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

These tribes considered native included: the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kansa, Kiowa, Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita.

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.

In 1806, Zebulon Pike led the Pike Expedition westward from St Louis, Missouri, of which part of their journey followed the Cottonwood River through Marion County near the current cities of Florence, Marion, Durham.

In 1855, Marion County was established within the Kansas Territory, which included the land for modern day Florence.

[8] The first settlers in Marion County located on Doyle Creek, near the present site of Florence.

[10] The Florence Town Company was a group of men who learned of the proposed route of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, extended from Emporia, who decided on a town site where the railroad would cross the Cottonwood River.

On September 23, 1870, there was announcement in The Emporia News about a new town named "Florence" at the mouth of Doyle Creek.

[10] In 1871, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway extended a main line from Emporia through Florence to Newton.

[16] The line was leased and operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

[17] The original branch line connected Florence, Burns, De Graff, El Dorado, Augusta, Douglass, Rock, Akron, Winfield, Arkansas City.

As early as 1875, city leaders of Marion held a meeting to consider a branch railroad from Florence.

[18] The line was leased and operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

The original branch line connected Florence, Marion, Canada, Hillsboro, Lehigh, Canton, Galva, McPherson, Conway, Windom, Little River, Mitchell, Lyons, Chase, Ellinwood.

In 1877, Fred Harvey, an entrepreneur who is credited with establishing the first restaurant chain in the United States, bought the Clifton Hotel near the Florence railroad station for $5,370.

In June and July 1951, due to heavy rains, rivers and streams flooded numerous cities in Kansas, including Florence.

Many reservoirs and levees were built in Kansas as part of a response to the Great Flood of 1951.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.77 square miles (1.99 km2), all land.

[21] The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.

[49] The city is served by the Florence Public Library at 324 North Main Street.

By fall 2003, the Florence intersection was converted to a four-way stop with beacons and rumble strips.

To make the intersection safer, the Kansas Department of Transportation converted it into a 205-feet diameter roundabout, and completed it in September 2006.