopulation
density
/km² 		Land area
km² 		Water area
km² 		Water %Geographic coordinates
Afton004251,29014 91 2 1.73%
Attica03125Goddard4,95962 80 0 0.23%
Delano1737519625 8 1 13.81%
Eagle19250Bentley1,06912 92 1 1.44%
Erie215501061 94 0 0.03%
Garden Plain25400Garden Plain1,78019 92 0 0.15%
Grand River273006077 91 2 2.20%
Grant28125Valley Center 3,71040 93 0 0.47%
Greeley28400Mount Hope1,09412 93 1 1.43%
Gypsum293005,82264 92 0 0.51%
Illinois337751,62018 93 0 0.12%
Kechi36250Park City8,041143 56 0 0.23%
Lincoln411504735 91 0 0.12%
Minneha47125Eastborough5,084117 43 1 1.49%
Morton48550Cheney2,38026 91 1 1.14%
Ninnescah50725Clearwater2,91331 93 0 0.47%
Ohio524501,14612 94 0 0.14%
Park54425Maize4,12851 82 2 2.04%
Payne550751,11914 80 0 0.21%
Riverside60125Haysville
Derby
Oaklawn-Sunview CDP		15,694333 47 1 1.98%
Rockford60675Derby 20,019198 101 1 0.99%
Salem62675Haysville 8,411102 83 1 0.95%
Sherman65100Andale1,36214 96 0 0.22%
Union72375Colwich2,15623 93 0 0.23%
Valley Center73275Valley Center 3,64239 94 0 0.16%
Viola74050Viola5476 93 1 0.98%
Waco743003,38145 75 0 0.12%