Rice County, Kansas

The Rice County Courthouse is located at 101 West Commercial Street, Lyons, KS 67554; phone: 620-257-2232.

Beginnings [1]

Rice County is located in central Kansas along the Santa Fe Trail, which played a significant role in the early development of the county. The county has 13 small towns including Lyons, the county seat; and the larger communities of Sterling, Bushton, Crawford, Mitchell, and Chase. Highway 56 runs east and west through the middle of the county. State Road 14 runs north and south through the middle of the county. Both roads run through the county seat of Lyons.

The history of Rice County begins with its creation in 1867. The county's original town site of Atlanta, the county's first settlement, located approximately one mile south of present day Lyons served as the first county seat. On August 18, 1871, county commissioners Dan M. Bell, T.A. Davis, and Evan C. Jones officially formed Rice County.

1. Dana Cloud and Sally F. Schwenk, Historic Preservation Services, LLC, Rice County Courthouse, Rice County, KS, nomination document, 2000, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.