The 150th Anniversary of Osage County

One hundred and fifty years ago, Osage County was destined to be the home of thousands of people. The path of progress led to an unrivaled quality of life for those who live here. Ticking off the years, 50, 100, and now, 150 years later - those milestones are meaningless unless the people who live here have improved their lives and made this their home. It is only home if it is loved by those living here. That is progress. In Kansas’ early history, when part of the county was still a narrow, undesignated strip south of the Shawnee Reservation, the Sac and Fox tribes were some of the first people to declare this their home. Their paths led them to make their lives along wooded, running streams in a vast prairie teeming with wildlife. On Feb. 11, 1859, the Kansas Legislature renamed Weller County as Osage County. Through legislation enacted the following year, a nine-mile strip was removed from Shawnee County and became part of Osage County. Four years before Osage County was founded, the Kansas Territorial Legislature designated the western 24 miles of the Sac and Fox Reservation as Weller County. Later, the Indians reluctantly ceded their land to the federal government, to be held in trust and sold for their benefit. But they felt in their hearts that this was their home; many remained only to be later forcibly removed. One chief, Mokohoko, spoke of the treaty signed by another Sac and Fox chief, “They say it gives away our Kansas home. Oh tell me not such sad words. We cannot give up this happy home we have loved for so long.”