Geary County, Kansas

Geary County was one of the first 33 counties organized by the Territorial Legislature in 1855. Most of the earliest settlers were soldiers and officers at Fort Riley. Colonel William Montgomery organized the town of Pawnee which is now on the military reservation. Thomas Reynolds settled near Ogden. Two army officers, Robert Wilson and Abram Barry incorporated the town of Junction City about 1855. The county was originally named Davis after the then (1855) Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis. In 1889 the name was changed to Geary for John White Geary, the third territorial governor of Kansas. Geary contains the towns of Grandview Plaza, Junction City and Milford.

Geary County was been home to many military leaders stationed at Fort Riley. Other people of note from Geary are the early editor of the Junction City Union newspaper (1861), George W. Martin, who was well known nationally for his aggressive editorials. He was later Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society. Also Governor James M. Harvey, 1869-1873, and Congressman John Davis, 1891-1895, was from the county.

Joseph Stanley Pennells novel, The History of Rome Hanks, a best seller in 1944, used Junction City as the novels location.

Geary County contains the sites of the Lamar Hotel in Junction City, the Geary County Museum, the Church of the Covenant and St. Pauls Lutheran Church (first log cabin built in the area) east of Junction City. Which was moved to its current location from Clarks Creek settlement.