The lives of De Soto’s founding families continued on much the same as those of other small, riverside communities of that time, with modest increases in population, throughout the first three decades of the 20th century. In spring of 1942, plans to hurriedly construct a munitions plant on a 9,080 acre site to the Southwest of De Soto were announced. The 100 million dollar project soon brought a fantastic number of workers to the area.

A May 1943 article from the Kansas City Star reported a town rapidly growing, with a population increase from 400 to 1,000 persons in under a year. This sudden overflow in population put a great strain on housing and other resources in the city. Many original residents prospered during this time, buying property and starting new businesses.

Production flowed steadily at the Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant until the plant went on standby in March 1948, with small scale production following shortly after. Many of the plant’s previous employees stayed on in De Soto, commuting to work in nearby cities, helping to establish it as a “town of homes”.

Dot Ashlock-Longstreth, author of the book “De Soto, Kansas is 100 Years Old 1857-1957”, penned these words almost fifty years ago: “Hundreds of fine people have been added to our community, and with Kansas City and Lawrence edging closer and closer, someday, in the not too distant future, we’ll be caught in between, one the of little communities, in a connecting link between the two towns.”