From prairie to Johnson County gem: A look at the rich history of Leawood

Early settlers could never have imagined what their hometown, surrounded by a prairie of grass and wildflowers, would become. House by house, business by business and road by road, time has transformed this slice of Johnson County. But you don’t have to look far in Leawood to find tranquil settings or historic spots that evoke pioneer days.

Leawood, around 15 square miles, was incorporated in 1948 with a population of 1,000. Almost 75 years later, the city — bordered by Overland Park, Prairie Village and Kansas City — has an estimated 35,000 residents. Like its neighbors, the city’s history is punctuated by those whose names are in the history books and by others who quietly made it all happen.

The early days

The Kansa Indians established a village, and were soon followed by the Wyandot tribe, which resettled in the area in 1842 after being given 1 square mile by the U.S. government. Chief Grey Eyes owned what is now Old Leawood. Within the city limits, historical records show the town of Oxford was established in 1850 at around 123rd Street and State Line. Homes were occupied then destroyed by Union forces during the Civil War. The town was razed in 1865, but the Oxford School was preserved and relocated later to Ironwoods Park.

New Santa Fe was founded in the early 1800s and platted in 1851 around what is today 122nd Street and State Line. The site was the last place for people to buy supplies for wagon trains traveling the Santa Fe Trail. New Santa Fe, which boasted 500 residents at its peak, had a doctor, dentist, blacksmith, hotel, a school, a mercantile store and other businesses.

Alexander Majors, known primarily as a partner in the Pony Express, set out in 1848 to run a freight operation on the Santa Fe Trail, making his first 1,600-mile round trip in a record-breaking 92 days. The Trail began in 1822 and ran through the area, carrying freight and settlers west.

Majors built a house straddling the line between Missouri and what then was unorganized Kansas Territory. The Majors House is one of only four surviving antebellum houses built in Missouri. And while the house and a majority of its landscape is within the Kansas City, Missouri, boundaries, it has roots in today’s Leawood.

“The (territory) provided him a place to keep the 40,000 oxen and 1,000 mules needed for his freight line,” said Leawood historian and retired businessman Dan Throckmorton.

Majors partnered with William Waddell and William Russell to create the most successful freight company on the trail. But by the mid-1860s the modern technology of the day, the telegraph and the railroads, had killed their once successful businesses.

How Leawood got its name

In 1922, a retired Oklahoma law officer, Oscar G. Lee, bought land between 79th and 103rd streets, Belinder and State Line. He built a home, and the road to access it is now known as Lee Boulevard.

Longtime Leawood Mayor Peggy Dunn explained the spelling of the name.

“The city is named for Oscar Lee but spelled with an “a”, she said, “to have the sense of meadows and rolling hills.”

“Growing with Distinction” is the city’s motto and Dunn is proud of the history that gives credence to that statement.

Visitors to Leawood can soak in plenty of that history.

In 1923, Herman Voigt, a contemporary of Lee, built a house at 2405 103rd St. The home of the cattleman, banker and businessman is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1927, Joyce Hall, founder of Hallmark Cards, bought 730 acres for his family farm. Joyce McDonald remembers as a child living in a small house on the farm when her father was in charge of the gardens.

“Mr. Hall gave me my first art supplies,” McDonald said, “and when I graduated from high school I was hired at Hallmark.”

The Leawood property is now Hallbrook Farms, a golf course community with 505 acres and 414 homes, and a 190-acre golf course. The Hall home still stands.

The community is platted

In the early 1930s, John and Gene Kroh, sons of Clifford Kroh, the founder of a real estate company, bought 1,000 acres of land, including part of Lee’s property, and platted Leawood.

Many homes were built with stone quarried nearby, said Throckmorton who, in 1974, bought a 1936 original built by the Kroh Brothers.

The developers urged incorporation as a means to improve city services, especially fire and police protection. A police chief was hired, but the first officers were volunteers.

Today there are three manned fire stations and a police department budgeted for 62 officers. The city also operates an annual 10-week Citizens Police Academy.

The city taps citizen input often. Jim Rawlings, longtime city councilman and historian, laughs when he explains the original mayor was responsible for roads, potholes, and most all city problems. But not today, the mayor assures.

“We have 300 professional staff and 300 volunteers serving on committees and commissions,” Dunn said.

Today, for example, the Leawood Arts Council is involved in the arts, budgeted at $5 per resident per year. Artist Wendell Castle’s “Faith” sculpture in Brook Beatty Park is an early acquisition.

The city has two Sister Cities and has built Gezer and I-Lan parks to commemorate the association with cities in Taiwan and Israel.

Leawood’s first commercial development was built by Cliff Bribois in 1952, Throckmorton said. “It included a grocery store, drug store, barber shop, beauty shop and cleaners.”

Essential, but a far cry from the Town Center Plaza & Crossing developed in the mid-1990s.

The city is now home to the largest Methodist Church in the United States, The Church of the Resurrection; AMC Theaters; and The American Academy of Family Physicians, among other major employers.

Future growth

In 2013, the city began a detailed study of the 135th Street Community Plan, resulting in plans for a mixed-use development, which has a start date planned for 2021. The city follows international building codes regarding development said Director of Planning Services Richard Coleman. And the mixed-use zoning requires a minimum of 30% of open space, no less than 20% each of residential or office, and no less than 10% retail.

New development is important but reinvesting in infrastructure is vital. With a Triple A bond rating, Dunn said, the city does infrastructure reinvestment such as curbs, gutters and stormwater pipe replacement within its bonding capacity. Interest is paid from general funds.

City Manager Scott Lambers says Leawood stands out from other cities in one way. He states it succinctly: “The residents.”

This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 7:00 AM with the headline "From prairie to Johnson County gem: A look at the rich history of Leawood."