Business View Magazine | April 2020

219 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE APRIL 2020 as the “Southwestern Cornerstone” of Johnson County. It was founded in 1870 when the Kansas Southern Railway was extended to that point, and named after the chief constructing engineer, Benjamin Edgerton, responsible for the rail expansion. Today, the still-small, still- rural community of 1,700 people represents the largest industrial development site in the whole state of Kansas. “We’ve created about 4,500 jobs, seen about $1.1 billion worth of vertical construction, built a new wastewater treatment plant, and improved 12 miles of roadways,” shares Roberts. “Those ventures have grown and continue to grow to where we just need more room to connect with each other. We’re working on a community green space area, right now—a place for everybody to gather. We’ve gathered the public input pieces and we’ll formulate a plan to start that project soon.” The city is already seizing the chance to give back to its community by investing in an integrated, beautifying system of public parks and trails that meets the needs of Edgerton’s residents and encourages visitors to be active in the outdoors year-round. “We’re continuing to improve our city parks, trails and connectivity,” assures Beth Linn, City Administrator. “This year, we’ll be renovating Glendale Acres, which is one of our larger community parks. It’s been a wonderful opportunity to invite our residents and neighboring communities to come out and help us plan the future amenities. We’ve seen it happen before—it’s a great way to bring families together. Edgerton is all about hanging out with and watching out for its neighbors, so we continue to make room for that.” And it’s absolutely the best place to do business. “From a business aspect, Edgerton has really built its reputation on operational efficiency and creative problem-solving,” says James Oltman, President of ElevateEdgerton!—a partnership formed between the City of Edgerton and private business to attract new investments EDGERTON, KANSAS