Shawnee Mission is a region of northern

Johnson County, Kansas Johnson County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Kansas, along the border of the state of Missouri. Its county seat is Olathe, Kansas, Olathe. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 609, ...

, part of the

Kansas City metropolitan area The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

in the United States. Since August 1, 1960, the

United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the federal governmen ...

has used the name to denote a large postal coverage area ( ZIP Codes 662xx) at the northeastern tip of Johnson County. It contains numerous towns, and the name was created to structure management of the post offices located therein. Effectively, these towns' post offices are subsidiaries of the Shawnee Mission Main Post Office in Mission, Kansas. Properly, a mailing address may indicate the delivery "place" as either Shawnee Mission, or the actual town name, and be treated the same. The following towns are included in the postal area known as Shawnee Mission: * Countryside (incorporated into the City of Mission in January, 2003) * Fairway * Lake Quivira (the northern part is in Wyandotte County, Kansas) * Leawood * Lenexa * Merriam * Mission * Mission Hills * Mission Woods * Overland Park (except some southern parts) * Prairie Village * Roeland Park * Shawnee * Stanley (unincorporated) * Westwood * Westwood Hills Parts of southern Overland Park are not part of Shawnee Mission, as they were later annexed from the town of Stillwell which was already covered by ZIP Code 66085. Additionally, delivery to the eastern edge of Overland Park was assigned to the Post Office in Prairie Village, with ZIP Code 66208, and the Prairie Village post office was not managed under the Shawnee Mission designation until 2012.

History

The name Shawnee Mission was derived from the Shawnee Methodist Mission. That historical mission to the Shawnee tribe was founded in 1830 by the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

church, in what became Wyandotte County, Kansas. The mission was moved to what became Johnson County in 1839. Shawnee Mission subsequently became a local, informal designation for the region surrounding the actual mission, especially before the development, expansion, and conjoint boundarying of the various towns in northeast Johnson County. The Shawnee Mission School District and Blue Valley School District encompass most of the area. Shawnee Mission is part of the

. As of 2015, the estimated combined population of Shawnee Mission's constituent cities is 402,662 (up from 325,147 in 2000). That is greater than the largest city in Kansas, Wichita.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Shawnee Indian Mission
1839 establishments in the United States Geography of Johnson County, Kansas Kansas City metropolitan area