[2] The county was named after Winfield Scott, a general in the United States Army from 1814 to 1861.

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

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.

Although the Kansas Constitution was amended in 1986 to allow the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with the approval of voters, Scott County has remained a prohibition, or "dry", county,[12] with 3.2% cereal-malt beverages available in grocery stores.

Two rooms on the second floor of the Cretcher Lumber Company office building were made available for the library.

L. W. Cretcher, owner of the lumber yard, gave the library a boost by painting the rooms, furnishing a stove, shelves, cupboards, lights, and free rent.

A room was set aside in the basement of the newly built courthouse for the library, which at that time possessed 861 books.

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

Scott City is considered governmentally independent and is excluded from the census figures for the townships.