Overland Park (population 173,372) is situated within the state of Kansas and is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. Located within the County of Johnson, Overland Park is bounded by Olathe, Lenexa, Leawood and Prairie Village. It is Kansas City's largest suburb.
William B. Strang Jr. founded the city of Overland Park during 1905. Strang envisioned communities of subdivisions that would be self-sustaining and "park-like". One of these was Overland Park, a successful experiment that saw continuing growth up to its incorporation as a city during 1960. Overland Park boomed in the 1980s as the number of residents and businesses skyrocketed. By the end of that decade, the population was over 100,000 people.
The cities of Overland Park and Kansas City have quite a few attractions to offer its residents and tourists. The Nerman Museum has a huge collection of contemporary art. The New Theatre Restaurant is a famous place that has been referred to as "the best dinner theatre in the country." The Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Gardens offers a stunning series of gardens accessible by trails on a 300-acre location which comprises waterfalls and a children's discovery garden. The Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead is a favorite with kids who can take a ride on a horse-drawn wagon, see farm animals and tour an early-20th century replica of a farmhouse.
Within the city of Overland Park is 72 city parks which cover approximately 7.3 km2 of space. Numerous parks have facilities for hiking and biking, sand volleyball, playgrounds, basketball courts and tennis courts. A few have reservable shelters.
The city of Overland Park has the largest mall in the area, the Oak Park Mall. It features more than 200 stores and is the biggest mall within the states of Missouri and Kansas. The city of Overland park is the home of Sprint Nextel world headquarters, that employs approximately 18,500 people and occupies 1 km² of the city. Numerous Fortune 500 companies have headquarters here, such as Black & Veatch, YRC Worldwide, Examinetics, Waddell & Reed Ash Grove Cement Company and Ferrellgas.
The education sector within the city provides a lot of jobs in Overland Park. There is the Johnson County Community College and the Shawnee Mission, Blue Valley, Olathe School districts and Spring Hill.