Decatur County, Kansas

Founding: 1879 (declared in 1873)
Parent county: Unorganized territory

Namesake: Stephen Decatur, U.S. naval officer
Seat: Oberlin (1879–)

Land area: 894 square miles

Population (2020): 2,764

Population (historic): 4,180 (1880); 9,234 (1900); 8,866 (1930)

Periods of population growth: pre-1880–1890

Subdivisions: Five cities; 25 townships

Pre-1940 residences (estimated): 646 (35.9%)
Pre-1940 housing survival rate: 35%

Farm housing in disrepair (1950): 13.7%

Nonfarm housing in disrepair (1950): 4.3%

Average farmhouse value (1930): $1,099
Average outbuilding value (1930): $963
Average farmhouse size (1940): 5.4 rooms
Number of farms (1920): 1,320
Average farm size (1920): 310.9 acres
Sources of settlement: Kansas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Ohio, Germany, and Sweden
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Oberlin

Namesake: Oberlin, Ohio

Founding: 1878 (platting); 1878 (post office); 1885 (incorporation)

Population (2020): 1,644

Population (historic): 976 (1890); 937 (1900); 1,157 (1910); 1,247 (1920); 1,629 (1930)

Periods of population growth: pre-1890; 1900s; 1920–1940; 1950s
Pre-1940 residences (estimated): 324 (31.4%)
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