Townships of Wyandotte County, Kansas

WYANDOTTE COUNTY, KANSAS

TOWNSHIPS

DELAWARE TOWNSHIP

Previous to 1869 all of Wyandotte county was embraced in two townships, Wyandotte and Quindaro. The settlement of the outlying districts had been so rapid that it became necessary to organize smaller townships, which the county board proceeded to do.

On January 4, 1869, J. M. Michael appeared before the board and presented a petition signed by himself and fifty-two other persons, praying that the board set off and organize a new township to be composed of the following described territory: "Commencing at the Kansas river at a point where the east line of township 11, range 23 east of the sixth principal meridian in Kansas, intersects the same; thence north on said line to the second standard parallel; thence west on the said standard parallel to the northwest corner of said township 11, range 23; thence south to the Kansas river; thence along said river to the point of beginning.'' After due consideration thereof the board found that said petition was signed by fifty electors, resident therein, and that the territory proposed by said petition to be organized into a township was a part of the territory embraced in the township of Wyandotte; that said proposed township contained an area of at least thirty square miles of territory and that the territory so proposed to be organized into a township contained the number of electors and inhabitants required by law. It was therefore ordered by the board, that the territory as above described "be and is hereby organized into a township to be known and designated by the name of Delaware township, and that the first election for town officers in said Delaware township be held at the Peter Barnett store-room, in Edwardsville, so called, on the first Tuesday in April, 1869. It is further ordered by the board, that J. J. Keplinger, the county clerk of the county, make out a plat of said Delaware township and place the same on sale in his office, and that he deliver to the proper township officers a certified copy of said plat and record. It is further ordered by the board, that the county clerk make out and transmit to the secretary of state the name and boundary of Delaware township, and the boundary of Wyandotte township, as it now remains except for portions on the east annexed to Kansas City, Kansas.''

PRAIRIE TOWNSHIP

Prairie township was organized March 8, 1869, upon the following petition describing its boundaries: "We, the undersigned petitioners, would respectfully pray your honorable body to establish a new township out of the following territory, towit: All that portion of township N. 10, range 23, in said county, said township to be known as Prairie township. .We would further represent that the territory described contains an area of at least thirty square miles and has a population of two hundred inhabitants, and would further ask that the first election for township officers be held on the first Tuesdy in April, at the Prairie and Connor precinct."

QUINDARO TOWNSHIP

The petition was signed by S. S. Kessler, Henry H. Evarte and sixty-two others. The territory described was formerly embraced in the township of Quindaro. It was ordered that "the first election be held at Connor's station and at the school house near the John Connor place, the place where the fall elections were held in Prairie precinct, on the first Tuesday in April, A. D., 1869."

Quindaro township was re-established April 5, 1869, upon a petition then presented to the board praying that the boundary of Quindaro township be established as follows: "All that portion of township No. 10, ranges 24 and 25, in Wyandotte county.'' This petition was signed by fifty residents of the proposed township. After due consideration the board found that the petition was signed by the number of electors and residents required by law; that the territory proposed to be erected into a township comprised in part the territory then embraced in the township of Wyandotte and all the territory therefore contained in Quindaro township after Prairie township had been organized from its territory; and that the proposed township would contain the area required by law and the requisite population and number of voters; and it was ordered by the board, that the territory, as above described, be organized into a township to be known and designated by the name of Quindaro township, and that the first election for township officers be held at the usual place of holding elections in Quindaro precinct and Six-mile precinct on the first Tuesday in April, 1869.

SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP

The record of the establishment of Shawnee township, also on April 5, 1869, is as follows: "And now, on this day, a petition was presented to the board, signed by John M. Ainsworth and seventy other persons residents of Wyandotte township and county, south of the Kansas river, praying that all that portion of Wyandotte county lying south of the Kansas river, and not included in the corporate limits of Wyandotte City, be set off and organized into a new township, to be known and designated as Shawnee township. After due consideration thereof, the board do find that said petition is signed by the number of electors and residents therein required by law; that the territory proposed by said petition to be erected into a new township is a part of the territory now embraced in the township of Wyandotte; that said proposed township contains the territory requisite to form a township, according to an act of the legislature of the state of Kansas, approved 1869, and the territory so proposed to be organized into a new township contains the number of electors and inhabitants required by law. It is, therefore, ordered by the board that the territory above described be and is hereby organized into a township, to be known and designated by the name of Shawnee township, and that the first election of township officers in said Shawnee township be held at the junction of the Wyandotte and Shawnee road with the Shawnee and Kansas City road, on the first Tuesday in April, 1869."

Source: History of Wyandotte County Kansas: and it's people - Edited and Compiled by Perl W. Morgan - Kansas City, Kansas - Illustrated VOL. 1 - The Lewis Publishing Company Chicago 1911