Decatur County is one of the northern most counties in Kansas, and home to the cities of Jennings, Oberlin, Dresden,
 Norcatur, and Clayton. Named for Commodore Stephen Decatur, of War of 1812 fame, the county was founded by J. A.
 Rodehauer, W. D. Stuart, W. P. Montgomery, Benjamin Lewis, and Henry P. Gundy on December 11,1879.

 The first churches were Methodist, one founded in Lyle and the other in Oberlin, both in 1877. The first school district was
 formed in 1876 on the Van Wormer land claim. Many legends surround the Cheyenne "autumn" of 1878. This last Indian
 raid in Kansas occurred in the county near Oberlin on September 30, 1878. Seventeen white men were killed in the raid. A state memorial to the event was dedicated on September 30, 1911. The county was also the location of Leavenworth and
 Pikes Peak Express station No. 16. On February 20, 1933, people in Norton and Decatur counties felt a moderate earthquake.
 Buildings and houses swayed and dishes and windows rattled. The earthquake was felt across a 6,000 square mile area in
 Kansas and Nebraska.