Miami

Formed August 25, 1855 (16^th county)

Miami County (34,205), Paola (5,774)

A classic working clock tower on the 1898 red brick and stone Romanesque Revival courthouse makes it stand out.  It is in a city square where Miami and Pearl streets intersect.  United States Highway 169 bypasses the center of town and the courthouse 14 blocks east of the site.  George P. Washburn provided the building designs.  The courthouse has extensive gardens and a flowered archway.  An Administrative Center built in 1998 is across the street.  The county is an original county (16^th county) founded on August 25, 1855.  An 1873 courthouse also existed in Paola, the only county seat.  The county is named for the Native American tribe.  The original county name was Lykins County.  The county seat named is reported to come from Missionary Paul Ponziglione for an Italian village. 

Miami County government consists of a sheriff, a clerk, an attorney, a treasurer, a coroner, and an appraiser (executive).  It has 5 Commissioners (legislative.)  Five District Court Judges serve Miami, Bourbon, and Linn counties (judicial.) The county is in eastern Kansas on the border with Missouri.  Kansas City, Kansas is north and Topeka, Kansas is northwest of the county.  Missouri is on its eastern border.  The county center is in Paola 1.7 miles East of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Johnson County and Missouri and Linn, Anderson, Franklin, and Douglas counties. 

The area of the county is 577 square miles.  It is 88 out of 105 in the state.  It ranks 16 out of 105 in population in the state.  It has a density of 59.3 persons per square mile making it 12 out of 105 in the state.  Miami County has 53.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 35 clips the northwest corner of the county from Johnson County, north, to Franklin County, west.  United States Highway 50 is joined with Interstate Highway 35 from Johnson to Franklin counties.  United States Highway 69 goes north to south from Johnson County to Linn County.  United States Highway 169 travels north to southwest from Johnson County to Franklin County.  The county is a rectangle.  Paola is slightly west of center in the county.  Paola is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 16.9% of the county population.  The county is pronounced MIE-AM-A.  The county seat is pronounced PAE-OE-LA.  This county is in the Kansas City Metropolitan Statistical Area.