For many millennia, the Great Plains of North America was inhabited by nomadic Native Americans.

In 1802, Spain returned most of the land to France, while keeping title to approximately 7,500 square miles.

In 1803, most of the land for modern day Kansas was acquired by the United States from France as part of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Purchase for 2.83 cents per acre.

It is named for the U.S. cavalry commander Colonel Alexander W. Doniphan[4] (1808–1887) of Liberty, Missouri, who played an important role in the Mexican–American War.

He was a zealous partisan in the failed effort made to extend slavery into Kansas.

[citation needed] Doniphan County is located in the northeastern corner of the state—it is bordered by Nebraska to the north and Missouri to the east.

Interior cities, such as Troy and Highland, receive their water from underground wells.

Doniphan County is part of the St. Joseph, MO-KS Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Kansas City-Overland Park-Kansas City, MO-KS Combined Statistical Area.

The board is responsible for setting the county's policies, procedures, and budgets as well as overseeing functions of their respective road and bridge shops.

[citation needed] Owing to its history of settlement by anti-slavery Yankees from Iowa and ultimately New England, Doniphan County became a Republican stronghold and has remained so ever since.

The county has voted for the Republican nominee in every presidential election since Kansas became a state, beginning in 1864.

[13] Only on three occasions has the Democratic nominee reached forty percent of Doniphan County's vote, all of these in national landslides, and on only seven occasions have the Democrats managed 35 percent of the vote in the county.

[16] † means a community is designated a Census-Designated Place (CDP) by the United States Census Bureau.