Ellis County
County
Ellis County Courthouse in Hays (1979)
Ellis County Courthouse in Hays (1979)
Map of Kansas highlighting Ellis County
Location within the U.S. state of Kansas
Map of the United States highlighting Kansas
Kansas's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 38°55′N 99°19′W / 38.917°N 99.317°W / 38.917; -99.317
Country United States
State Kansas
Founded1867
Named forGeorge Ellis
SeatHays
Largest cityHays
Area
 • Total900 sq mi (2,000 km2)
 • Land899 sq mi (2,330 km2)
 • Water0.5 sq mi (1 km2)  0.05%
Population
 (2020)[1]
 • Total28,934
 • Density32.2/sq mi (12.4/km2)
Time zoneUTC−6 (Central)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−5 (CDT)
Area code785
Congressional district1st
Websiteellisco.net

Ellis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Hays.[2] As of the 2020 census, the county population was 28,934.[1] The county was named for George Ellis, a first lieutenant of the Twelfth Kansas Infantry. Ellis County is the official German Capital of Kansas. German immigrants settled in Hays, Ellis, Victoria, and nearby villages in the 1870s and 1880s.[3]

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.

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. Ellis County was founded on February 26, 1867.[4][5] It is named for George Ellis, first lieutenant of the Twelfth Kansas Infantry.[6]

20th century

In 1942, the Walker Army Airfield was built northwest of Walker. Thousands were stationed at the airfield for training of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress during World War II. The airfield was abandoned and most of it razed.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 900 square miles (2,300 km2), of which 900 square miles (2,300 km2) is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2) (0.05%) is water.[7]

Adjacent counties

Major highways

Airport

Hays Regional Airport is located within the county. Used primarily for general aviation, it hosts one commercial airline United Express, which offers daily jet service to Denver, Colorado.

Demographics

Population pyramid based on 2000 census age data
Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18701,336—
18806,179362.5%
18907,94228.5%
19008,6268.6%
191012,17041.1%
192014,13816.2%
193015,90712.5%
194017,50810.1%
195019,0438.8%
196021,27011.7%
197024,73016.3%
198026,0985.5%
199026,004−0.4%
200027,5075.8%
201028,4523.4%
202028,9341.7%
U.S. Decennial Census[8]
1790-1960[9] 1900-1990[10]
1990-2000[11] 2010-2020[1]

The Hays Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Ellis County.

As of the 2000,[12] there were 27,507 people, 11,193 households, and 6,771 families residing in the county. The population density was 31 people per square mile (12 people/km2). There were 12,078 housing units at an average density of 13 per square mile (5.0/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 96.10% White, 0.67% Black or African American, 0.21% Native American, 0.82% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 1.31% from other races, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.37% of the population.

There were 11,193 households, out of which 28.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.00% were married couples living together, 7.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.50% were non-families. 30.10% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.96.

In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.40% under the age of 18, 18.40% from 18 to 24, 25.20% from 25 to 44, 19.60% from 45 to 64, and 14.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 95.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.60 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $32,339, and the median income for a family was $44,498. Males had a median income of $29,885 versus $21,269 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,259. About 6.50% of families and 12.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.20% of those under age 18 and 10.00% of those age 65 or over.

Government

Presidential elections

Presidential election results
United States presidential election results for Ellis County, Kansas[13]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No. %No. %No. %
2020 9,758 70.42% 3,737 26.97% 361 2.61%
2016 8,466 70.19% 2,742 22.73% 854 7.08%
2012 8,399 71.70% 3,057 26.10% 258 2.20%
2008 8,207 65.94% 4,010 32.22% 230 1.85%
2004 7,891 64.75% 4,033 33.09% 263 2.16%
2000 6,516 58.39% 3,926 35.18% 718 6.43%
1996 6,809 56.97% 4,142 34.66% 1,001 8.38%
1992 3,985 32.00% 4,544 36.49% 3,924 31.51%
1988 5,194 48.67% 5,289 49.56% 189 1.77%
1984 7,509 67.65% 3,457 31.15% 133 1.20%
1980 5,634 52.54% 3,940 36.74% 1,150 10.72%
1976 4,719 41.98% 6,280 55.87% 241 2.14%
1972 5,463 55.67% 4,113 41.91% 237 2.42%
1968 3,944 46.72% 3,809 45.12% 688 8.15%
1964 2,440 30.42% 5,553 69.24% 27 0.34%
1960 3,156 35.16% 5,815 64.78% 6 0.07%
1956 4,466 59.33% 3,058 40.62% 4 0.05%
1952 4,882 65.86% 2,528 34.10% 3 0.04%
1948 2,676 40.51% 3,863 58.48% 67 1.01%
1944 3,369 60.13% 2,218 39.59% 16 0.29%
1940 3,622 52.15% 3,299 47.49% 25 0.36%
1936 1,622 25.07% 4,834 74.73% 13 0.20%
1932 1,465 24.54% 4,449 74.52% 56 0.94%
1928 1,700 33.50% 3,364 66.29% 11 0.22%
1924 1,763 46.37% 842 22.15% 1,197 31.48%
1920 2,385 75.17% 740 23.32% 48 1.51%
1916 1,186 32.87% 2,335 64.72% 87 2.41%
1912 175 8.22% 1,381 64.87% 573 26.91%
1908 768 34.50% 1,421 63.84% 37 1.66%
1904 1,009 51.06% 928 46.96% 39 1.97%
1900 627 33.55% 1,228 65.70% 14 0.75%
1896 460 30.01% 1,051 68.56% 22 1.44%
1892 546 33.52% 0 0.00% 1,083 66.48%
1888 690 44.43% 756 48.68% 107 6.89%

Ellis County is an anomaly in western Kansas, having voted several times for Democratic presidential candidates, even when the vast majority of the state's 105 counties went for the Republican nominee. This is due to the county's distinctive (in Kansas) German Catholic heritage, contrasting with the Southern “Bible Belt” or Yankee heritage of most rural Kansas counties. It was the solitary county in Kansas to support Catholic Al Smith over Herbert Hoover in 1928, when Kansas was Hoover's strongest state nationwide, and also was won by John F. Kennedy in 1960 by almost thirty percent as one of only two Kansas counties to back the Massachusetts Senator. Ellis County bucked the national and statewide trend by voting for Michael Dukakis over winner George H. W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election, one of only three Kansas counties to go for Dukakis. Ellis County gave a plurality to Bill Clinton over Bush and Ross Perot in the 1992 presidential election, but has been solidly in the Republican column since, giving 66 percent to Republican John McCain to 32 percent for Democrat Barack Obama in the 2008 election, higher than the 57 percent McCain won statewide.[14]

Laws

Wild Bill Hickok served as sheriff in 1870. Ellis 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% food sales requirement. The food sales requirement was removed with voter approval in 1988.[15]

Education

Unified school districts

Private schools

Universities and Colleges

Communities

2005 Kansas Department of Transportation Map of Ellis County (map legend)

† means a community is designated a Census-Designated Place (CDP) by the United States Census Bureau.

Cities

Unincorporated communities

Ghost towns

Townships

Ellis County is divided into nine townships. The cities of Ellis and Hays 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.

TownshipFIPSPopulation
center		 PopulationPopulation
density
/km2 (/sq mi)		 Land area
km2 (sq mi)		Water area
km2 (sq mi)		Water % Geographic coordinates
Big Creek066501,7987 (18)252 (97)0 (0)0.01%38°52′40″N 99°20′39″W / 38.87778°N 99.34417°W / 38.87778; -99.34417
Buckeye089502851 (2)352 (136)0 (0)0.06%39°1′24″N 99°18′25″W / 39.02333°N 99.30694°W / 39.02333; -99.30694
Catherine110503182 (4)208 (80)0 (0)0.03%39°0′32″N 99°11′44″W / 39.00889°N 99.19556°W / 39.00889; -99.19556
Ellis204753861 (2)457 (176)0 (0)0.02%38°58′47″N 99°30′57″W / 38.97972°N 99.51583°W / 38.97972; -99.51583
Freedom246251251 (3)117 (45)0 (0)0%38°43′48″N 99°7′36″W / 38.73000°N 99.12667°W / 38.73000; -99.12667
Herzog315258943 (7)325 (126)1 (0)0.18%38°55′29″N 99°7′19″W / 38.92472°N 99.12194°W / 38.92472; -99.12194
Lookout427005692 (5)317 (122)0 (0)0.10%38°45′43″N 99°25′12″W / 38.76194°N 99.42000°W / 38.76194; -99.42000
Victoria738008456 (16)139 (54)0 (0)0%38°49′56″N 99°8′31″W / 38.83222°N 99.14194°W / 38.83222; -99.14194
Wheatland776504013 (7)140 (54)0 (0)0%38°46′45″N 99°16′19″W / 38.77917°N 99.27194°W / 38.77917; -99.27194
Sources: "Census 2000 U.S. Gazetteer Files". U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division. Archived from the original on August 2, 2002.

See also

Community information for Kansas

References

  1. 1 2 3 "QuickFacts; Ellis County, Kansas; Population, Census, 2020 & 2010". United States Census Bureau. Archived from the original on August 16, 2021. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Tidbits: Did You Know...". Publishing Group of America (americanprofiles.com). p. 13.
  4. ↑ Blackmar, Frank Wilson (1912). Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. Standard Publishing Company. pp. 578.
  5. ↑ "Ellis County, Kansas". Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  6. ↑ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 117.
  7. ↑ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  8. ↑ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved July 24, 2014.
  12. ↑ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
  13. ↑ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections".
  14. ↑ 2008 Presidential General Election Results - Kansas
  15. ↑ "Map of Wet and Dry Counties". Alcoholic Beverage Control, Kansas Department of Revenue. November 2006. Archived from the original on October 8, 2007. Retrieved December 28, 2007.

Further reading

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