Relocating to Kansas, looking for a new home, Olathe Kansas offers a community with lots of benefits.

Olathe Kansas is the county seat for Johnson County and the downtown area is the location of the Johnson County Courthouse, Olathe City Hall, the Johnson County Administrative building and a bundle of other law offices, title companies, one of the libraries in Olathe and a few other businesses.

Johnson County was organized in 1855 and was named for Rev. Thomas Johnson, who in 1829 established a mission among the Shawnee Indians about eight miles southwest of Kansas City.  Rev. Johnson took the Pro-Slavery side of politics, and was the President of the first Territorial Council.  He was shot and killed, in January 1865.

Information on the evolution of Olathe Kansas can be found at this link from the Olathe Historical Society.  The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the Kansas Territory, from there you can learn of the early months beginning in 1857 when a survey of the Shawnee lands was followed closely by land speculators.  Dr. John T. Barton, a physician assigned to the Shawnee tribal headquarters, and his associates chose the geographic center of the county, crossed by Mill Creek and the Santa Fe Trail, to claim for their town.  Two of the most famous trails met here in Olathe, the Santa Fe Trail and Oregon Trail.

Olathe, a Shawnee word understood to mean "beautiful," was incorporated in 1857 and Dr. Barton was elected to head the first Board of Trustees in 1859. Olathe then legally became the county seat in October of 1859.

One of the first families to settle in Olathe was the Mahaffie family.  Because of this, the Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop & Farm Historic Site is the last remaining stagecoach stop on the historic Santa Fe Trail still open to the public.

Today, the downtown area is supported by a new City Hall, Jail house and County Administrative Building.  The city square is also the location of the Old Settlers Day held in the first week of September. 

More on Olathe Kansas and the Community of Trees later...

David L. Britt, MBA
Olathe, Kansas
David L. Britt Real Estate
Heritage Real Estate
The Heritage Real Estate Team
Olathe Neighbors 

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