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Office: Clark County Emergency Management – 443 W. 4th Street, Ashland, KS 67831; Director Millie Fudge.
Sheriff: Clark County Sheriff’s Office – 221 W. 9th Avenue, Ashland, KS 67831 | Mailing: PO Box 566 | Non-emergency (620) 635-2802 | Fax (620) 635-2148; Sheriff Heath Heston. Office operates 24/7/365; dispatch is handled through Meade County Sheriff’s Office. Covers roughly 960 square miles and about 2,000 residents with 4 sworn officers.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Serves Ashland, Minneola, and Englewood.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-160 and US-283 serve Ashland, the county seat, in southwestern Kansas near the Oklahoma border.
Notes: Clark County has been anchored at Ashland since 1885, after the original county seat, Clark City, became a ghost town. The current courthouse (1950-51) features a carved map of the county at its entrance.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Clark County Courthouse – 913 Highland Street, Ashland, KS.
Notes: Clark County was the epicenter of the March 2017 Starbuck Fire, the largest wildfire in Kansas history. Sparked by wind-damaged power lines during extreme drought and 80-mph winds, the fire burned roughly 400,000-500,000 acres within the county alone (over 650,000 acres total across Kansas and Oklahoma), destroyed dozens of homes including much of the town of Englewood, claimed one life, and killed thousands of head of cattle – a genuinely devastating event that reshaped the county’s ranching community, including the well-known Gardiner Angus Ranch. The county’s resilience and rebuilding since 2017 is a significant, still-recent part of local history. On a lighter note, Clark State Fishing Lake sits in a scenic canyon of Bluff Creek, with visible Cretaceous-Permian geological contact zones considered notable by Kansas geologists.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Clark County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via clarkcountyks.com.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Ashland Public Library – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Clark State Fishing Lake and Wildlife Area is the county’s premier outdoor destination, set in a scenic canyon with visible rock formations spanning multiple geological eras.
Notes: The 2017 Starbuck Fire is presented here with care, as it remains a significant and relatively recent community loss.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Clark County Appraiser’s Office – confirm current contact via clarkcountyks.com.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
⚠️ No confirmed dedicated Clark County, Kansas animal shelter or humane society was found in current sourcing. Residents should contact the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, (620) 635-2802, or the City of Ashland for current animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Clark County Landfill – confirm current contact via clarkcountyks.com.
NOTES: Clark County is the sixth county in the second Kansas Round 3 batch, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The 2017 Starbuck Fire – the largest wildfire in Kansas history – is presented here with care, as it remains a significant and relatively recent community loss. ⚠️ 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 Clark County County
Clark County is southwest Kansas’s Red Hills gypsum landscape and shortgrass ranch county – the dramatic red buttes and canyon walls sculpted from gypsum and clay and the cattle ranching on scenic Red Hills rangeland define a remote community where Ashland serves the county’s sparse ranching families near the Oklahoma border.
Ashland (the county seat, population ~800) is Clark County’s governmental hub on US 160, a southwest Kansas ranching community whose Red Hills setting, Clark Lake access, and cattle economy anchor its identity.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Clark County Appraiser at 913 Highland Street, Ashland, KS 67831, phone 620-635-2623. KS assessed at 11.5% of appraised value.
Courts & Legal
Clark County District Court at 913 Highland Street, Ashland, KS 67831, phone 620-635-2753, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
913 Highland St., Ashland, KS 67831
(620) 635-2813
DISTRICT COURT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
913 Highland St., Ashland, KS 67831
(620) 635-2382
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
913 Highland St., Ashland, KS 67831
(620) 635-2813
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Clark County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Clark 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
Clark County District Court, 16th Judicial District 913 Highland Street, P.O. Box 790, Ashland, KS 67831 (620) 635-2753
Clark County is in southwestern Kansas; its seat, Ashland, has served as county seat since 1885. The 1950-1951 Clark County Courthouse (Modern style) is the current building.
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 Clark 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
913 Highland St., Ashland, KS 67831
(620) 635-2256
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
913 Highland St., Ashland, KS 67831
(620) 635-2813
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
913 Highland St., Ashland, KS 67831
(620) 635-2813
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Clark County Health Department – confirm current contact via clarkcountyks.com.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Ashland
Population: 2,000
Area: 976 sq mi
Established: 1885
Public Records
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