Andover, Kansas
Encyclopedia
Andover is a city in Butler
and Sedgwick
counties in the U.S. state
of Kansas
. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,791. Located almost entirely in Butler County, it is part of the Wichita
Metropolitan Statistical Area
. Andover is well-known because of the tornado that hit the city in 1991 (see the Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak
).
The first settlement in Bruno Township was in February 1869, when Vincent Smith Arrived on Dry Creek (2 Miles East of Andover Road on 21st Street). He filed his claim on May 10, 1869. Other early settlers began to arrive in the spring of 1870, and soon all the land was claimed.he First Bruno Township election was held April 9, 1872. The first township officers were N.B. Daniels, Trustee; Jacob Brown, Treasurer; J.D. Reber, Clerk; Isaac Newland and Samuel Reed, Justices of the Peace; William Riser and Isaac Stroup, Constables.Bonds totaling 18,000 dollars were issued for the extension of the Frisco Railway through Bruno Township. The Railway was completed in 1880.
G.M. Pattison homesteaded the land that became the original plot on which Andover was built. In August, 1872, Mr. Pattison was given title to this property by president Ulysses S. Grant
. In February 1876, the land was sold to Mr. & Mrs. Ephraim Waggoner.
Andover's first church was what is known today as the United Methodist Church
. The church started as a Sunday school in 1873. The original Post Office was established at Minneha in November 1877. Isaac Grant was the postmaster. A branch was moved to 'Cloud City' in March 1880.
In January 1880, Mr. & Mrs. Waggoner deeded 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) to Charles Glancey. Mr. Glancey platted the original townsite in February 1880. The legally established townsite was known as Cloud City, named after Mr. Cloud, a well-respected citizen and railroad engineer. He helped built the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad through town. The name of the town was changed from Cloud City to Andover on June 7, 1880, when Mr. Cloud had a 'falling out' with residents of the area.
A trading post which sold all types of merchandise was the first known business in Andover. The first hotel was operated in 1881 by J.C. Lines. The front part of the hotel was a general store
operated by G.W. Harris.
In 1882, the Richland school house was moved to the present Meadowlark Elementary School location at a cost of 2,000 dollars, and became the city's first school. Professor Haskin was the first principal and enrollment was 86 students.
Early businesses during the 1882-83 period were a hotel, a grocery & lumber company, a shoemaker, a business that handled livestock, coal and grain, a general store, a meat market, two other grocery stores, and the railway agent. In 1883, the population of Andover, Kansas was about 150 people. The first passenger train went through Andover in 1885 and the last passenger train in October 1960.
The best known historical event was a train robbery at 10:00 P.M., on July 17, 1898. After being forced to flag the train, Depot Agent S.B. McClaren escaped and ran to the nearby Methodist Church--where an ice cream social was being held—to spread the alarm. Will Belford, 28 years old, was shot while trying to stop the bandits and died five weeks later. The robbers escaped, but were captured on August 12, 1898 in Maize, Kansas
. Both were tried in Butler County
Court. Sam Smith was charged with first degree murder and hanged. Thomas Wind was charged with second degree murder and sent back to prison.
. The class of four students to receive diplomas were Josie Boyer, Virgil Grier, Ola Peacock, and Perry Hiskin. The school itself started in the fall of 1909 as a consolidated school which had been formed by combining four school districts, and qualified as an accredited high school.
Andover did not incorporate into a third class city until February 4, 1957. The population of the city proper was 166. Up until this time, Andover was a small unincorporated town surrounded by farmland. Homes began to spring up south of the original townsite.
At the first city election on April 2, 1957, Hugo Epp won by one vote over Charles Clay for the position of mayor
. The form of government
is mayor-council, with the mayor elected every four years, and five council members at large every two years. Robert Dodge was elected Police Judge. Councilmen elected were Roy Allison, Orland Wolf, Ual Baker, Roger Moore and Clair Mohler.
A major annexation in 1968 not only increased the area of the city, but the population grew from 500 to 2,000.
The first Greater Andover Days Celebration was held in 1967.
Andover has two golf courses within a mile of each other and one in the southernmost part of the city that, in 2005-2006, was rated the 43rd best golf course in the country by Golf Digest Magazine..
On April 26, 1991, the F5
Andover Tornado
left a trail of destruction through parts of Kansas
, including south Wichita
and Andover. Widening to nearly one-half mile, with winds over 250 mi/h, the deadliest blow was to Andover. The twister ripped through the town killing 13 residents. A third of the 4,300 residents were left homeless. Over 300 homes, 10 businesses and two churches were destroyed. The Golden Spur Mobile Home Park and the St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church were leveled.
Four schools; Cottonwood, Meadowlark, Robert Martin and Sunflower have been the Elementary buildings serving the community. In 2005, Andover residents approved in bond election to build three additional elementary schools. The first of which, Robert Martin Elementary, which was named after Robert M. Martin, moved from a shared building with Meadowlark into a new location in the fall of 2007. The remaining two new buildings opened in the fall of 2008 as Wheatland Elementary and Prairie Creek Elementary.
In 2005, Andover passed a sales tax increase to contribute to the building of a new Andover Public Library. The new Library was constructed at Andover's Central Park, ground breaking was in late summer 2007.
, the city has a total area of 6.9 square miles (17.9 km²), of which, 6.8 square miles (17.6 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1035995244 km²) of it (0.29%) is water. It is located in Butler County, Kansas, the largest county in Kansas. Butler County is larger than the state of Rhode Island.
Andover has two public parks, Andover Park and Andover Central Park. Both are spacious areas where people can fish and camp.
of 2000, there were 6,698 people, 2,274 households, and 1,766 families residing in the city. The population density
was 978.0 people per square mile (377.5/km²). There were 2,456 housing units at an average density of 358.6 per square mile (138.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.13% White, 0.52% African American, 0.55% Native American, 1.05% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.03% from other races
, and 1.70% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.39% of the population.
There were 2,274 households out of which 48.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.6% were married couples
living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.3% were non-families. 19.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.30.
In the city the population was spread out with 33.4% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $57,163, and the median income for a family was $65,781. Males had a median income of $50,326 versus $30,683 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $24,818. About 6.2% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.9% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.
Colleges/Universities:
High Schools:
Middle Schools:
Elementary Schools:
Kansas
Schools
Maps
Butler County, Kansas
Butler County is a county located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 65,880. Its county seat and most populous city is El Dorado. The county is a part of the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area.-19th century:It was named in...
and Sedgwick
Sedgwick County, Kansas
Sedgwick County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. The county's population was 498,365 for the 2010 census. The largest city and county seat is Wichita. The county was named after General John Sedgwick...
counties in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 11,791. Located almost entirely in Butler County, it is part of the Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
Metropolitan Statistical Area
Wichita metropolitan area
The Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties in south central Kansas, anchored by the city of Wichita. As of the 2010 census, the MSA had a population of 659,372...
. Andover is well-known because of the tornado that hit the city in 1991 (see the Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak
Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak
The 1991 Andover, Kansas tornado outbreak was a violent outbreak of 55 tornadoes which took place on April 26, 1991, killing 24 people and injuring hundreds more. The Andover outbreak was featured in two different documentaries: the first one was Enemy Wind, a documentary produced by The Weather...
).
19th century
When the Kansas territory was first mapped, the original Andover area was called Minneha. The Indian name was later changed to Cloud City.The first settlement in Bruno Township was in February 1869, when Vincent Smith Arrived on Dry Creek (2 Miles East of Andover Road on 21st Street). He filed his claim on May 10, 1869. Other early settlers began to arrive in the spring of 1870, and soon all the land was claimed.he First Bruno Township election was held April 9, 1872. The first township officers were N.B. Daniels, Trustee; Jacob Brown, Treasurer; J.D. Reber, Clerk; Isaac Newland and Samuel Reed, Justices of the Peace; William Riser and Isaac Stroup, Constables.Bonds totaling 18,000 dollars were issued for the extension of the Frisco Railway through Bruno Township. The Railway was completed in 1880.
G.M. Pattison homesteaded the land that became the original plot on which Andover was built. In August, 1872, Mr. Pattison was given title to this property by president Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States as well as military commander during the Civil War and post-war Reconstruction periods. Under Grant's command, the Union Army defeated the Confederate military and ended the Confederate States of America...
. In February 1876, the land was sold to Mr. & Mrs. Ephraim Waggoner.
Andover's first church was what is known today as the United Methodist Church
United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination which is both mainline Protestant and evangelical. Founded in 1968 by the union of The Methodist Church and the Evangelical United Brethren Church, the UMC traces its roots back to the revival movement of John and Charles Wesley...
. The church started as a Sunday school in 1873. The original Post Office was established at Minneha in November 1877. Isaac Grant was the postmaster. A branch was moved to 'Cloud City' in March 1880.
In January 1880, Mr. & Mrs. Waggoner deeded 40 acres (161,874.4 m²) to Charles Glancey. Mr. Glancey platted the original townsite in February 1880. The legally established townsite was known as Cloud City, named after Mr. Cloud, a well-respected citizen and railroad engineer. He helped built the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad through town. The name of the town was changed from Cloud City to Andover on June 7, 1880, when Mr. Cloud had a 'falling out' with residents of the area.
A trading post which sold all types of merchandise was the first known business in Andover. The first hotel was operated in 1881 by J.C. Lines. The front part of the hotel was a general store
General store
A general store, general merchandise store, or village shop is a rural or small town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, sometimes in a small space, where people from the town and surrounding rural areas come to purchase all their general...
operated by G.W. Harris.
In 1882, the Richland school house was moved to the present Meadowlark Elementary School location at a cost of 2,000 dollars, and became the city's first school. Professor Haskin was the first principal and enrollment was 86 students.
Early businesses during the 1882-83 period were a hotel, a grocery & lumber company, a shoemaker, a business that handled livestock, coal and grain, a general store, a meat market, two other grocery stores, and the railway agent. In 1883, the population of Andover, Kansas was about 150 people. The first passenger train went through Andover in 1885 and the last passenger train in October 1960.
The best known historical event was a train robbery at 10:00 P.M., on July 17, 1898. After being forced to flag the train, Depot Agent S.B. McClaren escaped and ran to the nearby Methodist Church--where an ice cream social was being held—to spread the alarm. Will Belford, 28 years old, was shot while trying to stop the bandits and died five weeks later. The robbers escaped, but were captured on August 12, 1898 in Maize, Kansas
Maize, Kansas
Maize is a city in Sedgwick County, Kansas, United States. It is a suburb of Wichita. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,420.-History:...
. Both were tried in Butler County
Butler County, Kansas
Butler County is a county located in South Central Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 65,880. Its county seat and most populous city is El Dorado. The county is a part of the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area.-19th century:It was named in...
Court. Sam Smith was charged with first degree murder and hanged. Thomas Wind was charged with second degree murder and sent back to prison.
20th century
The class of 1914 was the first class to graduate from Andover High SchoolAndover High School (Andover, Kansas)
Andover High School is a public high school located in Andover, Kansas and is part of the Unified School District 385. There are approximately 700 students in attendance at Andover High School. The school is located at 1744 N. Andover Road. It is connected to the Butler County Community College...
. The class of four students to receive diplomas were Josie Boyer, Virgil Grier, Ola Peacock, and Perry Hiskin. The school itself started in the fall of 1909 as a consolidated school which had been formed by combining four school districts, and qualified as an accredited high school.
Andover did not incorporate into a third class city until February 4, 1957. The population of the city proper was 166. Up until this time, Andover was a small unincorporated town surrounded by farmland. Homes began to spring up south of the original townsite.
At the first city election on April 2, 1957, Hugo Epp won by one vote over Charles Clay for the position of mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
. The form of government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
is mayor-council, with the mayor elected every four years, and five council members at large every two years. Robert Dodge was elected Police Judge. Councilmen elected were Roy Allison, Orland Wolf, Ual Baker, Roger Moore and Clair Mohler.
A major annexation in 1968 not only increased the area of the city, but the population grew from 500 to 2,000.
The first Greater Andover Days Celebration was held in 1967.
Andover has two golf courses within a mile of each other and one in the southernmost part of the city that, in 2005-2006, was rated the 43rd best golf course in the country by Golf Digest Magazine..
On April 26, 1991, the F5
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...
Andover Tornado
Andover, Kansas Tornado Outbreak
The 1991 Andover, Kansas tornado outbreak was a violent outbreak of 55 tornadoes which took place on April 26, 1991, killing 24 people and injuring hundreds more. The Andover outbreak was featured in two different documentaries: the first one was Enemy Wind, a documentary produced by The Weather...
left a trail of destruction through parts of Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, including south Wichita
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
and Andover. Widening to nearly one-half mile, with winds over 250 mi/h, the deadliest blow was to Andover. The twister ripped through the town killing 13 residents. A third of the 4,300 residents were left homeless. Over 300 homes, 10 businesses and two churches were destroyed. The Golden Spur Mobile Home Park and the St. Vincent De Paul Catholic Church were leveled.
21st century
In 2000, Andover passed a bond issue allowing the school system to double in size. Andover grew to two high schools, two middle schools, and 4 elementary schools. Andover High and Andover Middle both use the Trojans as their mascot, sporting blue and white for their colors. Andover Central High and Andover Central Middle are the newer of the schools, established in 2001. Their mascots are the Jaguars and school colors are black and gold. Both schools have outstanding athletic, academic, music, drama, and art programs.Four schools; Cottonwood, Meadowlark, Robert Martin and Sunflower have been the Elementary buildings serving the community. In 2005, Andover residents approved in bond election to build three additional elementary schools. The first of which, Robert Martin Elementary, which was named after Robert M. Martin, moved from a shared building with Meadowlark into a new location in the fall of 2007. The remaining two new buildings opened in the fall of 2008 as Wheatland Elementary and Prairie Creek Elementary.
In 2005, Andover passed a sales tax increase to contribute to the building of a new Andover Public Library. The new Library was constructed at Andover's Central Park, ground breaking was in late summer 2007.
Geography
Andover is located at 37°41′28"N 97°8′13"W (37.691165, -97.137043). According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 6.9 square miles (17.9 km²), of which, 6.8 square miles (17.6 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1035995244 km²) of it (0.29%) is water. It is located in Butler County, Kansas, the largest county in Kansas. Butler County is larger than the state of Rhode Island.
Andover has two public parks, Andover Park and Andover Central Park. Both are spacious areas where people can fish and camp.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 6,698 people, 2,274 households, and 1,766 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 978.0 people per square mile (377.5/km²). There were 2,456 housing units at an average density of 358.6 per square mile (138.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.13% White, 0.52% African American, 0.55% Native American, 1.05% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.03% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.70% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.39% of the population.
There were 2,274 households out of which 48.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 64.6% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.3% were non-families. 19.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.30.
In the city the population was spread out with 33.4% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 30.0% from 25 to 44, 19.9% from 45 to 64, and 10.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $57,163, and the median income for a family was $65,781. Males had a median income of $50,326 versus $30,683 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $24,818. About 6.2% of families and 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.9% of those under age 18 and 11.6% of those age 65 or over.
Education
- Butler Community CollegeButler Community CollegeButler Community College is an accredited 2-year community college located in El Dorado, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1927, it was originally named Butler County Community College, as El Dorado is the Butler County seat, but it was renamed in recent years.- Statistics :Butler is a fairly...
High Schools:
- Andover Central High SchoolAndover Central High SchoolAndover Central High School is a fully accredited public high school in Andover, Kansas, serving students in grades 9-12. Andover Central High School is located at the intersection of Central and Andover Road, east of Andover Rd. and south of Central Rd. Class size is small, normally no more than...
- Andover High SchoolAndover High School (Andover, Kansas)Andover High School is a public high school located in Andover, Kansas and is part of the Unified School District 385. There are approximately 700 students in attendance at Andover High School. The school is located at 1744 N. Andover Road. It is connected to the Butler County Community College...
Middle Schools:
- Andover Central Middle School
- Andover Middle School
Elementary Schools:
- Cottonwood Elementary School
- Meadowlark Elementary School
- Robert Martin Elementary School
- Sunflower Elementary School
- Wheatland Elementary School
- Prairie Creek Elementary School
Further reading
County- History of Butler County Kansas; Vol P Mooney; Standard Publishing; 869 pages; 1916. (Download 68MB PDF eBook)
Kansas
- History of the State of Kansas; William G. Cutler; A.T. Andreas Publisher; 1883. (Online HTML eBook)
- Kansas : A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc; 3 Volumes; Frank W. Blackmar; Standard Publishing Co; 944 / 955 / 824 pages; 1912. (Volume1 - Download 54MB PDF eBook), (Volume2 - Download 53MB PDF eBook), (Volume3 - Download 33MB PDF eBook)
External links
CitySchools
- USD 385, local school district
Maps
- Andover Street Map, AndoverKS
- Andover City Map, KDOT
- Butler County Map, KDOT