Again, thank you for visiting the County Clerk's web site.

On August 22, 2007, Donald P. (Don) Pyle was sworn into office by Disctrict Judge Don Noland. Mr. Pyle was selected to fill the unexpired term of Mr. R.J. Wilson, who resigned effective July 20, 2007. The Crawford County Democratic Party held a convention on the evening of July 30, 2007 at the Crawford County Courthouse where Mr. Pyle was appointed by acclamation to fill the position of Crawford County Clerk without opposition. Ms. Kathleen Sebelius, Governor of Kansas, confirmed Mr. Pyle's appointment with a letter dated August 7, 2007.

During his time in office, Mr. Pyle has continued to drive his staff to be open and honest public servants who consistently and professionally meet the needs of the Crawford County taxpayers. Office Flowchart! The County Clerk's stated public mission statement is:

"To protect and promote public trust and confidence by supporting the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Kansas and to deliver quality professional customer service and governmental access to the taxpayers and citizens of Crawford County Kansas."

The first official duty of Mr. Pyle was to appoint Ms. Heather Spaur as Deputy County Clerk. Ms. Spaur has held the position of Director of Fiscal Services since February 2005. Ms. Spaur has proven to be a very knowledgable and hard working deputy.

Mr. Pyle of Frontenac succeeds R.J. Wilson of Pittsburg, who succeeded Kevin Anselmi of Arma, who succeeded Dan Brunetti of Frontenac, who succeeded Bette Lessen of Arma, who is by historical research the only known female to ever hold the position of Crawford County Clerk, who succeeded Dean McFarland of Girard who succeeded Harold J. Hutchins (circa 1960) who served for more than 20 years, who succeeded John L. Berry (circa 1956) who succeeded Charles Feddell (circa 1949) who succeeded John L. Polston (circa 1943) who succeeded Ira L. Harper (circa 1939). The first county clerk in recorded election books is Peter McDonnell (1894) who was succeeded by John Ecker (1895) who was succeeded by F. Cunningham (1897). It is interesting that until the general election of 1897 candidates usually ran on a single party's ticket. The norm in 1897 was for candidates of particular parties to run on the ticket of two separate Parties. Mr. Cuningham ran on the Democratic Party ticket and the People's Party ticket and won a narrow victory over both a Republican and a Socialist. J.G. Bridgens (1867) and F.R Russell (1870) served as two of the first clerks appointed and perhaps elected in Crawford County. Election records can not be found for either of the men but their names appear consistently in records detailing the activities of the County. J.H. Waterman (1874) served as the county clerk after the men but again no election records are found. The County Seal displayed a cow in the term of Russell and a small dog guarding a money safe several years later in the term of Cunningham.

This web presence was launched on Friday, June 10, 2005 in the afternoon. The basics of this web site were created using Plone open source coding and the ingenuity of the staff of the Crawford County Clerk. Spinnaker Web and Design has been a helpful partner in this re-launch of the Clerk’s web page.

This site is in no way complete, but it is a starting point at which the staff will take their cues from members of the public in the development of useful tools and links for better service of the taxpayer and citizen.

If you would like to make comment or criticism, please send e-mail to countyclerk@ckt.net or call (620) 724-6115.