Lake Quivira, Kansas

Lake Quivira, Kansas is a city of 1,014 people (2020 census) in Johnson and Wyandotte counties, a small private-lake municipality on the western edge of the Kansas City metro.¹ Developer Charles E. Gault and partners began a subdivision on an artificial lake in the 1920s; the city incorporated in 1971.¹

Overview

Counties	Johnson and Wyandotte, Kansas
Population (2020)	1,0141
Area	about 1.63 sq mi1
Founded (lake community)	1920s (Charles E. Gault et al.)1
Incorporated	19711
Pronunciation	/ˈleɪk kwɪˈvɪərə/1

History

Lake Quivira began in the 1920s when developer Charles E. Gault and others set out to build a residential subdivision around an artificial lake — the same interwar lake-community pattern seen elsewhere in the metro (compare Lake Lotawana and Lake Tapawingo on the Missouri side).¹ A clubhouse appears in period photography by 1930.¹ The municipality incorporated in 1971, decades after the lake community’s founding.¹

The name Quivira echoes the Spanish colonial term for a fabled wealthy region sought by Coronado-era explorers on the Plains — a promotional/historical place-name choice rather than a continuous colonial settlement claim for this specific site.¹

Sources

See also

• lake-lotawana-mo
• bonner-springs-ks
• shawnee-ks
• Wiki

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Lake Quivira, Kansas.” — asserts: Johnson + Wyandotte counties; 2020 pop. 1,014; area ~1.63 sq mi; founded 1920s by Charles E. Gault et al. on artificial lake; incorporated 1971; pronunciation; coordinates ~39.04250°N 94.76972°W; 1930 clubhouse image on page. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹