Leavenworth, KS

Kansas's first incorporated city (1854), a Missouri River town built beside Fort Leavenworth -- established in 1827 and, per the Army's own history, the oldest continuously active military reservation in the U.S. west of Washington, D.C. -- about 25 miles northwest of downtown Kansas City.

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The corner of Delaware Street and Fifth Street in downtown Leavenworth, Kansas — Downtown Leavenworth at Delaware and Fifth Street. Photo: Melissa Bower, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What Leavenworth is actually like

Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827 when Col. Henry Leavenworth led a contingent of the 3rd Infantry Regiment north from Jefferson Barracks near St. Louis to found the post on the west bank of the Missouri River U.S. Army Garrison Fort Leavenworth: History. The Army's own history describes it as "the oldest continuously active military reservation in the United States west of Washington D.C." U.S. Army Garrison Fort Leavenworth: History -- worth noting that Wikipedia's own entry hedges this slightly, calling it "the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C." Wikipedia: Fort Leavenworth; either way, it is a genuinely old, continuously active post, not a retired or ceremonial one. The city of Leavenworth itself was founded in 1854 just south of the fort and became the first city incorporated in Kansas Territory Wikipedia: Leavenworth, Kansas.

Fort Leavenworth today is a working, gated Army installation of about 5,600 acres and roughly 1,000 buildings, home to the Army's Command and General Staff College and the United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) -- the Department of Defense's only maximum-security military prison Wikipedia: Fort Leavenworth. Separately, in the city itself (not on the military reservation), the federal government's original Leavenworth penitentiary opened in 1903, was nicknamed "the Hot House" and "the Big Top" for its landmark domed main building, and was re-designated Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Leavenworth in 2024 as a medium-security facility -- distinct from, though often confused with, the military's USDB a few miles away Wikipedia: United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth.

The 2020 census recorded 37,351 residents, with a 2023 estimate of 37,034 -- a slight decline Wikipedia: Leavenworth, Kansas.

Home values in Leavenworth

The median home value in the Leavenworth, KS 66048 ZIP code was $265,000 as of August 2026, up 7.2% over the prior year PropertyIQ: Leavenworth, KS 66048 Housing Market.

Evenings and weekends

Downtown Leavenworth's 28-block historic shopping district -- antique shops, restaurants, and galleries -- along with Leavenworth Landing Park on the Missouri River anchor evenings and weekends Wikipedia: Leavenworth, Kansas. The city's German heritage shows up in its annual Oktoberfest, held indoors each October at Willcott Brewing Company on Cherokee Street with games, music, and food for guests 21 and over City of Leavenworth: Oktoberfest. The C.W. Parker Carousel Museum is one of the city's better -known family attractions Wikipedia: Leavenworth, Kansas.

Getting around

Leavenworth has no operating regional fixed-route bus service today, so getting to Kansas City, to Fort Leavenworth's gates, or around town is car-dependent, despite the city's 29 Walk Score being the highest of the five places in this cluster.

Leavenworth FAQ

Is Fort Leavenworth open to the public?

It's a working, gated Army installation -- visitors go through its Visitor Control Center rather than driving on freely, and much of the post is restricted to military and authorized personnel; it is not a general-public tourist site the way a state park is.

What's the difference between the USDB and the federal Leavenworth penitentiary?

The United States Disciplinary Barracks (USDB) is the military's own maximum-security prison, located on Fort Leavenworth itself. Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Leavenworth -- opened in 1903 as USP Leavenworth -- is a separate, civilian federal Bureau of Prisons facility in the city, a few miles from the fort.

How far is Leavenworth, Kansas from downtown Kansas City?

About 25 miles northwest of downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Is Leavenworth, Kansas served by Evergy?

Yes -- electric service in Leavenworth comes from Evergy.

Nearby alternatives*

Paola

The other Kansas-side outer-county seat in this cluster, on the opposite (south) side of the metro.

Excelsior Springs

The other historic river/resort town in this cluster, across the metro on the Missouri side.

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Quick facts

County: Leavenworth County, KS
Transit: Walk Score puts Leavenworth at 29 out of 100, "Car-Dependent," with a Bike Score of 35 Walk Score: Leavenworth, KS. None of these outer-county towns are in the RideKC/KCATA fixed-route bus network -- KCATA's historical service area covers the urbanized cores of Cass, Clay, Jackson and Platte counties in Missouri and Johnson, Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties in Kansas, per Wikipedia's KCATA entry, but that network does not reach this town. There is no local fixed-route bus service here, and daily life is car-dependent. Leavenworth is technically within KCATA's historical multi-county service definition on paper, but has no operating fixed RideKC route today, so this remains effectively a car-dependent town for daily transportation.
Landmarks: Fort Leavenworth (established 1827), the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (completed 1854), Leavenworth Landing Park on the Missouri River, and the 28-block historic downtown shopping district
Commute to Downtown: About 25 miles northwest of downtown Kansas City, Missouri Wikipedia: Leavenworth, Kansas.
Flood & storm risk: Sits directly on the Missouri River, so river-flood exposure is real along the riverfront; the region's dominant hazard overall is severe spring/summer thunderstorms and tornadoes.
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Kansas City sits at the confluence of the Missouri and Kansas (Kaw) rivers, and the metro's defining flood event was the Great Flood of 1951, when both rivers crested at record levels in July 1951, inundating the West Bottoms and Fairfax/Armourdale industrial districts straddling the state line, killing more than a dozen people and causing roughly $1 billion in 1951 dollars in damage across the region, per the Kansas City Public Library's "Hell and High Water: The 1951 Kansas City Flood" exhibit. The flood led to a major federal levee-building program along both rivers that still protects the low-lying industrial river bottoms today. Leavenworth's own riverfront, including Leavenworth Landing Park along the Missouri River Wikipedia: Leavenworth, Kansas, sits low relative to the river and carries real flood exposure; Confirm flood-zone status for a specific parcel via FEMA's Flood Map Service Center, since FEMA flood maps are drawn parcel-by-parcel and change as they're updated. The Kansas City metro sits in the heart of Tornado Alley and carries real tornado and severe-thunderstorm risk on both sides of the state line, rather than earthquake or hurricane risk. The deadliest tornado in the metro's history was the F5 Ruskin Heights tornado of May 20, 1957, which tracked roughly 50 miles from near Williamsburg, Kansas northeast into Martin City, Hickman Mills, Ruskin Heights and northeastern Grandview on the Missouri side, killing 44 people (7 in Kansas, 37 in Missouri) and destroying more than 800 homes and businesses -- still the deadliest tornado to strike the metro, per Wikipedia's 1957 Ruskin Heights tornado entry. The metro also saw a major, well-documented tornado outbreak on May 4, 2003. Spring and early summer (April through June) is the metro's peak severe-weather season on both the Kansas and Missouri sides.
Terrain, sidewalks & stairs: Leavenworth sits on the west bank of the Missouri River, with the historic downtown laid out on the flatter river terrace below Fort Leavenworth's bluffs. Walk Score rates the city 29 out of 100, "Car-Dependent" (Walk Score), though the 28-block historic downtown shopping district along Delaware and Cherokee streets has real sidewalks and is walkable block to block; residential neighborhoods farther from the river core are more car-dependent.
Nearest hospital: Saint John Hospital, 3550 S. 4th St., Leavenworth, KS -- an 80-bed acute-care facility that has served the Leavenworth-Lansing area for more than 140 years, now part of Prime Healthcare PR Newswire: Prime Healthcare Acquires Providence Medical Center and Saint John Hospital.
Property taxes: Missouri & Kansas rates →
Relocating here: Employers, licensing & the metro basics →
Zoning & HOA character: Local rules & HOA character →
Utilities: Electric service is provided by Evergy; natural gas by Kansas Gas Service; and water by the city's own Leavenworth Waterworks City of Leavenworth: Utilities Information. Electric service across almost the entire Kansas City metro, on both sides of the state line, comes from Evergy -- the utility formed by the 2018 merger of Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L, itself tracing back to the 1882 Kawsmouth Electric Light Company on the Missouri side) and Westar Energy (Kansas's largest electric utility, formed from a 1992 merger of Kansas Gas and Electric and Kansas Power and Light). Evergy now serves more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers across the western half of Missouri and the eastern half of Kansas, per Wikipedia's Evergy overview.

Metro context ▾

Weather facts for the whole metro are on the Kansas City metro snapshot →.

Schools

Leavenworth USD 453, which operates six schools including Leavenworth High School Wikipedia: Leavenworth, Kansas.