Labette

Formed February 26, 1867 (52^nd county)

Labette County (20,188), Oswego (1,669), Parsons (9,605)

The concrete Art Deco courthouse is located on Merchant Street between 5^th and 6^th streets.  United States Highway 160 is 6^th Street in the town.  An earlier courthouse was built in 1880 in Oswego, the only county seat.  This latest was built in 1948 from the designs of Thomas W. Williamson and Company.  The building features marble half walls and a listing of the county communities.  Labette County was formed on February 26, 1867 from Neosho County as the 52^nd county.  It is named for a local river.  Oswego is named after Oswego, New York. 

Labette County government consists of a sheriff, a clerk, an attorney, a treasurer, a coroner, and an appraiser (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Four District Court Judges serve Labette, Cherokee, and Crawford counties (judicial.) The county is in southeast Kansas on the border with Oklahoma.  Wichita, Kansas is to the northwest and Springfield, Missouri is east.  The county center is 16.9 miles Northwest of Oswego nearer Altamont.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Neosho, Crawford, and Cherokee counties and Oklahoma and Montgomery County. 

The area of the county is 649 square miles.  It is 73 out of 105 in the state.  It ranks 27 out of 105 in population in the state.  It has a density of 31.1 persons per square mile making it 25 out of 105 in the state.  Labette County has 70.0% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 59 enters from the north, Neosho County, and exits to the east, Cherokee County.  United States Highway 160 crosses the county east to west from Cherokee County to Montgomery County.  United States Highway 166 goes east to west in the southern part of the county from Cherokee County to Montgomery County.  United States Highway 169 clips the northwest corner of the county from Neosho County, north, to Montgomery County, west.  United States Highway 400 crosses the northern part of the county east to west from Crawford County to Montgomery County.  The county is a rectangle.  Oswego is located near the southeast border.  Parsons is near the northern border of the county.  Oswego is the county seat and Parsons is the largest city.  Oswego is 8.3% of the county population while Parsons is 47.6% of the county population.  The county is pronounced LA-BET.  The county seat is pronounced OS-WEE-GOE.  This county is in the Parsons Micropolitan Statistical Area.