Leawood, Kansas is a city of 33,902 people (2020 census) in northeast Johnson County, strung north–south along the Kansas–Missouri state line south of Prairie Village and east of Overland Park.12 Named for landowner Oscar G. Lee, modern Leawood took shape in the 1920s, incorporated on November 30, 1948 after Kroh Brothers subdivision work, and is today one of the metro’s wealthiest residential suburbs — headquarters ground for AMC Theatres’ support center and the American Academy of Family Physicians.32

Overview

CountyJohnson County, Kansas
Founded (modern)1920s (Oscar G. Lee landholdings)3
IncorporatedNovember 30, 1948 (city of the third class)2
Population (2020)33,9021
Area~15.1 sq mi land2
Eastern borderKansas–Missouri state line (eight KCMO neighborhoods face it)2

The city runs more than nine miles north–south and about two miles east–west.2 City marketing emphasizes established neighborhoods, newer southern developments, parks, and schools in the Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley districts.32

History

Before incorporation

After the Louisiana Purchase the land east of present Leawood opened to settlement; the Santa Fe Trail corridor contributed to early traffic through the area.2 Border violence of Bleeding Kansas and the Civil War damaged local economy and left little of the predecessor settlement of Oxford by 1865.2

Oscar G. Lee and the Krohs

Oscar G. Lee, a retired Oklahoma police officer, arrived in 1922 and bought land between what is now 79th and 103rd Streets and State Line and Belinder Roads — the foundation of modern Leawood — and supervised construction of Lee Boulevard for public use.32 In 1948, housing development by the Kroh brothers (Clifford E. Kroh Jr. and John A. Kroh Sr., with their father Clifford E. Kroh Sr.) led to incorporation; population at third-class status was under 2,000.32

Restrictive covenants

Leawood’s developers explicitly emulated J.C. Nichols — large lots, curvilinear streets, homes associations, and deed restrictions.2 Flatland and secondary scholarship document racial and religious restrictive covenants in Kroh subdivisions (example language filed April 4, 1945 for Leawood Estates barring sale or occupancy by Black residents and by people of majority “Semitic” ancestry, with a domestic-servant exception).42 Those covenants sit in the same metro history as restrictive-covenants-kc. The Kroh real-estate empire later expanded nationally, failed in a high-profile 1987 bankruptcy, and saw two grandsons imprisoned for bank fraud — separate from the city’s municipal story but part of the development lineage.2

Growth

Leawood became a city of the second class by 1959 and later a city of the first class; population rose from 1,167 (1950) through 19,693 (1990) to 33,902 (2020).25 “Old Leawood” north of I-435 largely dates from incorporation through the 1960s; much of the southern city developed after the 1970s.6

Economy and institutions

Top private employers in the city’s 2017 CAFR included the AMC Theatres support center, Reece & Nichols, and the American Academy of Family Physicians.2 Town Center Plaza is a major upscale retail node with few other metro locations for some tenants.2 Faith institutions of metro scale include the main campus of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection (large multi-site Methodist congregation headquartered in the area).2

Geography in the metro

Sources

See also

Footnotes

  1. U.S. Census Bureau — QuickFacts / 2020 profile for Leawood city, Kansas — asserts: 2020 census population 33,902. ↩ ↩2

  2. Wikipedia — “Leawood, Kansas.” — asserts: pop. 33,902 (2020); founded 1920s; incorporated Nov 30, 1948; named for Oscar G. Lee; geography and borders; Kroh/Nichols covenant pattern with 1945 sample language; employer table from 2017 CAFR; schools (SMSD / Blue Valley); Church of the Resurrection; Town Center Plaza. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18

  3. City of Leawood — “Leawood History.” — asserts: Oscar G. Lee arrival 1922; land between 79th–103rd and State Line–Belinder; Kroh brothers housing development; incorporation 1948; small-town / big-city framing. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Mary Sanchez, “Think J.C. Nichols Was Racist? Meet Kroh Brothers,” Flatland KC, Aug. 13, 2020 — asserts: Kroh covenant history and comparison to Nichols practices (used as secondary source for the covenant section; Wikipedia quotes the 1945 Leawood Estates text). ↩

  5. City of Leawood — “Fast Facts.” — asserts: incorporation 1948; decennial population series including 2020: 33,902. ↩

  6. Clio — “Trans-Mission Historical Marker and the History of Leawood…” — asserts: Old Leawood north of I-435 vs. post-1970s southern neighborhoods; Lee / Kroh founding sketch; affluent-suburb ranking. ↩

See also

Categories
  • Concept
  • Place
  • Neighborhood
  • Modern

On the record — ks.city/wiki/neighborhoods/leawood-ks · last revised 2026-08-11