De Soto is a city along the Kansas River, in Johnson and Leavenworth counties in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the 2021 estimate is 6,380.
History
left|thumb|De Soto Water Tower & Sunflower Mural (2020)
The land that would become De Soto was part of a large territory extending to present-day St. Louis that was occupied by the Osage people, who were relocated from east of the Mississippi River in the upper Midwest. After the Treaty of St Louis in 1825, the Shawnee were forcibly relocated from Cape Girardeau to southeastern Kansas near the Neosho River. Only the Black Bob band of Shawnee resisted removal, however by 1828 they too migrated west and settled in northeastern Kansas in and around De Soto along the Kansas River. Later in the 19th century, many cultures of Native Americans arrived in the area after being pushed west by European-American pressure following colonial expansion and later the discovery of Gold in 1849. Between 1829 and 1854 almost thirty tribes were assigned reservations in what would become Kansas Territory. The Shawnee Methodist Mission was built in the De Soto area to minister to the tribe. In 1858, John Possum, a Shawnee man, and Hattie Possum sold to John F. Legate, S. Todd and Stratton and Williams for $1,200. The next sale was 80 acres to the De Soto Town Company in July 1861 for $1,176. Major James B. Abbot is remembered as one of the town's pioneer landowners and the builder of Abbot Hall. Today, Abbot Hall is one of two town museums. De Soto was incorporated as a city on October 1, 1897.
With the construction of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant south of De Soto, the city's population boomed in the early 1940s during World War II. In May 1943, a Kansas City Star article reported "a town rapidly growing, with a population increase from 400 to 1,000 persons in under a year." This sudden overflow in population put a great strain on housing and other resources in the city; however, many original residents prospered during this time, buying property and starting new businesses. Production flowed steadily at the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant until the plant went on standby in March 1948, with small-scale production following shortly after until its closure in 1993.
1951 flood
In mid-July 1951, heavy rains led to a great rise of water in the Kansas River and other surrounding areas of the central United States, known as the Great Flood of 1951. De Soto, along the south side of the river, was severely damaged. The river crest at De Soto was , the highest recorded on the Kansas River during the flood. Most of the downtown area was completely flooded, with over of standing water in some places.
Recent growth
thumb|De Soto welcome sign, off K-10 highway (2020)
Since the 2008 recession came to an end, growth in De Soto has steadily picked up, with substantial commercial development in the K-10 Business District.
In 2019, the Kansas City Star reported that De Soto was, and is expected to remain the second fastest-growing city in the Kansas City metro area, trailing only Spring Hill.
After the closure of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant in 1993, plans for potential development of the 15.5 square-mile lot south of De Soto began to receive attention. After several abandoned proposals for large-scale developments and attractions, a master use plan was adopted by the authorities of Olathe, De Soto, Johnson County, and Sunflower Redevelopment Group. The master plan called for high density housing, major commercial zoning, a "downtown" area for offices, high density commercial and civic uses, and land promised to The University of Kansas, Kansas State University and the City of De Soto, as well as land being reserved for the army reserves, parks and other public spaces. Additional funding allocation and priority from the Army led to the announcement that the portions of the lot closest to De Soto would be ready for development by 2020.
In April 2021, unrelated to the development at the former ammunition plant site, Flint Logistics announced a proposal to construct a $500 million logistics center and high-density residential complex three miles west of De Soto, petitioning annexation of the property adjacent to the Johnson-Douglas County line.
In 2021, following extensive cleanup and decontamination of site, clearance for development was granted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the northernmost portion of the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant. De Soto initiated annexation of 10 square miles, doubling the city's footprint. The agreement was an amendment to the original from 2021, extending the existing TIF district into the most recently annexed portion, excluding a small portion outside of the De Soto USD 232, with most of the original stipulations left intact. The city avoided extending the TIF district into the portion of recently annexed land that lie within Gardner-Edgerton USD 231, fearing that school board would consider veto of the TIF agreement in its entirety, requiring the city to restart the agreement approval process. A part of the amended agreement is that should development not occur within the time frame, the city is not obligated to de-annex the property, as was the contingency with the original agreement.
Geography
left|thumb|Space view from ISS [[Expedition 73 (June 2025)]]
thumb|De Soto Aquatic Center (2022)
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 1.15%, are water. While the majority of De Soto is located in northwestern Johnson County at (38.9791709, -94.9685783), the golf course north of the Kansas River is located in southern Leavenworth County.
Considered by many locals to be an exurb, rather than a suburb, De Soto is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, and it borders other communities on the eastern edges. These include Shawnee to the northeast, Lenexa to the east, and Olathe to the southeast.
De Soto currently has annexation agreements with Olathe and Gardner, guaranteeing De Soto will be able to annex as far south as 127th Street and as far east as meeting Olathe at its western boundary. Subsequently, in October 2022, De Soto initiated annexation of 2,800 acres south of the formerly agreed southernmost boundary with Gardner, at the behest of Sunflower Redevelopment Group, which the city argued took precedence since it was a voluntary annexation request.