Riley County, Kansas

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Riley County, Kansas
Riley County Courthouse in Manhattan
Location in the state of Kansas
Kansas's location in the U.S.
Founded	August 25, 1855
Seat	Manhattan
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	622.11 sq mi (1,611 km²) 609.55 sq mi (1,579 km²) 12.55 sq mi (33 km²), 2.02%
Population  - (2020)  - Density	71,959 103.0/sq mi (39.8/km²)
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	RileyCountyKS.gov

Riley County (standard abbreviation: RL) is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. The county's population was 71,959 for the 2020 census. The largest city and county seat is Manhattan. The county is part of the Manhattan, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Riley County is home to two of Kansas' largest employers: Fort Riley and Kansas State University. Among notable current and former residents of Riley County are former Governor John W. Carlin, General Glen Edgerton and millionaire miner Horace A. W. Tabor.

History

Riley County, named for Mexican-American War general Bennet Riley, was on the western edge of the 33 original counties established by the Kansas Territorial Legislature in August 1855. For organizational purposes, Riley County initially had attached to it Geary County and all land west of Riley County, across Kansas Territory into present-day Colorado.

The first Territorial Capital of Kansas Territory was located in the boundaries of Riley County, in the former town of Pawnee. The site now falls within the boundaries of Fort Riley, a U.S. Army post.

Manhattan was selected as county seat in contentious fashion. In late 1857, an election was held to select the county seat, with Ogden prevailing. However, Manhattanites suspected election fraud, and were eventually able to prove that a number of votes were illegally cast. Sheriff David A. Butterfield was forced to secure the county's books and records for Manhattan, and Manhattan was finally officially declared the county seat in 1858.

On May 30, 1879, the "Irving, Kansas Tornado" began in Riley County. This tornado is estimated to have been an F4 on the Fujita scale, with a damage path 800 yards (700 m) wide and 100 miles (200 km) long. Eighteen people were killed and sixty were injured.

Government

Riley County is governed by three county commissioners, John Ford, Marvin Rodriguez, and Ron Wells.

Presidential elections

United States presidential election results for Riley County, Kansas

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	11,610	46.12%	12,765	50.71%	796	3.16%
2016	10,107	46.00%	9,341	42.51%	2,526	11.50%
2012	11,507	54.53%	8,977	42.54%	617	2.92%
2008	12,111	52.43%	10,495	45.43%	494	2.14%
2004	12,672	60.60%	7,908	37.82%	331	1.58%
2000	10,672	58.47%	6,188	33.90%	1,393	7.63%
1996	11,113	56.68%	6,746	34.41%	1,748	8.92%
1992	8,394	38.51%	7,933	36.39%	5,470	25.10%
1988	9,507	55.90%	7,283	42.82%	217	1.28%
1984	11,308	64.77%	5,975	34.22%	175	1.00%
1980	8,904	52.94%	5,224	31.06%	2,690	15.99%
1976	9,518	57.45%	6,540	39.47%	510	3.08%
1972	11,120	66.16%	5,333	31.73%	356	2.12%
1968	8,296	62.17%	4,258	31.91%	791	5.93%
1964	6,396	52.70%	5,597	46.12%	144	1.19%
1960	9,068	71.97%	3,482	27.63%	50	0.40%
1956	9,385	76.84%	2,784	22.80%	44	0.36%
1952	9,799	80.31%	2,352	19.28%	50	0.41%
1948	9,227	68.01%	4,052	29.87%	288	2.12%
1944	6,511	70.43%	2,659	28.76%	74	0.80%
1940	7,420	68.59%	3,293	30.44%	105	0.97%
1936	6,077	59.11%	4,104	39.92%	99	0.96%
1932	5,337	54.65%	4,101	42.00%	327	3.35%
1928	6,592	77.91%	1,791	21.17%	78	0.92%
1924	5,455	70.03%	1,646	21.13%	689	8.84%
1920	4,875	73.57%	1,610	24.30%	141	2.13%
1916	3,320	52.34%	2,637	41.57%	386	6.09%
1912	425	11.14%	1,170	30.67%	2,220	58.19%
1908	2,276	61.71%	1,289	34.95%	123	3.34%
1904	2,251	75.26%	523	17.49%	217	7.26%
1900	2,119	61.69%	1,279	37.23%	37	1.08%
1896	1,890	55.87%	1,443	42.65%	50	1.48%
1892	1,574	51.67%	0	0.00%	1,472	48.33%
1888	1,856	62.49%	772	25.99%	342	11.52%
1884	1,686	64.33%	644	24.57%	291	11.10%
1880	1,484	67.21%	377	17.07%	347	15.72%

Owing to its history of Yankee anti-slavery settlement in “Bleeding Kansas” days, Riley County became rock-ribbed Republican following Kansas statehood, except when over half of its voters supported Progressive Theodore Roosevelt in 1912 who himself was a Republican who had broken away from the party in that election cycle. Being relatively resistant to the Democratic populism of William Jennings Bryan, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Riley County stood as the westernmost of thirty-eight US counties to have never voted Democratic for President since the Civil War. However, it was the only one whose status as “never Democratic” stood significantly threatened in 2016 and 2020: Hillary Clinton’s losing margin of only 3.5 percent was the second-closest any Democrat has come to claiming the county behind her husband in the divided 1992 election.

In the 2018 Gubernatorial Election in Kansas, Democratic candidate Laura Kelly won Riley County by a 24 point margin, and in the 2018 US House Election in KS-01, Republican candidate Roger Marshall lost Riley County by a 2 point margin.

2020 became a historical election for Riley County, as, even though he lost the state, Joe Biden won the county 50.7% to 46.1%, the first Democratic presidential win in Riley County's history.

Riley County is the only county in Kansas without an elected sheriff; the county police department handles all the Sheriff’s functions.

Laws

Riley County was a prohibition, or "dry", county until the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 and voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30 percent food sales requirement. The food sales requirement was removed with voter approval in 2004.

2005 KDOT Map of Riley County (map legend)

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 622.11 square miles (1,611.3 km²), of which 609.55 square miles (1,578.7 km²) (or 97.98%) is land and 12.55 square miles (32.5 km²) (or 2.02%) is water.

Geographic features

The eastern border of the county follows the former course of the Big Blue River. The river was dammed in the 1960s and Tuttle Creek Lake was created as a result. The county falls within the Flint Hills region of the state.

Adjacent counties

• Marshall County (northeast)
• Pottawatomie County (east)
• Wabaunsee County (southeast)
• Geary County (south)
• Clay County (west)
• Washington County (northwest)

Demographics

Age pyramid

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1860	1,224		—
1870	5,105		317.1%
1880	10,430		104.3%
1890	13,183		26.4%
1900	13,828		4.9%
1910	15,783		14.1%
1920	20,650		30.8%
1930	19,882		−3.7%
1940	20,617		3.7%
1950	33,405		62.0%
1960	41,914		25.5%
1970	56,788		35.5%
1980	63,505		11.8%
1990	67,139		5.7%
2000	62,843		−6.4%
2010	71,115		13.2%
U.S. Decennial Census

As of the census of 2000, there were 62,843 people, 22,137 households, and 12,263 families residing in the county. The population density was 103 people per square mile (40/km²). There were 23,397 housing units at an average density of 38 per square mile (15/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 84.78% White, 6.88% Black or African American, 0.63% Native American, 3.22% Asian, 0.17% Pacific Islander, 1.89% from other races, and 2.43% from two or more races. 4.57% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 22,137 households out of which 27.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.20% were married couples living together, 6.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.60% were non-families. 27.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.99.

In the county the population was spread out with 18.80% under the age of 18, 34.50% from 18 to 24, 25.90% from 25 to 44, 13.30% from 45 to 64, and 7.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 24 years. For every 100 females there were 114.30 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 115.40 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $32,042, and the median income for a family was $46,489. Males had a median income of $26,856 versus $23,835 for females. The per capita income for the county was $16,349. About 8.50% of families and 20.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.20% of those under age 18 and 6.70% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and towns

Incorporated cities

Name and population (2004 estimate):

• Manhattan, 47,916 (county seat)
• Ogden, 1,544
• Riley, 760
• Leonardville, 384
• Randolph, 149

Unincorporated places

• Ashland
• Bala
• Keats
• Lasita
• May Day
• Rocky Ford
• Zeandale

Former communities

These former places were flooded when Tuttle Creek Lake was created in the 1950s and 1960s. Randolph was also flooded, but moved a mile west of its original location.

• Cleburn
• Garrison Cross
• Stockdale

Fort Riley

Located north of the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers in Geary County, Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 100,656 acres (407 km²) in Geary and Riley counties. The fort has a daytime population of nearly 25,000 and includes two census-designated places:

• Fort Riley North
• Fort Riley-Camp Whiteside (located only in Geary County)

Townships

Riley County is divided into fourteen townships. The city of Manhattan is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships. In the following table, the population center is the largest city (or cities) included in that township's population total, if it is of a significant size.

Sources: 2000 U.S. Gazetteer from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Township	FIPS	Population center	Population	Population density /km² (/sq mi)	Land area km² (sq mi)	Water area km² (sq mi)	Water %	Geographic coordinates
Ashland	02725		150	2 (4)	89 (35)	1 (0)	0.75%	39°6′48″N 96°37′42″W
Bala	03825	Leonardville	762	7 (18)	108 (42)	0 (0)	0.12%	39°20′34″N 96°53′47″W
Center	12100		81	1 (3)	82 (32)	0 (0)	0.04%	39°29′22″N 96°52′54″W
Fancy Creek	22950		126	2 (4)	83 (32)	0 (0)	0.07%	39°24′55″N 96°53′14″W
Grant	28075		833	9 (23)	92 (35)	7 (3)	7.38%	39°17′52″N 96°41′31″W
Jackson	34900	Randolph	326	4 (10)	84 (32)	10 (4)	10.30%	39°26′43″N 96°45′1″W
Madison	44125	Fort Riley North CDP (part)	8,173	22 (58)	366 (141)	0 (0)	0.11%	39°15′32″N 96°50′26″W
Manhattan	44275		3,275	37 (95)	89 (35)	3 (1)	3.28%	39°12′45″N 96°35′46″W
May Day	45225		78	1 (2)	81 (31)	0 (0)	0.04%	39°32′39″N 96°53′41″W
Ogden	52300	Ogden	2,423	69 (178)	35 (14)	1 (0)	2.32%	39°7′6″N 96°41′54″W
Sherman	65075		524	7 (18)	76 (29)	5 (2)	6.06%	39°22′30″N 96°43′58″W
Swede Creek	69650		157	1 (3)	125 (48)	4 (1)	3.00%	39°32′24″N 96°42′9″W
Wildcat	79175		750	10 (25)	77 (30)	0 (0)	0.10%	39°13′26″N 96°42′28″W
Zeandale	80900		357	2 (6)	154 (60)	2 (1)	0.97%	39°7′39″N 96°27′19″W

Education

Colleges and universities

• Kansas State University
• Manhattan Christian College
• Manhattan Area Technical College

Unified school districts

• Riley County USD 378
• Manhattan-Ogden USD 383
  • Manhattan High School
• Blue Valley USD 384

See also

• Pillsbury Crossing
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Riley County, Kansas

Information on this and other counties in Kansas

• List of counties in Kansas
• List of Kansas county name etymologies
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Kansas
• Kansas locations by per capita income

Other information for Kansas

• List of cities in Kansas
• List of unified school districts in Kansas
• List of colleges and universities in Kansas

Further reading

• 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

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Riley County, Kansas

Official websites

• Riley County

General county information

• Blue Skyways

Local History and Genealogy

• List of 150 Notable Residents of Riley County
• The Irving, KS Tornado
• Cutler's History of Riley County, Kansas
• Riley County GenWeb
• Riley County Kansas AHGP

County Level Data

• Kansas Statistical Abstract

Maps

• Riley County Map, KDOT
• Kansas Highway Map, KDOT
• Kansas Railroad Map, KDOT
• Kansas School District Boundary Map, KSDE