Wakarusa Creek, a historic Kansas stream, rises in the eastern part of Wabaunsee county and has a number of small affluents near its headwaters. Its course is slightly to the north of east through Shawnee and Douglas counties, until it empties into the Kansas river about a mile east of the town of Eudora. Its estimated length is about 50 miles. One of the earliest mentions of the stream was by S. H. Long, the explorer, in 1819. The name, according to Holloway's History of Kansas, comes from an Indian legend, which says that a "maiden, during a great freshet, sought to cross the stream on horseback. As she proceeded across, the waters became deeper and deeper, until her body was half immersed, when she exclaimed, 'Wakarusa!' (hip deep). Though she crossed in safety, still the savages from this occurrence, named the stream Wakarusa."

During the troublous times of the early territorial days the region along the Wakarusa was the scene of much strife between the pro-slavery and free-state forces, the celebrated "Wakarusa war" being fought there on Nov. 27, 1855. The Methodist Episcopal mission was located near the mouth of the stream about 1842, and was in charge of Rev. Abraham Still and others.