Atchison is a city situated along the Missouri River in the eastern part of Atchison County, located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States. The population was estimated to be 10,169 in the year 2005. It is the county seat and most populous city of Atchison County. The city is named in honor of David Rice Atchison, United States senator from Missouri, and was the original eastern terminus of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad.

Atchison was the birthplace of aviatrix Amelia Earhart. The Amelia Earhart Festival held each July annually attracts an estimated 30,000–50,000 people.

History

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Atchison was founded in 1854 and named in honor of Senator Atchison, who, when Kansas was opened for settlement, interested some of his friends in the scheme of forming a city in the new territory. The primary source for this history. However, it seems that all were not agreed upon the location he had selected, and on July 20, 1854, Dr. John H. Stringfellow, Ira Norris, Leonidas Oldham, James B. Martin and Neal Owens left Platte City, Missouri, to decide definitely upon a site. They crossed the Missouri River near Fort Leavenworth and continued to travel up stream along the western bank until they reached the place where Atchison now stands, where they found a site that was the natural outlet of a remarkably rich agricultural region just open to settlement. They also found that two men named George M. Million and Samuel Dickson had staked claims near the river. Million's claim lay south of what is now known as Atchison Street and consisted of a quarter section. Dickson had built a small cabin on his claim, and this cabin was the first structure erected on the site of the present city. Million had a ferry, on which he crossed to the Missouri side of the river to his home, but on the day the prospectors arrived he was on the Kansas side. From a map in his possession, the prospectors found that they were at the location decided upon before leaving Missouri.

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