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History
This was part of the large territory of the Osage people, who occupied lands up to present-day Saint Louis, Missouri. After Indian Removal, the United States government reserved much of this area as Indian territory for a reservation for the Shawnee people, who were relocated from east of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwest.
The Santa Fe Trail and Oregon-California Trail, which pass through nearby Independence, Missouri, also passed through the county. Johnson County was established in 1855 as one of the first counties in the newly organized Kansas Territory; it was named for American missionary Thomas Johnson. The renowned gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok settled for a time in the county, becoming constable of Monticello Township in 1858.
Johnson County was the site of many battles between abolitionists and pro-slavery advocates during the period of Bleeding Kansas, prior to the residents voting on whether slavery would be allowed in the territory. In 1862 during the American Civil War, Confederate guerrillas from nearby Missouri, led by William Quantrill, raided the Johnson County communities of Olathe and Spring Hill. They killed half a dozen men and destroyed numerous homes and businesses.
The county was largely rural until the early 20th century, when housing subdivisions were developed in the northeastern portion of the county adjacent to Kansas City, Missouri. Developer J.C. Nichols spurred the boom in 1914 when he built the Mission Hills Country Club to lure upscale residents who previously had been reluctant to move from Missouri to Kansas. Suburban development continued at a steady pace until the close of World War II.
Following the war, the pace of development exploded, triggered by the return of veterans in need of housing, construction of highways that facilitated commuting from suburbs, and the pent-up demand for new housing. The US Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954) ruled that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional. Integration of public schools in Kansas City, Missouri resulted in many white families leaving the inner city, resulting in increased migration to the county for new housing and what were considered higher quality public schools, generally an indicator of higher economic status. From the mid-1980s the pace of growth increased significantly, with the county adding 100,000 residents each decade between the 1990 census and 2010 census.
It is home to the headquarters of Garmin and AMC Theatres and was home to the Sprint Corporation before its merger with T-Mobile in 2020.
Adjacent Counties
- Franklin County
- Douglas County
- Miami County
- Cass County, Missouri
- Jackson County, Missouri
- Leavenworth County
- Wyandotte County
Cities
- Bonner Springs (part)
- De Soto (part)
- Edgerton
- Fairway
- Gardner
- Lenexa
- Lakewood
- Lake Quivira (part)
- Merriam
- Mission
- Mission Hills
- Mission Woods
- Overland Park
- Olathe (County Seat)
- Prairie Village
- Roeland Park
- Shawnee
- Spring Hill (part)
- Westwood
- Westwood Hills
Other Townships & Communities: Aubry, Bonita, Clare, Clearview City, Lexington, McCamish, Monticello, Ocheltree, Oxford, Shawnee Mission, Stanley, Stilwell and Wilder
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