Smith

Formed March 7, 1872 (77^th county)

Smith County (3,560), Smith Center (1,574)

A masonry Classical Revival courthouse for Kansas was constructed in 1918.  The courthouse is on a square surrounded by Grant, Court, Jefferson, and New York streets.  The building is two blocks east of United States Highway 281.  Thomas W. Williamson and Company are the building designers.  Memorial slabs are on the courthouse site.  There was an 1887 version of the courthouse in Smith Center the only county seat.  The county was created on March 7, 1872 from Native American Territory as the 77^th county.  The county and county seat are named for Civil War hero Major J. Nelson Smith. 

Smith County government consists of a sheriff, a clerk, an attorney, a treasurer, a coroner, and an appraiser (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Seven District Court Judges serve Smith, Decatur, Graham, Norton, Osborne, and Phillips counties (judicial.) The county is in northern Kansas.  Salina, Kansas is southeast and Lincoln, Nebraska is northeast of the site.  The northern border of the county is Nebraska.  The county center is 1.6 miles South-Southwest of Smith Center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Nebraska and Jewell, Osborne, Rooks, and Phillips counties. 

The area of the county is 896 square miles.  It is 29 out of 105 in the state.  It ranks 76 out of 105 in population in the state.  It has a density of 4.0 persons per square mile making it 80 out of 105 in the state.  Smith County has 64.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 36 crosses the county east to west from Jewell County to Phillips County.  United States Highway 281 goes north to south from Nebraska to Osborne County.  Smith County is a rectangle.  Smith Center is located slightly east of center in the county.  Smith Center is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 44.2% of the county population.