OLATHE

city, seat of Johnson county, northeastern Kansas, U.S., southwest of Kansas City. Founded in 1857 on the old Santa Fe Trail, its name probably comes from the Shawnee word for beautiful. The town was raided by the guerrilla leader William C. Quantrill in 1862. Cowboy boots, electronic devices for aircraft, batteries, and machinery are the chief manufactures. Olathe is the site of the Kansas State School for the Deaf (1866) and of Mid-America Nazarene College (1966). Inc. 1868. Pop. (1991 est.) 63,797.