Stilwell is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Johnson County, Kansas Johnson County is a county in the U.S. state of Kansas, on the border with Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 609,863, making it the most populous county in Kansas. Its county seat is Olathe. Largely suburban, the county cont ...

, United States, and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The ZIP Code for Stilwell is 66085.

History

Stilwell had its start when the

Missouri Pacific Railroad The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad ...

began to plan to extend the railroad from Kansas City into the south. The railroad was initially planned to run through the town of Aubry, but due to the topography, the railroad decided to place the tracks a half mile to the east. This lead Michael O'Keefe, J. Larkin, W. A. Kelly, and A. J. Norman to file a

plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bea ...

for Mt. Auburn in 1886, which would eventually become Stilwell. The first post office in Stilwell was established in June 1888 and the population of Aubry eventually declined. It was renamed to Stilwell in 1889. Like many towns along the line to the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

, it is named for

Arthur Stilwell Arthur Edward Stilwell (October 21, 1859 – September 26, 1928) was the founder of the Kansas City, Pittsburg and Gulf Railroad, predecessor to the Kansas City Southern Railway. He served as KCPG's president from 1897 to 1900. He was also t ...

, founder of what became the

Kansas City Southern Railroad The Kansas City Southern Railway Company is an American Class I railroad. Founded in 1887, it operates in 10 midwestern and southeastern U.S. states: Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and ...

. Stilwell is mostly agricultural land, largely sod farms, but in recent years has spawned suburban neighborhoods. Stilwell has affordable land and some farms are abandoned; however the large population growth of

Overland Park, Kansas Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As ...

increased the demand for new neighborhoods, raising the land value in some areas.

Geography

Stilwell is located at . It is west of Mission Road, about 10 miles southeast of

Olathe, Kansas Olathe ( ) is the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 population of 141,290. History 19th century Olathe wa ...

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Stilwell has a humid subtropical climate, abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.Climate Summary for Stilwell, Kansas
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Notable people

* Gary Burrell (1937–2019), engineer and entrepreneur, co-founder of

Garmin Garmin Ltd. (shortened to Garmin, stylized as GARMIN, and formerly known as ProNav) is an American, Swiss-domiciled multinational technology company founded in 1989 by Gary Burrell and Min Kao in Lenexa, Kansas, United States, with headquarte ...

GPS technology company * Tara Cunningham, Gold Medalist in Women's Weightlifting at

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

* Michael Stevens, host of the YouTube channel

Vsauce Vsauce () is a YouTube brand created by educator Michael Stevens. The channels feature videos on scientific, psychological, mathematical, and philosophical topics, as well as gaming, technology, popular culture, and other general interest subj ...

* Tom Watson, American professional golfer

References

External links

* Johnson County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT {{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Johnson County, Kansas Unincorporated communities in Kansas