Overland Park is not only a great place to grow a business (like Sprint Nextel Corp., Black & Veach or YRC Worldwide), but it is also one of the best places to live in the United States.
In 2006 CNNMoney.com named Overland Park No. 6 on its "Top 10 great American Towns," basing their rankings for towns between 50,000 and 300,000 population on economic opportunity, quality of life and "ease of life" factors.
On its December 2003 list of "Hot Towns" (most desirable places to live in the United States), Money magazine placed Overland Park third among central cities with population over 100,000.
In June 2003, Employment Review magazine and BestJobsUSA.com named it one of the 20 best places to live and work in the country.
In its July 2001 edition, Business Development Outlook magazine had Overland Park second among 4,700 U.S. cities in livability, based upon such measurements as public safety, daily commute time, good education and access to culture and entertainment.
The 2001 Kid-Friendly Cities Report card, prepared by Zero Population Growth, put it first among 74 similar-size cities on its list of "kid-friendly" communities, using factors such as health, education, safety, economics and environment.
It is the second "smartest" city in the United States, according to a 2000 Applied Geographic Solutions study that examined cities with a high percentage of residents 25 and over with four-year college degrees. At the time of the survey, 36 per cent of Overland Park residents were college graduates; today, the number exceeds 40 percent.
In its April 2001 issue, Ladies Home Journal magazine ranked it ninth among more than 200 of America's largest cities on it "Best Cities for Women" list..
The county's biggest city (and No. 2 in Kansas), Overland Park occupies about 63 miles stretching south from Johnson/Wyandotte County line to 183rd Street along both sides of Metcalf Avenue - minutes from Kansas City, Missouri., and 35 miles from Kansas City International Airport.
Within its boundaries are dozens of office parks and shopping centers, hundreds of restaurants and businesses and Oak Park Mall, a 1.5 million-square-foot regional retail center with 190 stores.
Its 25-block historic downtown district has been renovated and re-energized with new shops, art galleries, dining spots, the Clock Tower Plaza and a Farmer's Market Pavilion, open from April through October. A regional attraction, it is filled with more than 300 locally owned and operated businesses. In early fall 2007, the new 80,000-square-foot Matt Ross Community Recreation Center will open in the heart of the downtown district.
In late 2002, the Overland Park Convention Center, a state-of-the-art, 237,000-square-foot-facility opened. the convention center is the site of hundreds of private and public events and "art in the Center," an ongoing program of rotating art exhibitions in public art gallery space.
Overland Park's founding father was William B. Strang, an early 20th century streetcar tycoon who built an interurban railroad and platted several subdivisions to bring city people from Kansas City to the "clean healthy air" that became Overland Park. Through the 1960s, the city remained a typical suburban bedroom community. With the development of office parks, commercial centers and attractions in the 1970s and '80s, it became an employment center and destination.
Overland Park is home to the New Theatre Restaurant, a nationally recognized dinner theater; more than 250 restaurants; two public golf courses; six public swimming pools; four small lakes; and 78 parks, including the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead and the Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical Garden, a 300-acre development of nature trails, walkways, woods and gardens. Johnson County Community College, one of the nation's best, is here, and so is the University of Kansas Edwards campus.
