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Kansas County
Meade County, Kansas
Dalton Gang Hideout and southwest Kansas outlaw heritage - from the Dalton Gang Hideout Museum (the historic farmhouse and tunnel system in Meade was used by the infamous Dalton Gang outlaws of the 1890s as an escape route - sister Eva Dalton lived here and the hidden tunnel leading from the house to the barn allowed gang members to evade lawmen, making it one of Kansas's most colorful outlaw heritage sites) to Meade County's natural gas and wheat economy (the county sits in the Hugoton natural gas area and its flat high plains support winter wheat and some irrigated agriculture near the Cimarron River corridor along the Oklahoma border).
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Office: Meade County Emergency Management – 200 N. Fowler Street, Meade, KS 67864 | (620) 873-8727.
Sheriff: Meade County Sheriff’s Office – Mailing: PO Box 487, Meade, KS 67864 | (620) 873-8765; Sheriff Doug Ritter. Meade County Detention Center operated as part of the Sheriff’s Office.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Meade County has faced significant wildfire activity in recent years; residents should stay alert to weather advisories and follow local emergency management guidance during fire-weather events.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-54/160 and US-283 serve Meade, the county seat, in southwestern Kansas near the Oklahoma border.
Notes: Meade County was established March 20, 1873, named for Union General George G. Meade, victor at Gettysburg.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Meade County Courthouse – Meade, KS.
Notes: Meade is home to the genuinely delightful Dalton Gang Hideout and Museum, one of southwest Kansas’s oldest tourist attractions. In 1887, Eva Dalton – sister of the notorious outlaw Dalton brothers – married local shopkeeper John Whipple and moved into a simple wood-frame Victorian cottage in Meade. Local legend holds that her brothers, active as outlaws in 1891-92, used the house as a hideout, escaping via a hidden 95-foot tunnel later discovered connecting the house to the barn. The Meade Chamber of Commerce, aided by WPA and National Youth Administration labor, restored and opened the site as a tourist attraction in 1941-42 (reluctantly branded “Meade Historical Park” at the federal government’s insistence, since officials didn’t want to glorify outlaws – though locals still call it the Dalton Gang Hideout). The site was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015 and is now maintained by the Meade County Historical Society, with visitors able to walk the original escape tunnel and tour the furnished 1887 house.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Meade County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via meadeco.org.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Meade Public Library (Meade) – confirm current address/phone via the county library system.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Dalton Gang Hideout and Museum, Meade State Park, and the Meade County Historical Museum are the county’s premier heritage and outdoor attractions.
Notes: The genuine, if legend-embellished, Dalton Gang connection and its charming mid-century roadside-attraction history are distinctive facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Meade County Appraiser’s Office – confirm current contact via meadeco.org.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
⚠️ No confirmed dedicated Meade County animal shelter was found in current sourcing. Residents should contact the Meade County Sheriff’s Office, (620) 873-8765, for current animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Meade County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via meadeco.org.
NOTES: Meade County is the first county in the tenth Kansas Round 3 batch, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, if legend-embellished, Dalton Gang connection and its charming mid-century roadside-attraction history 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 Meade County
Meade County is southwest Kansas’s Dalton Gang outlaw heritage and Hugoton gas field wheat county – the infamous outlaw tunnel and the county’s natural gas and wheat production define a remote southwest Kansas border community where Meade serves agricultural and energy workers near Oklahoma.
Meade (the county seat, population ~1,600) is Meade County’s governmental hub, a southwest Kansas wheat and gas town on US 160 near the Oklahoma border.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Meade County Appraiser at 200 N. Fowler Street, Meade, KS 67864, phone 620-873-8780.
Courts & Legal
Meade County District Court at 200 N. Fowler Street, Meade, KS 67864, phone 620-873-8750, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
200 N. Fowler St., Meade, KS 67864
(620) 873-8700
DISTRICT COURT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
200 N. Fowler St., Meade, KS 67864
(620) 873-2668
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
200 N. Fowler St., Meade, KS 67864
(620) 873-8700
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Meade County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Meade State Park is a significant local natural and recreational landmark.
Local societies
No dedicated Meade 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
Meade County District Court 200 North Fowler Avenue, P.O. Box 623, Meade, KS 67864 Meade County is in southwestern Kansas on the Oklahoma border, home to Meade State Park.
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 Meade 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
200 N. Fowler St., Meade, KS 67864
(620) 873-2376
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
200 N. Fowler St., Meade, KS 67864
(620) 873-8700
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
200 N. Fowler St., Meade, KS 67864
(620) 873-8700
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Meade District Hospital / Meade Medical Clinic – confirm current contact via cityofmeade.org.
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