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Kansas County
Ellis County, Kansas
Hays's Fort Hays and Volga German heritage - from Fort Hays State Historic Site (Fort Hays - established 1865 to protect the Smoky Hill Trail - was one of the most important frontier posts in Kansas, commanded by George Custer, Phillip Sheridan, and Nelson Miles, and was the base from which the Army's campaigns against the Southern Cheyenne and Sioux were launched) to Ellis County's extraordinary Volga German heritage (Catherine the Great recruited German settlers to the Volga River region in the 1760s - their descendants emigrated to Kansas in the 1870s, settling Ellis County with a culturally distinct community whose churches, food traditions, and family names persist to this day) and Fort Hays State University.
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Office: Ellis County Fire & Emergency Management – 1105 E. 22nd Street, Hays, KS 67601 | (785) 625-1061. The Ellis County Fire Department has six companies (Catharine, Ellis, Hays, Munjor, Schoenchen, Victoria) with roughly 95 paid-per-call firefighters.
Sheriff: Ellis County Sheriff’s Office – 105 W. 12th Street, Hays, KS 67601 | (785) 625-1040 | Jail Admin (785) 625-1050 | Fax (785) 625-1058; Sheriff Scott J. Braun. Jail capacity 72 beds, located adjacent to the courthouse.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Serves Ellis, Hays, Schoenchen, and Victoria plus numerous unincorporated communities across roughly 900 square miles.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-70 and US-183 serve Hays, the county seat, in west-central Kansas.
Notes: Ellis County was established in 1867, growing up around Fort Fletcher (renamed Fort Hays in 1866). Independent county government was proclaimed in October 1867, with Hays becoming the permanent county seat in 1870.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Ellis County Courthouse – 1204 Fort Street, Hays, KS (built 1940-42 as a WPA project).
Notes: Hays City has a genuinely wild Old West history: in the late 1860s and early 1870s it was one of the most violent frontier towns in Kansas, home at various points to Wild Bill Hickok, Buffalo Bill Cody, Calamity Jane, and George Armstrong Custer with his 7th Cavalry stationed at Fort Hays. James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok served a brief and famously violent term as Ellis County Sheriff in 1869, elected to bring order to the lawless town; within weeks he had killed two men, including Samuel Strawhun, shot during a saloon brawl, and he lost his re-election bid that November after residents decided his methods were as dangerous as the disorder he was hired to stop. Both men Hickok killed were buried in the town’s Boot Hill Cemetery – genuinely older than the more famous Dodge City Boot Hill. Beginning in 1876, Ellis County also became the destination for a major wave of Volga German immigrants from Russia, who brought Turkey Red Wheat that transformed Kansas agriculture; the county remains recognized today as Kansas’s official “German Capital.”
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Ellis County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via ellisco.net.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Hays Public Library (Hays) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Fort Hays Historic Site, Boot Hill Cemetery, Fort Hays State University, and the Volga German heritage sites (including a replica Volga German Haus) are the county’s premier heritage attractions.
Notes: The genuine Wild Bill Hickok sheriff history and Volga German heritage are among the most colorful and historically rich facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Ellis County Appraiser’s Office – confirm current contact via ellisco.net.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Humane Society of the High Plains (Virginia Miller Animal Shelter) – 2050 E. US Highway 40, Hays, KS 67601 | (785) 625-5252 | Mailing: PO Box 311. No-kill shelter serving Hays, Ellis County, and surrounding northwest Kansas. Adoption fees: $90 dogs, $80 cats ($50 refundable spay/neuter deposit for unaltered animals). Hours: Tue-Sun 1-5 PM, closed Monday. Hays Police Department handles in-city animal complaints, (785) 625-1011.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Ellis County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via ellisco.net.
NOTES: Ellis County is the fifth county in the fourth Kansas Round 3 batch, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine Wild Bill Hickok sheriff history and Volga German heritage are among the most colorful and historically rich facts covered in this project. 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 Ellis County
Ellis County is west-central Kansas’s frontier fort and Volga German heritage county – Fort Hays’s Indian Wars history and the Volga German immigrant community’s cultural persistence define a distinctive High Plains identity.
Hays (the county seat, population ~20,000) is the commercial hub for a vast region of western Kansas – Fort Hays State University (enrollment ~14,000, with a large online enrollment) is the county’s largest employer and one of Kansas’s most important regional universities.
The Volga Germans – whose ancestors were recruited by Catherine the Great and later emigrated to Kansas – established communities in Ellis County that maintained distinctive religious, architectural, and culinary traditions for generations.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Ellis County Appraiser at 1204 Fort Street, Hays, KS 67601, phone 785-628-9440. KS residential assessed at 11.5% of appraised value.
Courts & Legal
Ellis County District Court at 1204 Fort Street, Hays, KS 67601, phone 785-628-9450, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
1204 Fort St., Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-9410
DISTRICT COURT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
1204 Fort St., Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-9415
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
1204 Fort St., Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-9410
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Ellis County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Fort Hays State University Forsyth Library, Hays, holds a strong Western Kansas history and genealogical collection.
Local societies
No dedicated Ellis County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories, though the Forsyth Library at Fort Hays State University serves as a strong regional resource.
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
Ellis County District Court, 23rd Judicial District 107 West 12th Street, Hays, KS 67601 (785) 628-9415 Ellis County is in west-central Kansas, seated in Hays, home to Fort Hays State University.
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 Ellis 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
1204 Fort St., Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-9240
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
1204 Fort St., Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-9410
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
1204 Fort St., Hays, KS 67601
(785) 628-9410
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Ellis County Health Dept
(785) 628-9400
KS DCF — Northwest Region
(785) 628-1871
KS Medicaid (KanCare)
(800) 792-4884
HaysMed (University of Kansas Health System)
haysmed.com (quality regional hospital; Level II Trauma)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Ellis County Health Department – confirm current contact via ellisco.net.
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