La Harpe is a city in Allen County, Kansas, United States.

[3] La Harpe was founded by the Fort Scott, Wichita & Western Railroad company (later the Missouri Pacific), and was platted in 1881.

[4] It was named after La Harpe, Illinois and they both commemorate a prominent French explorer of the southern Great Plains of North America, Bernard de la Harpe[5] When natural gas was discovered in the immediate vicinity in 1899 the city began to grow more rapidly and soon rose to be a city of importance.

It was incorporated as a city of the second class, and in 1910 had some of the largest zinc smelters in the world, two banks, an opera house, several good mercantile establishments, a newspaper, and all the municipal improvements usually found in cities of that class.

Its post office, first opened in November 1881,[6] was authorized to issue international money orders, and two rural routes supplied mail to the surrounding country.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.82 square miles (2.12 km2), all of it land.

[8] The 2020 United States census counted 480 people, 207 households, and 133 families in La Harpe.

There were 234 housing units at an average density of 293.6 per square mile (113.4/km2).

29.5% of households consisted of individuals and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

26.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

23.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.