Long before it was a city, Lake Quivira was a slice of paradise set in the rolling hills of Eastern Kansas. It was a treasure for the native American Indians who lived here first, and later for Charles Gault, a real estate developer who, in 1922, pursued his vision to create a recreational lake sourced by nearby abundant springs.

The development grew over the following decades and eventually became a private community. Plans to incorporate as a city first started in 1961. The idea was met with some resistance but, 10 years later, activities beyond the Lake Quivira gate provided the momentum to complete the process.

In early 1971, the city of Shawnee moved to annex areas of Lake Quivira. Our community saw this as a threat and launched a successful petition drive to incorporate. On July 12, 1971, the Johnson County Board of Commissioners approved Lake Quivira as a third-class city. That following September, Lake Quivira elected the first mayor and five city council members.

Quivirans discovered that becoming a city was easier than building a city government from the ground up. The first City Council passed 25 ordinances that initial year. They set the foundation for managing police and fire operations, as well as sewer, water treatment and the dam.

While the incorporation set aside the immediate danger of annexation by Shawnee, some deep-seated issues came to the forefront as a result of incorporation. Much of the city’s infrastructure has deteriorated over the 50 years since Quivira was established and presented a dangerous situation.

Incorporation allowed the community to tax resident homeowners and issue municipal bonds for improvement projects. During an era of high interest rates in the 1970s and 80s, Lake Quivira was able to finance improvement projects at more reasonable terms than before when they would have had to rely on private, more expensive financing.

Those early leaders tackled our infrastructure challenges head on. In the early 70s, the City reconstructed major parts of the dam, constructed the dam by the horse pasture, and reconfigured the water and sewer systems. In 1984 we built our current City Hall.