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Office: Trego County Emergency Management – 216 N. Main Street, WaKeeney, KS 67672 | (785) 743-2753; Director Kathleen Fabrizius. Rural Fire Department maintains 9 stations countywide.
Sheriff: Trego County Sheriff’s Office – 525 Warren Avenue, WaKeeney, KS 67672 | (785) 743-5721; established July 1879, serving roughly 900 square miles including WaKeeney, Collyer, and Ogallah, plus patrol/monitoring of Cedar Bluff State Park alongside Kansas Wildlife and Parks. Jail capacity 16 beds. Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30 AM-4:30 PM (24-hour staffing for law enforcement/custody).
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Controlled burns require advance approval through Trego County Communications, (785) 743-5721.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-70 and US-283 intersect at WaKeeney, the county seat, in northwestern Kansas.
Notes: Trego County was organized June 21, 1879, named for Civil War Captain Edgar Poe Trego of the 8th Kansas Division, killed at the Battle of Chickamauga. WaKeeney was founded in 1877 by business partners Albert Warren and James Keeney (their names combined to form “WaKeeney”), planned in a Chicago office as “The Queen City of the High Plains,” and became the county seat in March 1880.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Trego County Courthouse – WaKeeney, KS (limestone building featured in the 1973 film “Paper Moon,” starring Ryan O’Neal and Tatum O’Neal).
Notes: WaKeeney has genuinely been known as the “Christmas City of the High Plains” since 1950 – over 70 years of tradition. Each year from the Saturday after Thanksgiving through New Year’s, the town transforms with a handmade 35-foot pine tree at Main Street and Russell Avenue, roughly 3 miles of electrical wiring, 1,400 pounds of fresh greenery, and 1,100 yards of greenery roping, plus year-round LED perimeter lighting downtown and a small “North Pole” display. Nearby, Castle Rock – a striking chalk pinnacle rising from the prairie roughly 47 miles southwest of WaKeeney near the Trego-Gove county line – is recognized as one of the “8 Wonders of Kansas” for its badlands-like chalk formations and rich fossil beds, remnants of an ancient inland sea. The Butterfield Overland Despatch stagecoach route also crossed the southern part of the county in the 1860s, with surviving limestone trail markers and visible wagon ruts in places.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Kansas Veterans’ Cemetery at WaKeeney – a state veterans cemetery. Trego County Veterans Affairs – confirm current contact via tregocountyks.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
WaKeeney Public Library – collection of roughly 23,900 volumes, circulating about 12,700 items annually; wakeeney.nwkls.org.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Castle Rock, the WaKeeney “Christmas City” downtown display, the Trego County Historical Society Museum, and Cedar Bluff State Park are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine, seven-decade “Christmas City of the High Plains” tradition and the striking Castle Rock chalk formation are among the most distinctive local traditions and natural landmarks covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Trego County Appraiser’s Office – confirm current contact via tregocountyks.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
⚠️ No confirmed dedicated Trego County animal shelter was found in current sourcing. WaKeeney Animal Hospital (private veterinary practice, established 1955) – 112 Barclay Avenue, WaKeeney, KS 67672 | (785) 743-5531. Residents should contact the Trego County Sheriff’s Office, (785) 743-5721, for current animal control arrangements.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Trego County Solid Waste – confirm current contact via tregocountyks.gov.
NOTES: Trego County is the second county in the seventeenth Kansas Round 3 batch, under the A+ sourced standard established for this project. The genuine, seven-decade “Christmas City of the High Plains” tradition and the striking Castle Rock chalk formation are among the most distinctive local traditions and natural landmarks 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 Trego County County
Trego County is west-central Kansas’s Christmas City of the High Plains and Smoky Hill River county – WaKeeney’s celebrated holiday lights tradition and the chalk and limestone river valley define a community where WaKeeney serves the county’s wheat and cattle farming families on I-70.
WaKeeney (the county seat, population ~1,700) is Trego County’s governmental hub on I-70, a west-central Kansas community whose Christmas City tradition, Smoky Hill River setting, and wheat economy anchor its identity as an I-70 High Plains crossroads.
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Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Trego County Appraiser at 216 N. Main Street, WaKeeney, KS 67672, phone 785-743-5523. KS assessed at 11.5% of appraised value.
Courts & Legal
Trego County District Court at 216 N. Main Street, WaKeeney, KS 67672, phone 785-743-5523, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
216 N. Main St., WaKeeney, KS 67672
(785) 743-5773
DISTRICT COURT CLERK (Court Records, Marriage Licenses)
216 N. Main St., WaKeeney, KS 67672
(785) 743-5461
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
216 N. Main St., WaKeeney, KS 67672
(785) 743-5773
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Trego County District Court (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Trego 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
Trego County District Court, 23rd Judicial District 216 North Main Street, WaKeeney, KS 67672 (785) 743-2148
Trego County was founded June 21, 1879, named for Edgar Poe Trego. Its seat, WaKeeney, sits along Interstate 70 and is known as the “Christmas City of the High Plains.”
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 Trego 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
216 N. Main St., WaKeeney, KS 67672
(785) 743-5223
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Records, Elections)
216 N. Main St., WaKeeney, KS 67672
(785) 743-5773
ELECTIONS (County Clerk)
216 N. Main St., WaKeeney, KS 67672
(785) 743-5773
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Trego County Health Department – confirm current contact via tregocountyks.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: WaKeeney
Population: 2,900
Area: 889 sq mi
Established: 1879
Public Records
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