Ozawkie, KS

Today’s Ozawkie is a city beside Perry Lake, but it is also a town that moved. Original Osawkee sat along the Delaware River and served as Jefferson County’s first seat in 1855. After the Perry Dam project was approved, residents organized to buy higher ground and rebuild the town west of the old site; homes, a school, water tower, streets, and a new civic center rose in the 1960s. The name shifted from Osawkee to Osawkie to Ozawkie, with roots in the area’s Sauk history.

Perry Lake and Perry State Park now set the backdrop for boating, fishing, trails, and seasonal events, while Jefferson West schools and city government handle daily routines. Topeka and Lawrence supply larger services and work. Street names such as Delaware, Kansa, Buffalo, Sunflower, and Meadowlark carry pieces of river, Native, and Kansas memory into the rebuilt town. Ozawkie is a lake community with a relocation story built directly into its streets, water tower, and raised ground.