Peaked at 2,265 in 1890; 929 people lived here in 2020.
16 censuses, 1870–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Chetopa’s Wikipedia page.
Every building
Chetopa, building by building, 1885–1911
Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.
The community began as an Osage village, named after its Chief Chetopah, whose name in the Osage language signifies "four lodges." He was an advocate of peace, the leading chief of the Little Osage band, and one of the chief counselors of the Osage Nation.
The Osage had a large reservation in southern Kansas since the Osage Treaty of 1825. White settlers were not supposed to be in the area, but in 1847, a trading post to exchange goods with the Osage Nation was established by Larkin McGhee. By the time of McGhee's arrival, there were three other white families squatting there, plus two families with a white husband and a Cherokee wife at Chetopah. There were also many Osage on their reservation there.
Passages that mention Chetopa, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Labette County, Kansas1901 · page 597Read the page →
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miles northwest of Fort Worth, where he was engaged quite extensively in farming. He next moved to Labette county, Kansas, and settled two miles southeast of Chetopa, where he took a claim in the spring of 1867, and ranked among the pioneers of the county. He afterward moved to the town of Chetopa, where he resided until his death, January 19, 1878,
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History of Labette County, Kansas1901 · page 92Read the page →
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storm at Chetopa; signs' blown down, etc. June 14th, another hard wind storm, from west to east, over southern portion of county, partly removed Kinston Presbyterian church from foundation, and blew in one or two buildings in Chetopa. July — Wind blew down east span of Chetopa bridge, then in process of erection.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Chetopa, 1867 to 1944
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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