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In the summer of 1856 the Missourians were gathering armed forces along the border under the leadership of Atchison, Reid and Clark. Captain John E. Davis was camped with a force of 150 men on Middle Creek in the northwest corner of the county. On August 24th, Captains Anderson, Shore and Cline, with a command of about 125 men, camped in the same locality. In the morning, scouts of the Free-State party brought in word that about 50 of Davis' men were absent from camp and an attack was immediately planned. When the Free-State men came within range, the Missourians opened fire, which was immediately returned. The firing lasted about ten minutes before the Southerners retired. In the action, Lieutenant Cline was wounded and subsequently died. This affair is known as the Battle of Middle Creek.

Marais des Cygnes Massacre in May, 1858 

The Battle of Mine Creek by Samuel Reader, 1865.

The first store in Linn County was at the Trading Post, which primarily traded with the Indians, although the first whites in the county also bought goods there. The first post office was opened at Mound City, at the store of a Mr. Miller, who was appointed postmaster in the spring of 1855. The first school in the county was held during the winter of 1858-59 in the town hall at Blue Mound, and the first marriage solemnized in the county was that of J. S. Atkins and Maria Mannington in 1858. The Methodist Episcopal Church was the pioneer religious organization in the county, followed by the  Baptists and United Brethren, both of whom erected churches in Mound City in the early 1860s.

Though Linn County was organized in 1855, it would not be immediately organized. However, though there is no record to show that a board of commissioners was elected, on January 18, 1856, several men met to determine a county seat. In March, two men by the names of James P. Fox and Mr. Osborne reported that they had decided a site in the east central portion of the county, where the settlement of Paris would soon be laid out. However, most of the residents of the county were not pleased with the location and in November, 1859 an election was held to relocate the county seat to Mound City. Over the next several years, the county seat would move several more times, the first to Linnville, a town just south of the site of Paris and a few miles north of Mound City, in May, 1865. It moved back to Mound City in February, 1866 after another election. In February, 1871, the seat of justice was changed to La Cygne by another vote of the people; in March, 1873, it moved to Farmers City, but, as the location provided very little, the county officers refused to go there and La Cygne remained the county seat de facto until April, 1874. Then, yet another election was held at which Pleasanton received the majority of votes, but the question of the permanent location was still undecided. Finally, 1875 a decisive and last election was held, when Mound City was chosen as the seat of justice of Linn County for the third time, where it has since remained.

The first railroad in Linn County was the Kansas & Neosho Valley and was followed by the St. Louis & San Francisco, the Missouri Pacific, and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroads. The economy flourished with agriculture, livestock, rock quarries, and coal mining. Later, oil and natural gas were discovered in the county. In 1910, the population of Linn County was almost 15,000 people.

Over the years, as small farms grew into bigger ones, and more and more people migrated to larger cities, the population of Linn County decreased to its current number  of about 10,000 people today. However, Linn County, with its close proximity to the Kansas City Metropolitan Area is once again growing.

The current towns of Linn County include:

Contact Information:

Linn County Kansas

315 Main , P.O. Box 350

Mound City, Kansas 66056

913-795-2668

Compiled by Kathy Weiser/Legends of Kansas, updated April, 2010.