Harper County, Kansas Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Harper County
County
Harper County Courthouse in Anthony (2015)
Location within the U.S. state of Kansas
Kansas's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Kansas
Founded	February 26, 1867
Named for	Marion Harper
Seat	Anthony
Largest city	Anthony
Area
• Total	803 sq mi (2,080 km²)
• Land	801 sq mi (2,070 km²)
• Water	1.5 sq mi (4 km²) 0.2%%
Population (2020)
• Total	5,485
• Estimate (2023)	5,435
• Density	6.8/sq mi (2.6/km²)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Area code	620
Congressional district	4th

Harper County is a special area in the state of Kansas, USA. It's like a district with its own local government. The main city and place where the county government works is Anthony. In 2020, about 5,485 people lived here. The county got its name from Sergeant Marion Harper. He was a brave soldier who died during the American Civil War.

History of Harper County
Geography of Harper County
- Neighboring Counties
People of Harper County
Education in Harper County
- School Districts
Communities in Harper County
Images for kids
See also

History of Harper County

Early Days and Land Ownership

For thousands of years, the Great Plains of North America were home to Native Americans. These groups often moved around, following animal herds. Later, in the 1500s and 1600s, France said they owned large parts of North America. But after a big war in 1762, France secretly gave this land to Spain.

Then, in 1802, Spain gave most of the land back to France. Soon after, in 1803, the United States bought a huge amount of land from France. This was called the Louisiana Purchase. It included most of what is now Kansas.

How Harper County Was Formed

In 1854, the Kansas Territory was set up. Kansas officially became the 34th U.S. state in 1861. Just a few years later, in 1867, Harper County was officially created.

Interestingly, the first time Harper County was organized, it was part of a big trick! In 1873, some people tried to set up the county. They even named a fake city, "Bluff City," as the county seat. They used names from a city directory to pretend people lived there. But in 1874, an investigation found no real residents. The people behind the trick had sold bonds worth a lot of money.

Harper County was properly settled starting in 1877. It was officially organized for the second time in 1878. Since the first "Bluff City" wasn't real, Anthony became the temporary county seat. In 1879, Anthony was chosen as the permanent county seat after an election.

Recent Times: Oil, Wind, and Changes

Around 2012, Harper County saw a boost in its economy. This was because of new jobs in oil fields and wind farms. Places like Danville, Harper, and Anthony saw rents go up a lot.

However, by 2016, the oil boom slowed down. This caused the economy in Harper County and nearby areas to face challenges. Also, there had been some small earthquakes. These were linked to the oil drilling process. But the number of earthquakes went down after new rules were put in place.

Geography of Harper County

Harper County covers about 803 square miles. Most of this area is land, about 801 square miles. A small part, about 1.5 square miles, is water.

Neighboring Counties

Harper County shares its borders with several other counties:

To the north: Kingman County
To the east: Sumner County
To the southeast: Grant County, Oklahoma
To the southwest: Alfalfa County, Oklahoma
To the west: Barber County

People of Harper County

This chart shows the age groups of people in Harper County based on the 2000 census.

Historical population
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%
2020	5,485	−9.1%
2023 (est.)	5,435	−9.9%
U.S. Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2020

In 2000, there were 6,536 people living in Harper County. Most people (about 97%) were White. About 1% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino background.

There were 2,773 households. About 28% of these households had children under 18 living with them. The average household had 2.3 people. The average family had 2.9 people.

The population was spread out across different age groups. About 25% were under 18 years old. About 23% were 65 years or older. The average age was 43 years.

Education in Harper County

Students in Harper County attend schools in different unified school districts. These districts manage schools from kindergarten through high school.

School Districts

Chaparral USD 361
Attica USD 511

Communities in Harper County

This map from 2005 shows the different communities in Harper County.

Harper County has several cities and smaller communities.

Cities

Anthony (This is the county seat, where the main government offices are)
Attica
Bluff City
Danville
Harper
Waldron

Unincorporated Communities

These are smaller communities that don't have their own city government.

Ghost Towns

These are places where communities once existed but are now mostly abandoned.

Albion
Crisfield
Midway
Ruella
Shook
Yankton

Townships

This map shows the six townships of Harper County. Township 1 is highlighted in red.

Harper County is divided into six areas called townships. Unlike most counties in Kansas, Harper County's townships are numbered instead of named. The cities of Anthony and Harper are separate from these township populations.

Township	Population	Land area km² (sq mi)	Water area km² (sq mi)
Township 1	1,000	468 (181)	1 (0)
Township 2	144	363 (140)	1 (0)
Township 3	394	383 (148)	2 (1)
Township 4	232	297 (115)	0 (0)
Township 5	463	277 (107)	0 (0)
Township 6	296	280 (108)	0 (0)

Images for kids

Harper County Courthouse in Anthony (2015)
Population pyramid based on 2000 census age data
2005 map of Harper County (map legend)
The townships of Harper County (Townships are numbers in counter-clockwise order, with Township 1 highlighted in red).