Amish in Kansas
The Great Plains have long attracted Amish settlement. Â However, Amish populations in most Great Plains states, such as Oklahoma and Montana, remain low.
Kansas holds to this pattern; despite a history of Amish settlement stretching back 140 years, the Sunflower State is today home to only about a dozen church districts.
There are some interesting communities in Kansas, however. Â The settlements in Reno County (Yoder; Hutchinson) as well as Anderson County (Garnett) are generally technologically progressive, allowing tractors to be used for field work and in some cases on the road.
The Amish at Garnett (seen recently in a National Geographic video on Amish courtship) hold Sunday school as well as a week-long summer Bible school. Â Nearly all Amish children in this settlement attend a local public school.
Other communities in Kansas, such as that at Fort Scott, maintain different church standards. Â Amish at Fort Scott do not permit indoor plumbing, for example.
Read more about Kansas Amish in today’s new Amish State Guide entry.
Photo credit: Lisa BC
I am finding it very interesting how different Amish can be from settlement to settlement. I guess in a sense it is not much different than our various denominations in the secular world. We all have similarities yet differences. I am finding these postings very educational. Thanks Erik for your hard work!!
My hubby will like this being as he is from Kansas. we have visited several stores at the Yoder district.
Keep up the good work; any information about the Amish is of great interest to me!
Thanks everyone, glad you enjoyed the posts–and Alice I had a chance to respond to your comments on the Kansas Amish state guide page, thanks for raising those interesting points.
I enjoyed learning a bit more about Yoder Heritage Day (and particularly the buggy racing!) while researching this entry.
More Info wanted
How can I learn more about the Amish in Yoder? I have visited there often and it seems all the stores have electricity. Are the stores owned and ran by the Amish? If electricity is allowed in the stores, is it allowed in their homes as well? Do the Amish children attend public school in Yoder? Where do they attend church? Is it in their own homes or do they have a church building?
Yoder Amish
Hi Sharon, did you follow the link above and go to the Kansas Amish state guide entry already? There is some more info there on Yoder:
https://amishamerica.com/kansas-amish/
Most Amish (99%) attend church at home, which I suspect would be the case at Yoder (occasionally Amish worship in meetinghouses, but that is quite rare). If Amish are working in the businesses, and they seem fairly low-tech and plain, there is a good chance they are owned and run by Amish.
The Amish at Yoder are fairly progressive technologically. Generally Amish do not have electric in the home but sometimes in businesses particulary if it is a rented building. There is some variation on this in some groups.
If you have general questions on Amish, I’d recommend checking out this resource I put together:
https://amishamerica.com/amish-online-encyclopedia/
There are 75 short articles on a wide variety of topics (church, electricity, etc). They are arranged alphabetically so should be easy to find. Hope that helps!
Amish events?
My husband and I travel thru Kansas and Missouri attending the school auctions and have enjoyed that for many years. We are trying to find other events to attend during the winter months, especially Thanksgiving time. Jamesport has a craft and quilt show on that weekend and I wondered if anyone knew of other events during the winter. I love Yoder Days also.
about amish jam
I really do like the amish jam. And woundering how I can get some amish jam without traveling far. I do live in Oklahoma. i was woundering if amish live in Oklahoma?
Jelly
There are several settlements in Oklahoma. Chouteau and Clarita are the ones I’ve heard about. I went to an Amish store in Chouteau but have never visited Clarita. Maybe that’s not too far for you.
Is there any settlements you can shop at for spices and food around Topeka, Kansas?
build a house
Are there any Amish near Ottawa KS that build homes?