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Office: Cheyenne County Emergency Management – 125 W. Business US Highway 36, St. Francis, KS 67756; Director Ryan Murray. Open records available via the Cheyenne County Clerk’s Office, 212 E. Washington, (785) 332-2560.
Sheriff: Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office – 212 E. Washington Street, St. Francis, KS 67756 | Mailing: PO Box 613 | (785) 332-8880 | Fax (785) 332-8882; Sheriff Craig Van Allen (also reported as Sheriff Cody Beeson – confirm current officeholder). Vehicle inspections Tue/Wed/Thu 9 AM-4 PM. The Sheriff’s Office also contracts law enforcement for Bird City and provides mutual aid in St. Francis.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-36 and KS-27 serve St. Francis, the county seat, in the extreme northwestern corner of Kansas along the Republican River.
Notes: Cheyenne County – Kansas’s most northwestern county – was established March 20, 1873, named for the Cheyenne tribe. St. Francis began as the town of Wano and relocated in 1887-88 to be nearer the incoming railroad, becoming the county seat in 1889.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Cheyenne County Courthouse – 212 E. Washington Street, St. Francis, KS (built 1924-25, Classical Revival style, National Register of Historic Places since 2002).
Notes: Cheyenne County is home to the Arikaree Breaks, a dramatic 36-mile-long “badlands” region of steep canyons and ravines carved into wind-deposited loess soil – a striking contrast to the surrounding flat plains, and one of the “8 Wonders of Kansas Geography.” The county also has genuine celebrity and space-history connections: aviator Charles Lindbergh worked as a barnstorming exhibition mechanic and stayed in Bird City in 1922 before his famous transatlantic flight, and Apollo 17 astronaut Ron Evans – the last person to pilot a spacecraft to the Moon – was born in St. Francis in 1933.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Cheyenne County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via cncoks.us.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
St. Francis Public Library – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Arikaree Breaks scenic driving tour, the Land & Sky Scenic Byway, and the Cheyenne County Museum are the county’s premier natural and heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine geological drama of the Arikaree Breaks, alongside the Lindbergh and Ron Evans connections, are distinctive facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Cheyenne County Appraiser’s Office – confirm current contact via cncoks.us.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
⚠️ No confirmed dedicated Cheyenne County, Kansas animal shelter or humane society was found in current sourcing (a same-named “Cheyenne Animal Shelter” surfaced but is located in Cheyenne, Wyoming – a different state, not applicable here). Residents should contact the Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office, (785) 332-8880, for current animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Cheyenne County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via cncoks.us.
NOTES: Cheyenne County is the fifth county in the second Kansas Round 3 batch, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine geological drama of the Arikaree Breaks, alongside the Lindbergh and Ron Evans connections, are distinctive facts covered 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 Cheyenne County County
Cheyenne County is northwest Kansas’s Republican River and shortgrass prairie wheat county – the river that provided water to early High Plains settlement and the flat winter wheat fields define a remote community where St. Francis serves the county’s farming families near the Colorado and Nebraska borders.
St. Francis (the county seat, population ~1,200) is Cheyenne County’s governmental hub on US 36, a northwest Kansas agricultural community near the tri-state corner whose wheat farming economy and courthouse anchor its identity.
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Cheyenne County Appraiser at 212 E. Washington Street, St. Francis, KS 67756, phone 785-332-8870. KS assessed at 11.5% of appraised value.
Courts & Legal
Cheyenne County District Court at 212 E. Washington Street, St. Francis, KS 67756, phone 785-332-8800, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
212 E. Washington St., St. Francis, KS 67756
(785) 332-8850
DISTRICT COURT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
212 E. Washington St., St. Francis, KS 67756
(785) 332-8600
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
212 E. Washington St., St. Francis, KS 67756
(785) 332-8850
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Cheyenne County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Cheyenne 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
Cheyenne County District Court, 15th Judicial District 212 East Washington Street, P.O. Box 646, St. Francis, KS 67756 (785) 332-8850
Cheyenne County is in Kansas’s extreme northwestern corner, named for the Cheyenne people, founded March 20, 1873. The 1924-1925 Cheyenne County Courthouse (Classical Revival, National Register of Historic Places) sits in St. Francis.
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 Cheyenne 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
212 E. Washington St., St. Francis, KS 67756
(785) 332-2021
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
212 E. Washington St., St. Francis, KS 67756
(785) 332-8850
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
212 E. Washington St., St. Francis, KS 67756
(785) 332-8850
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Cheyenne County Health Dept
(785) 332-3985
KS DCF — Northwest Region
(785) 460-4500
KS Medicaid (KanCare)
(800) 792-4884
Cheyenne County Hospital
cheyennecountyhospital.com (St. Francis — quality critical access hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Cheyenne County Hospital – confirm current contact via cncoks.us.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: St. Francis
Population: 2,600
Area: 1,020 sq mi
Established: 1886
Public Records
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