[1] The county was named after Hiero Wilson, a colonel in the American Civil War.

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, but keeping title to about 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.

No Democratic presidential candidate has carried Wilson County since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, and none have passed 36 percent since Jimmy Carter in 1976.

Following amendment to the Kansas Constitution in 1986, the county remained a prohibition, or "dry", county until 1998, when voters approved the sale of alcoholic liquor by the individual drink with a 30 percent food sales requirement.

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

The cities of Fredonia and Neodesha are considered governmentally independent and are excluded from the census figures for the townships.