How Kansas Cities got Here

People that live in these cities, Emporia, Dodge City, Lecompton,Topeka, Council Grove ,and Lawrence. Want to know where their city came from. You might surprised the history behind your city.

Amos L. Lawrence of Boston was one of Boston’s prominent leaders. In June, 1854, Amos L. Lawrence sent Dr. Charles Robinson of Fitch to find a town's place. He was later to become Kansas' first governor. Mr. Charles Branscomb of Holyoke got to pick out a site for the colony. Dr. Robinson had stood on Mount Oread. When he went to California in the gold rush of '49, and remembered passing through Kansas and saw a spot that had a beautiful view so he picked it for a townsite. Kansas Collection Books tells us“The first contingent arrived by train at St. Louis August 1, 1854 and Dr. Robinson met them. They took a steamer up the Missouri River to Kansas City, and then the final 40 miles to Lawrence on foot. Ox teams were used to carry their baggage.”

Council Grove was a town where a treaty was made with the Osage Indians. Council grove was mentioned as early as 1820 to 1825. There was one tree that was used as post office that people would send other travelers letters or to tell if there was any danger or not.

Emporia was founded February 20, 1857. The city was actually an idea of Lawrence.

The town of Emporia was founded as a business opportunity in February 1857, according to well-documented town history. Kansas was a new territory after a bloody battle over slavery. Settlers were beginning to come into the territory.

A robing to Emporia historical Society “When G.W. Brown was a young editor of The Herald of Freedom newspaper in Lawrence. He saw a business opportunity to help himself and a change to help emigrants looking for a place to settle. ‘’According to a 1957 centennial-year history compiled by Robert Triplett. Many of the best town sites had already been settled by the winter of 1857, but Brown knew of one location that had not been taken. It had been described to him by a friend a few months earlier as “the loveliest site in the world for a town.”

Dodge City was originally a fort called Fort Dodge. It was actually the first fort built after the Civil War. The beginning of Dodge City was by Henry L. Sitler constructed a three-room sod house that was the beginning of dodge city.

Joseph and Louis Papin decided to form a town in December 1854. It was built as a crossroads for wagon trains heading to California along the Oregon Trail. This idea was a very good idea because it was in a prime location.

Lecompton emerged in 1854 as a pro slavery settlement in Kansas. At the time Lecompton was the capital of the Kansas Territory.

In 1855 and was home to a proslavery legislature that had been elected by widespread voter fraud, by Missourians who crossed the border to vote in the Kansas elections.

In 1861 when kansas was becoming a state the capital moved from Lecompton to topeka.

William Quantrill came ,Missouri and attacked Lawrence and burned most of it but lawrence went for lecompton a pro slavery town in Kansas in 1863.

What I have found out that almost every one of these city excepted Dodge City go back to Lawrence. That makes sense because Lawrence was one of the first cities in Kansas. for further information please visit the links below.

https://www.lawrenceks.org/about

http://www.kancoll.org/books/rowe/lawrence.htm

http://www.legendsofkansas.com/councilgrove.html

http://www.emporiakschamberl.org/history-2/

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-dodgecity.html

http://www.kansashistory.us/fordco/dodgecity.html

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