Early history

For millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans. Numerous tribes lived on the Great Plains including the: Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Sioux, Ute, Otoe, Kansa, Kiowa, Osage, Omaha, Ponca, Pawnee, and Wichita. These tribes were sustained by a seemingly inexhaustible supply of buffalo that then numbered in the tens of millions.

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.

19th century

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 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1857, Washington County was established. The Oregon-California Trail, the Overland Stage Line, and the Pony Express all ran through Washington County. The Hollenberg Way Station opened in 1857 and operated until 1872 in the northeast corner of the county.^[3][4]

21st century

In 2010, the Keystone-Cushing Pipeline (Phase II) was constructed north to south through Washington County, with much concern over tax exemption and environmental issues when a leak occurs.^[5][6] The pipeline was shutdown on December 7, 2022, after a leak was detected near the community of Washington.^[7] It reopened on December 29, 2022.^[8]

Adjacent counties

Presidential elections

Washington County is overwhelmingly Republican. No Democratic presidential candidate has won Washington County since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, and Roosevelt remains the solitary Democrat to ever win a majority in the county. Since 1940 only Lyndon Johnson in 1964 has reached forty percent of Washington County's vote for the Democratic Party.

Laws

Washington 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.^[17]

Cities

Unincorporated communities

• Lanham‡

Ghost towns

• Strawberry

Townships

Washington County is divided into twenty-five townships. The city of Washington is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.