Montara is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Shawnee County, Kansas Shawnee County is located in northeast Kansas, in the central United States. Its county seat and most populous city is Topeka, the state capital. As of the 2020 census, the population was 178,909, making it the third-most populous county ...

, United States. It is located south of

Topeka Topeka ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeaste ...

History

Montara was largely developed in the 1960s as military housing for the nearby

Forbes Air Force Base ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The c ...

, and was known as Cullen Village. The base closed in 1973. In 1979, Lario Enterprises bought the community from the city of

, and began refurbishing the approximately 1,050 units for resale. After about 500 units were sold by 1989, the developer turned to renting out units, leaving an owner/renter split in the community (40/60 in 2003). While a large portion of the homes are owned and rented out b
Montara Leasing
over time in recent years a large number of homes have been bought and are now owner-occupied. In 2014, several properties were damaged in arson fires. Montara is a quiet community about 3 miles south of

and near the community of Pauline and

Topeka Regional Airport Topeka Regional Airport , formerly known as Forbes Field, is a joint civil-military public airport owned by the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority in Shawnee County, Kansas, seven miles south of downtown Topeka, the capital city of Kansas. ...

. There are three parks, one on the north end, and two on the south end. There are also three baseball diamonds and a soccer field located to the east and behind the Paris Community Center. It also consist of Forbes Golf course and a quarter midget track. There is also a community center (Shawnee County South Community Center) nearby.

Economy

In March 2013, Mars Chocolate North America opened a $250 million plant south of Topeka near the Montara neighborhood. The large industrial complex brought concerns about increased property values.

is located near Montara.

Education

The community is served by

Auburn–Washburn USD 437 Auburn–Washburn USD 437 is a public unified school district headquartered in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It serves Southern and Southwestern Shawnee County, as well as a small portion of extreme northern Osage County. It serves Southwe ...

public school district. Pauline Central Primary & Pauline South Intermediate schools are located in Montara.

References

External links

* Shawnee County maps
CurrentHistoric
KDOT {{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Shawnee County, Kansas Unincorporated communities in Kansas

History

Economy

Education

References

Further reading

External links