The creek in turn was named after French-Canadian fur trapper Pierre LaBette who had moved to the area, living along the Neosho River, and marrying into the Osage tribe in the 1830s and 1840s.

[4] In the 1840s Labette County had a population mainly consisting of Osage people, although there were also many Cherokee and Euro-Americans.

[5] Between 1871 and 1873, at least eleven people vanished in the vicinity of an inn and general store operated by the Bender family in Labette County.

Governor Thomas A. Osborn offered a reward of $2,000 for the apprehension of the Benders, but they were never found.

[8] The Parsons, KS Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Labette County.

Following amendment to the Kansas Constitution in 1986, the county remained a prohibition, or "dry", county until 1996, when voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30% food sales requirement.

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

The cities of Chetopa, Oswego, and Parsons are considered governmentally independent and are excluded from the census figures for the townships.