Monticello Township is a former township

Township

The word township is used to refer to different kinds of settlements in different countries. Township is generally associated with an urban area. However there are many exceptions to this rule. In Australia, the United States, and Canada, they may be settlements too small to be considered urban...

 in northwest Johnson County, Kansas

Johnson County, Kansas

Johnson County is a county located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States. The county is largely suburban, being part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, and containing many of its affluent southwestern suburbs. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 544,179. Its county...

. It is now merged with Lenexa and Shawnee, Kansas

Shawnee, Kansas

Shawnee is a city located in northwest Johnson County, Kansas, United States and is a western suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 62,209. Shawnee's fur trading and pioneering heritage blends histories of these Kansas Territory townships: Monticello and...

.

History

Monticello Township was developed into a town on June-19th-1857. In 1858 Monticello elected 18 year old James Butler Hickok (better known as Wild Bill Hickok

Wild Bill Hickok

James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...

) as town constable. At one time Monticello had a stage shop, stores, saloons, blacksmith, doctor, hotel, general store, school house, churches, and about 15 dwellings. The 1910 population was about 63. The town was bypassed by the Kansas Midland Railroad (Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe), which instead passed Olathe

Olathe, Kansas

Olathe is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. Located in northeastern Kansas, it is also the fifth most populous city in the state, with a population of 125,872 at the 2010 census. As a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, Olathe is the fourth-largest city in the...

 which caused the town to lose its county seat status. In 1987, Shawnee

Shawnee, Kansas

Shawnee is a city located in northwest Johnson County, Kansas, United States and is a western suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 62,209. Shawnee's fur trading and pioneering heritage blends histories of these Kansas Territory townships: Monticello and...

 annexed land south of 55th to 83rd/79th west to the Kansas River

Kansas River

The Kansas River is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwestern-most part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwestern-most portion of the extensive Mississippi River drainage. Its name come from the Kanza people who once inhabited the area...

, increasing the city size to 42 square miles (108.8 km²).

Before its annexation, Monticello Township was the natural crossroads for fur trading and later westward emigration by wagon.

Notable residents

• Manuel Lisa
  Manuel Lisa
  Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa , was a Spanish-American fur trader, explorer, and United States Indian agent. He was among the founders in St. Louis of the Missouri Fur Company, an early fur trading company...
  
   - Fur trader
• Wild Bill Hickok
  Wild Bill Hickok
  James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...
  
   - Lawman
• William S. Williams
  William S. Williams
  William S. Williams was a noted mountain man and frontiersman.-Birth:William Sherley Williams, known as Old Bill Williams, was born January 3, 1787 in Horse Creek North Carolina.-Early life:...
  
   - Mountain man

See also

• Oregon Trail
  Oregon Trail
  The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...
  
  
• California Trail
  California Trail
  The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
  
  
• Harold "Jug" McSpaden - PGA Tour
  PGA Tour
  The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...
  
   player and golf course architect
• National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame
  National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame
  The National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame was issued a rare federal charter by the US Congress in 1960 to serve as the national museum of agriculture and a memorial to industry leaders...
  
  north along K-7 Corridor

External links

• City of Shawnee Kansas: Historic Towns Revised version (June, 2006)
  • Important dates (1541-2003)
• Monticello Township passes into history (January, 2006)
• KCAHTA: Kansas City Area Historical Trails Association
• Lost Cities of Johnson County: Monticello
• Historic Frontier Trails Map A full-color map of the trails of Johnson, Wyandotte and part of Leavenworth Counties, Kansas
• Kaw Valley Heritage: Monticello Ferry Company