Wyandotte County
| Wyandotte County, Kansas | |
|---|---|
| County | |
Wyandotte County Courthouse in Kansas City
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 Location in the U.S. state of Kansas |
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 Kansas's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | January 29, 1859 |
| Named for | Wyandot people |
| Seat | Kansas City |
| Largest city | Kansas City |
| Area | |
| • Total | 156 sq mi (404 km2) |
| • Land | 152 sq mi (394 km2) |
| • Water | 4.6 sq mi (12 km2), 2.9% |
| Population (est.) | |
| • (2016) | 163,831 |
| • Density | 1,039/sq mi (401/km²) |
| Congressional district | 3rd |
| Time zone | Central: UTC-6/-5 |
| Website | wycokck.org |
Wyandotte County (/ˈwaɪ.əndɒt/; county code WY) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 157,505, making it the fourth-most populous county in Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Kansas City, with which it shares a unified government. Wyandotte County lies immediately west of Kansas City, Missouri.
The county is named after the Wyandot (also known as Wyandott or Wyandotte) Indians. They were called the Huron by the French in Canada, but they called themselves Wendat. They were distantly related to the Iroquois, with whom they sometimes fought. They had hoped to hold off movement by white Americans into their territory and had hoped to make the Ohio River the border between the United States and Canada.
One branch of the Wyandot moved to the area that is now the state of Ohio. They generally took the course of assimilation into Anglo-American society. Many of them embraced Christianity under the influence of missionaries. They were transported to the current area of Wyandotte County in 1843, where they set up a community and worked in cooperation with Anglo settlers. The Christian Munsee also influenced early settlement of this area.
The Wyandot in Kansas set up a constitutional form of government that they had devised in Ohio. They set up the territorial government for Kansas and Nebraska. It was one of their own who was elected as territorial governor.
The county was organized in 1859.Tenskwatawa (Tecumseh's brother), "the Prophet", fought at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. He was buried at Shawnee Native American historical site Whitefeather Spring (located at 3818 Ruby Ave., Kansas City, which was added in 1975 to the National Register of Historic Places). The Kansas City Smelting and Refining Company employed over 250 men during the 1880s. The ore and base bullion is received from the mining districts of the mountains and is here crushed, separated and refined.
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