Get a Virtual Phone Number for Overland Park, Kansas

The city traces its roots to 1905, with the arrival of its founder, William B. Strang Jr., who plotted subdivisions along a military roadway on 600 acres he purchased that are now part of the old downtown area. One of those subdivisions was named Overland Park, and was the site for the first airplane flight west of the Mississippi with shows by the Wright brothers, sponsored by Strang, on December 24, 1909. The city was incorporated as a "first class city" on May 20, 1960. Its initial population was 28,085 and was bounded by Antioch Road (west), 107th Street (south), Chadwick (east) and I-35 (north) with 13 square miles (33.7 km2) incorporated. By 1990 the population was 111,790 and in 1995 the incorporated land area was 56.6 square miles (146.6 km2). Since 1995, the population has grown to 173,250 in 2008 with 75.33 square miles (195.10 km2) of land area. Overland Park is now the second most populous city in Kansas. (Wichita is the largest.) In early 2008, the city council voted to annex an additional 15 square miles (39 km2) south of existing city limits.[8] The annexation was approved for an additional 8 miles (13 km) and went into effect March 10. After the annexation, the city spans nearly the entire distance between the northern and southern borders of Johnson County.