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Coordinates: 37°12′N 98°05′W / 37.2, -98.083

Harper County, Kansas
Map of Kansas highlighting Harper County
Location in the state of Kansas
Map of the U.S
Kansas's location in the U.S.
Founded February 26, 1867
Named for Sergeant Marion Harper
Seat Anthony
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

802.95 sq mi (2,080 km²)
801.44 sq mi (2,076 km²)
1.51 sq mi (4 km²), 0.19%
Population
 - (2010)
 - Density

6,034
7.4/sq mi (2.9/km²)
Time zone Central: UTC-6/-5
Website HarperCountyKS.gov

Harper County (county code HP) is a county located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 6,034.[1] Its county seat and most populous city is Anthony.[2] Harper County was named for Sergeant Marion Harper of the 2nd Kansas Cavalry, who died of wounds suffered near Waldron, Arkansas, in December 1863.[3]

History[]

19th century[]

The original organization of Harper County was one of the largest frauds in county government. In 1873, a group of three men organized Harper County, designating the then fictitious city of "Bluff City" as the county seat. The petition for organization used several names out of a Cincinnati telephone directory to represent as residents of Harper County. In 1874, the state attorney general investigated, and found not a single resident of the county. The "founders" of the county had sold $40,000 worth of bonds.[4]

Harper County was settled starting in 1877, and the county was organized for a second time in 1878. Since Bluff City could not be shown to have existed, Anthony was designated as the temporary county seat. In an election in 1879, Anthony won as county seat even though 2,960 votes were cast in a county with 800 legal voters.[4]

20th century[]

21st century[]

Due to new and high-paying jobs at area oil fields and wind farms, Harper County experienced an economic boom; as of 2012, rental housing and office space in towns such as Danville, Harper, and Anthony has more than quadrupled in price, in properties ranging from double-wide trailers to a Carnegie library.[5]

Law and government[]

Following amendment to the Kansas Constitution in 1986, Harper County remained a prohibition, or "dry", county until 2006, when voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30% food sales requirement.[6]

Geography[]

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 802.95 square miles (2,079.6 km2), of which 801.44 square miles (2,075.7 km2) (or 99.81%) is land and 1.51 square miles (3.9 km2) (or 0.19%) is water.[7]

Adjacent counties[]

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1880 4,133
1890 13,266 221.0%
1900 10,310 −22.3%
1910 14,748 43.0%
1920 13,656 −7.4%
1930 12,823 −6.1%
1940 12,068 −5.9%
1950 10,263 −15.0%
1960 9,541 −7.0%
1970 7,871 −17.5%
1980 7,778 −1.2%
1990 7,124 −8.4%
2000 6,536 −8.3%
2010 6,034 −7.7%
U.S. Decennial Census
USA Harper County, Kansas age pyramid

Population pyramid

As of the U.S. Census in 2000,[8] there were 6,536 people, 2,773 households, and 1,807 families residing in the county. The population density was 8 people per square mile (3/km²). There were 3,270 housing units at an average density of 4 per square mile (2/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 97.23% White, 0.83% Native American, 0.23% Black or African American, 0.14% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.38% from other races, and 1.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.07% of the population.

There were 2,773 households out of which 27.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.30% were married couples living together, 6.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.80% were non-families. 32.10% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.90.

In the county the population was spread out with 24.70% under the age of 18, 6.60% from 18 to 24, 22.00% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 23.20% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 93.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $29,776, and the median income for a family was $39,866. Males had a median income of $27,869 versus $20,000 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,368. About 8.50% of families and 11.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.70% of those under age 18 and 7.70% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns[]

Name and population of incorporated cities (2004 estimate):

  • Anthony, 2,307 (county seat)
  • Harper, 1,511
  • Attica, 616
  • Bluff City, 78
  • Danville, 58
  • Waldron, 17
  • Freeport, 6

Townships[]

Map highlighting Township Number 1, Harper County, Kansas

The townships of Harper County (Townships are numbers in counter-clockwise order, with Township 1 highlighted in red).

Harper County is divided into six townships. The cities of Anthony and Harper 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 (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.

Township FIPS Population
center
Population Population
density
/km² (/sq mi)
Land area
km² (sq mi)
Water area
km² (sq mi)
Water % Geographic coordinates
Township 1 71201 1,000 2 (6) 468 (181) 1 (0) 0.12% 37°15′23″N 98°14′0″W / 37.25639, -98.233333
Township 2 71205 144 0 (1) 363 (140) 1 (0) 0.23% 37°4′23″N 98°14′22″W / 37.07306, -98.23944
Township 3 71209 394 1 (3) 383 (148) 2 (1) 0.44% 37°7′58″N 98°2′7″W / 37.13278, -98.03528
Township 4 71213 232 1 (2) 297 (115) 0 (0) 0.06% 37°7′2″N 97°51′45″W / 37.11722, -97.8625
Township 5 71217 463 2 (4) 277 (107) 0 (0) 0.16% 37°15′47″N 97°56′23″W / 37.26306, -97.93972
Township 6 71221 296 1 (3) 280 (108) 0 (0) 0.06% 37°20′26″N 97°58′17″W / 37.34056, -97.97139
Sources: "Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files". U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division. http://www.census.gov/geo/www/gazetteer/places2k.html. 

Education[]

Map of Harper Co, Ks, USA

2005 KDOT Map of Harper County (map legend)

Unified school districts[]

See also[]

Information on this and other counties in Kansas

Other information for Kansas

References[]

  1. ^ "2010 County Population and Housing Occupancy Status". U.S. Census Bureau. http://factfinder2.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_PL_GCTPL2.ST05&prodType=table. Retrieved 2011-03-31. 
  2. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx. Retrieved 2011-06-07. 
  3. ^ Kansas Place-Names, John Rydjord, University of Oklahoma Press, 1972, ISBN 0-8061-0994-7
  4. ^ a b Cutler, William G. (1883). History of the State of Kansas. A.T. Andreas. http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/harper/harper-co-p1.html.  Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "cutler" defined multiple times with different content
  5. ^ Blake Ellis (June 1, 2012). "Where trailer homes rent for $2,000 a month". CNN Money. CNN.com. http://money.cnn.com/2012/06/01/pf/kansas-housing-america-boomtown/. Retrieved 2012-06-02. 
  6. ^ "Map of Wet and Dry Counties". Alcoholic Beverage Control, Kansas Department of Revenue. November 2006. http://www.ksrevenue.org/abcwetdrymap.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-26. 
  7. ^ "Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files: Counties". United States Census. http://www.census.gov/tiger/tms/gazetteer/county2k.txt. Retrieved 2011-02-13. 
  8. ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31. 

Further reading[]

External links[]

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This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Harper County, Kansas. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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