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Office: Chase County Emergency Management – 301 Walnut Street, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845 | (620) 273-6589 ext. 232.
Sheriff: Chase County Sheriff’s Office – 301 Walnut Street, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845 | Mailing: PO Box 628 | (620) 273-6313; Sheriff Jacob Welsh. Office operates 24/7 with its own dispatch, shares a building with the Detention Center.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Covers roughly 778 square miles including Cottonwood Falls, Strong City, Elmdale, Matfield Green, and Cedar Point.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-50 and KS-177 (the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway) serve Cottonwood Falls, the county seat, in the Flint Hills of east-central Kansas.
Notes: Chase County was established February 11, 1859 in the Kansas Territory, named for Salmon P. Chase. Zebulon Pike’s 1806 expedition passed through the area along the Cottonwood River.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Chase County Courthouse – Cottonwood Falls, KS, designed by John G. Haskell (architect of the Kansas State Capitol), operating since 1873.
Notes: Chase County is home to the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the only unit in the entire U.S. National Park System devoted to North America’s tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Tallgrass prairie once covered roughly 170 million acres from Kansas to Indiana and Canada to Texas; less than 4% survives today, most of it protected here in the rocky, thin-soiled Flint Hills that were spared the plow. Created in 1996 as the National Park System’s 370th unit (10,894 acres, jointly managed by the National Park Service and The Nature Conservancy), the preserve centers on the historic Spring Hill (Z Bar) Ranch – an 1881 limestone Second Empire ranch house and three-story limestone barn built by cattleman Stephen F. Jones, designated a National Historic Landmark and one of the first properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas (1971). A bison herd was reintroduced to the preserve in 2009, and 40 miles of trails now let visitors walk through prairie grass reaching four to seven feet tall by autumn.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Chase County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via chasecountyks.com.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Cottonwood Falls Public Library – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway, and the historic Spring Hill Ranch complex are the county’s premier and nationally significant natural and heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine status of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve as the only National Park Service unit dedicated to tallgrass prairie is one of the most ecologically significant sites covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Chase County Appraiser’s Office – confirm current contact via chasecountyks.com.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
⚠️ No confirmed dedicated Chase County animal shelter or humane society was found in current sourcing. Residents should contact the Chase County Sheriff’s Office, (620) 273-6313, or nearby regional shelters (e.g., in Lyon or Butler counties) for current animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Chase County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via chasecountyks.com.
NOTES: Chase County is the second county in the second Kansas Round 3 batch, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine status of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve as the only National Park Service unit dedicated to tallgrass prairie is one of the most ecologically significant sites covered anywhere in this project. ⚠️ Animal services could not be confirmed and are flagged for follow-up rather than smoothed over. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Chase County County
Chase County is Kansas’s Flint Hills tallgrass prairie county – the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve protecting the largest intact tallgrass prairie on earth and the 1873 limestone courthouse that is Kansas’s oldest still in operation define a Flint Hills community whose natural and architectural heritage make it one of the most significant small counties on the Great Plains.
Cottonwood Falls (the county seat, population ~900) is Chase County’s governmental hub on US 50, a Flint Hills community whose 1873 courthouse, tallgrass prairie gateway, and scenic Kansas River valley anchor its identity.
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Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Chase County Appraiser at 300 Pearl Street, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845, phone 620-273-6423. KS assessed at 11.5% of appraised value.
Courts & Legal
Chase County District Court at 300 Pearl Street, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845, phone 620-273-6423, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
300 Pearl St., Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845
(620) 273-6423
DISTRICT COURT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
300 Pearl St., Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845
(620) 273-6314
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
300 Pearl St., Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845
(620) 273-6423
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Chase County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
The historic Chase County Courthouse, Kansas’s oldest still in operation, and the surrounding Flint Hills tallgrass prairie region are significant local landmarks.
Local societies
No dedicated Chase County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Chase County District Court, 5th Judicial District 300 Pearl Street, P.O. Box 529, Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845 (620) 273-6319
Chase County is in the Flint Hills region of east-central Kansas. The 1871-1873 Chase County Courthouse (National Register of Historic Places) is the oldest courthouse in Kansas still in operation.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Kansas has NOT adopted the Uniform Probate Code, maintaining its own statutory framework under the Kansas Probate Code (K.S.A. Chapter 59). Kansas offers several tracks depending on estate size and complexity:
Small Estate Affidavit – for estates where the total value of probate property, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $75,000 (raised from $40,000 effective July 1, 2023), available under K.S.A. 59-1507b. This transfers personal property only. If the decedent left a will, it must still be filed with the probate court even though it isn’t being formally probated.
Simplified Administration – under the Kansas Simplified Estates Act (K.S.A. 59-3201 et seq.), the most common route for straightforward estates.
Formal Probate – supervised or unsupervised administration through the District Court for larger or more complex estates.
A will must be filed for probate within 6 months of death, or it may not be admitted, forcing the estate into intestate distribution.
Step 2: filing for formal probate
File a Petition for Probate of Will and Appointment of Executor (if there’s a will) or a Petition for Administration (if intestate) with the Chase County District Court.
The court admits the will (if any) and appoints the personal representative.
Notice to creditors is published per court order; creditors have a defined window to file claims.
The personal representative inventories assets, pays valid debts and expenses, and – under unsupervised administration – acts with reduced court check-ins.
Without a surviving spouse or children, Kansas intestate succession law (K.S.A. 59-501 et seq.) determines which blood relatives inherit.
After debts are paid, the personal representative distributes assets and files a final accounting; the court closes the estate upon approval.
What it costs
Court costs may be remitted for small estates under recent statutory changes.
Executor/administrator and attorney fees are generally reasonable-fee based rather than a fixed statutory percentage.
Typical timelines: Small Estate Affidavit can proceed relatively quickly; formal probate commonly takes several months to over a year.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
300 Pearl St., Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845
(620) 273-8546
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
300 Pearl St., Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845
(620) 273-6423
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
300 Pearl St., Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845
(620) 273-6423
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Chase County Health Dept
(620) 273-6310
KS DCF — South Central Region
(620) 342-1750
KS Medicaid (KanCare)
(800) 792-4884
Newman Regional Health (Emporia)
newmanrh.org (nearest hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Chase County Health Department – confirm current contact via chasecountyks.com.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Cottonwood Falls
Population: 2,600
Area: 774 sq mi
Established: 1859
Public Records
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