Formed August 3, 1886 (98th county)
Stevens County (5,252), Hugoton (3,752)
The Modern concrete of the 1952 courthouse is unique in Kansas. The courthouse is at 6th and Monroe streets. There are marble floors and stairs in the courthouse. Mann and Company were the designers. It is one block to the east of United States Highway 56 in the town. There was an 1888 traditional courthouse also in Hugoton, the only county seat. There are memorial tablets in front of the building for the veterans. The county was established on August 3, 1886 from Seward County as the 98th county. It is named for Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. French writer Victor Hugo provided the inspiration for the county seat name.
Stevens County government consists of a sheriff, a clerk, an attorney, a treasurer, a coroner, and an appraiser (executive). It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.) Eight District Court Judges serve Stevens, Grant, Haskell, Morton, Seward, and Stanton counties (judicial.) Stevens County is in the southwest part of the state on the border with Oklahoma. The county center is 5.9 miles East-Northeast of Hugoton. The county is surrounded clockwise by Grant, Haskell, and Seward counties and Oklahoma and Morton and Stanton counties.
The area of the county is 728 square miles. It is 54 out of 105 in the state. It ranks 66 out of 105 in population in the state. It has a density of 7.2 persons per square mile making it 60 out of 105 in the state. Stevens County has 76.6% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 56 travels northeast to southwest in the county from Seward County to Morton County. The Cimarron River crosses the northwest corner of the county. Another western Kansas square county, Hugoton is slightly southwest of the county’s center. Hugoton is the county seat and the largest city. It is 71.4% of the county population.
Hugoton
Moscow
