Miami County, Kansas

Paola is a city in and the county seat of Miami County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 5,768.

Paola USD 368 is a public unified school district headquartered in Paola, Kansas, United States. The district includes the communities of Paola, Hillsdale, Somerset, and nearby rural areas.

The Miami County Courthouse, located east of the junction of Miami and Silver Streets in Paola, is the seat of government of Miami County, Kansas. The courthouse was built from 1898 to 1899 and has housed the county's government ever since. Architect George P. Washburn designed the courthouse; its design is Victorian with Romanesque Revival details. The building features a tower at each corner; the southwest tower was once a clock tower but no longer has a clock. The east and west entrances to the courthouse feature porches with brick columns. The upper windows of the building are arched with stone; the stone continues around the building in a band, a feature described as "one of the strongest elements of the [building's] design". The courthouse's roof incorporates a variety of designs; the main part of the roof and the towers are hipped, while gable ends are located between the towers.The courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 1, 1973.

The Jackson Hotel is a historic hotel building located at 139 W. Peoria St. in Paola, Kansas. The hotel was built in 1921 on a site which had contained a hotel since 1863; the Jackson Hotel was the third hotel built at the site. Architect George P. Washburn designed the hotel in the Commercial style. The hotel features a full-length porch on the ground floor and a front entry with a transom and sidelights, a common element of group residences of the era intended to make the building resemble a home. From 1937 to 1969, Paola business directories listed the Jackson Hotel as one of only two in the city, along with the Commercial Hotel; it became the only hotel in 1969 when the Commercial Hotel was demolished. By 1992, the hotel building had been vacated; it remained empty until a 2006 redevelopment effort.The hotel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 9, 2008.

Paola's post, sometimes called Post Paola, in Miami County, Kansas, was located on the west side of Bull Creek, just west of Paola, Kansas. It was probably established in December 1861, as that was the first time it was mentioned. This post became one of the more important posts along the Kansas-Missouri border during the Civil War. It became a district headquarters in 1863. Later, in September 1864, it was designated a subdistrict headquarters, when the district headquarters was moved to Lawrence, Kansas. The military road from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Gibson ran through Paola, thus ensuring the post always had some importance.The number of troops at Paola fluctuated several times during the Civil War. It was even temporarily abandoned at least once, which resulted in its being looted by Confederate guerrillas. This was on August 21, 1863. The previous night Confederate guerrilla leader William C. Quantrill led 400 guerrillas and Confederate Army recruits on a raid to Lawrence. There was much activity at Paola's post and the troops from the post moved into town to defend it against Quantrill. After raiding Lawrence, Quantrill moved toward Paola.As the post was abandoned or was virtually so, one of his subordinates, William T. Anderson (nicknamed "Bloody Bill Anderson" years later), took some men into the post to get supplies. As it was a district headquarters, it had several hundred thousand dollars of military supplies. Quantrill himself was forced to move north of Paola after being surrounded for a time by Union troops.In fall 1864 Confederate Maj. Gen. Sterling Price raided Missouri and this caused much activity at Paola's post. Men were moved into and out of Paola from the first of October until Price neared the area in late October. It was even feared Paola's post, which had considerable military stores, would be left defenseless. When Price was defeated in the Battle of Westport on October 23, he retreated south along the Kansas-Missouri border. The next day Price passed within 10 miles (16 km) of Paola, which had some troops left to defend it.Through the rest of the Civil War, Paola's post had anywhere from one to three companies of soldiers. It took until June 1865 for the last Confederate guerrillas to put down their arms. In August or September 1865, with no need to have so many military posts in the area, Paola's post was deactivated.

New Georgia's Fort was located in Miami County, Kansas, southeast of Osawatomie. During the partisan warfare in Kansas Territory in 1856 commonly known as Bleeding Kansas, a colony of Southerners, possibly all Georgians, established New Georgia. This colony was located on the Marias des Cygnes River. A blockhouse fort was constructed there and entrenchments were begun but the fort destroyed before the entrenchments could be completed. Northern settlers in the area claimed settlers at New Georgia harassed them. In reality, some settlers from both the North and South had groups who caused trouble with their neighbors.August Bondi and Dr. Rufus Gilpatrick spied on New Georgia during two trips taken in July and August 1856. During August the Free-State Northerners decided to take action against four Southern strongholds in the area to help put an end to the pro-slavery cause in Kansas. Southern partisans wanted Kansas admitted to the Union as a slave state. From period sources, it is not completely clear how a Free-State group of men took possession of New Georgia's fort. It is known of the four forts taken, New Georgia was the first to fall.There is only partial agreement as to how the Northern partisans took possession of the New Georgia fort, but the information obtained by Bondi and Gilpatrick helped in the planning to take the place. The group of men intending to run the Southerners out of New Georgia left Lawrence, Kansas, on August 5. Lawrence was a Free-State stronghold. It is not known how many men defended the fort, but the Free-Staters may have fired a few shots before reaching it. Even the number of defenders was disputed by several sources, but probably about 100 men were there.Several sources said when its defenders fled, they left behind many supplies, mostly food. After the Free-Staters loaded all they could into wagons, they burned the fort and the supplies they could not carry away. The retreating Georgians moved from New Georgia to Fort Saunders, another Southern stronghold, located southwest of Lawrence.The fort at New Georgia was not rebuilt.

Miami County Airport (ICAO: K81, FAA LID: K81) is a public airport 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of Paola, in Miami County, Kansas. The airport was founded in December 1951.

Block is an unincorporated community in Miami County, Kansas, United States.

Hillsdale Lake is a reservoir located in the northwestern part of Miami County, in northeast Kansas and the central United States; it is approximately 30 mi (48 km) from Kansas City. The surface area of the lake is approximately 4,580 acres (18.5 km2), and the lake has a maximum depth of approximately 57 ft (17 m). Hillsdale Dam, impounding the Big Bull Creek to create the V-shaped reservoir, was completed in 1982 as a flood control project of the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Fix link* The reservoir has a normal storage capacity of 76,000 acre-feet. No hydroelectric power is generated by the earthen dam. Recreational facilities include Hillsdale State Park, opened in 1994.

Hillsdale State Park is a state park in Paola, Kansas, United States. This park located in eastern Kansas was built on the shore of Hillsdale Lake which was completed in 1982. The park itself was established and opened in 1994. The state park features two hiking trails.