Lawrence, Kansas 作者： 来源： 发布时间：2021-11-05
I.Population and Area
₋Area
Land: 33.56 sq mi (86.9 km2)
₋Population
Total: 98,193
Density: 2,600/sq mi (990/km2)
II.Natural Geography
Downtown
₋Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County and sixth-largest city in Kansas. It is in the northeastern sector of the state, astride Interstate 70, between the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 87,643; by 2018 the estimated population had risen to 98,193. Lawrence is a college town and the home to both the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University.
₋Lawrence was founded by the New England Emigrant Ai d Company (NEEAC), and was named for Amos Adams Lawrence, a Republican abolitionist originally from Massachusetts, who offered financial aid and support for the settlement. Lawrence was central to the "Bleeding Kansas" period (1854–61), and the site of the Wakarusa War (1855) and the Sacking of Lawrence (1856). During the American Civil War it was also the site of the Lawrence massacre (1863).
₋Lawrence began as a center of free-state politics. Its economy diversified into many industries, including agriculture, manufacturing, and education, beginning with the founding of the University of Kansas in 1865 and Haskell Indian Nations University in 1884.
III.ECONOMY
₋The average salary in Lawrence, KS is $15.48. Trends in wages decreased by -100.0 percent in Q1 2020. The cost of living in Lawrence, KS is 100 percent higher than the national average. The most popular occupations in Lawrence, KS are Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA), Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), and Registered Nurse (RN) which pay between $10.05 and $29.30 per year. The most popular employers in Lawrence, KS are University of Kansas, Lawrence and Memorial Hospital, and Allen Press, Inc..
₋Website: https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Location=Lawrence-KS/Salary
IV.Industrial Characteristics
₋Lawrence has a diverse economy spanning education, industrial, agricultural, government, finance and scientific research, most of these are related to the University of Kansas, which is the largest employer in Lawrence. The largest private employer in Lawrence is General Dynamics. Lawrence Public Schools, the City of Lawrence, Lawrence Memorial Hospital and Hallmark Cards round out the top six employers.
₋Lawrence saw growth in the industrial sector in the 1980s in part to the development of the East Hills Business Park in 1986. The industrial land opportunities provided by the East Hills Business Park provided space for national companies such as AMARR Garage Doors to house one of their two manufacturing facilities. The new industrial park also provided opportunities for Kansas City-based companies such as PROSOCO to move their business operations to Lawrence.
V.Attractions
1. Spencer Museum of Art
₋The Spencer Museum of Art is an art museum located on the University of Kansas campus in Lawrence, Kansas. The museum houses collection that currently numbers nearly 36,000 artworks and artifacts in all media. The collection spans the history of European and American art from ancient to contemporary, and includes broad holdings of East Asian art. Areas of special strength include medieval art; European and American paintings, sculpture and prints; photography; Japanese Edo period painting and prints; 20th-century Chinese painting; and KU’s ethnographic collection, which includes about 10,000 Native American, African, Latin American and Australian works.
₋In 1917 Sallie Casey Thayer, a Kansas City art collector, offered her collection of nearly 7,500 art objects to the University of Kansas to form a museum "to encourage the study of fine arts in the Middle West." Her eclectic collection included paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, furniture, rugs, textiles, metalwork, ceramics, glass, and other examples of decorative arts, primarily from Europe and Asia. Eventually the University of Kansas Museum of Art was established in 1928, based on this collection.
₋By the late 1960s the Museum had outgrown its quarters in Spooner Hall. Helen Foresman Spencer, another Kansas City collector and patron of the arts, made a gift of $4.6 million that funded construction of a new museum, overseen by Charles C. Eldredge, a former curator and director of the museum. The building housing the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art, the Kress Foundation Department of Art History, and the Murphy Library of Art and Architecture opened in 1978. The neo-classical structure, built from Indiana limestone, was designed by Kansas City architect Robert E. Jenks, a 1926 graduate of KU.
₋In 2007, the Spencer Museum grew again when approximately 9,500 ethnographic collection objects from the former University of Kansas Museum of Anthropology were transferred to the Spencer Museum of Art. The collection includes a wide variety of cultural materials from all around the world, with a particular emphasis on American Indian materials. The collection is still housed in Spooner Hall and the storage space has been upgraded to include specially designed cabinets to house and protect the collection.
₋In 2016 the first phase of a major renovation project was completed by the architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. The works covered 30,000 square feet of the building and, according to the architects, added features that:
ž"infuse the building with natural light, connecting art and nature with breathtaking views into historic Marvin Grove. A glass-enclosed entry and new windows on the east and west bring natural light into the galleries for the first time. A new staircase and elevator improve circulation, while balcony overlooks offer glimpses from one gallery into another. An expanded study center and teaching gallery accommodate temporary installations and up-close investigations of objects in the collection."
₋The museum has received grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support interdisciplinary research, first $487,000 in 2016 to launch the program, and a second round of funding of $650,000 in 2019.
₋Address: 1301 Mississippi St, Lawrence, KS 66045, United States
₋Phone: +1 785-864-4710
₋Founded: 1928
₋Website: https://www.spencerart.ku.edu/
2.Watkins Museum of History
₋The Watkins Museum of History is a museum in Lawrence, Kansas that is managed by the Douglas County Historical Society. It provides programs and public events, educational resources and activities, and changing exhibits about the heritage of Douglas County.
₋In 1888, Watkins National Bank opened at 11th and Massachusetts. Founded by Jabez B. Watkins, the bank would last until 1929. Watkin's wife Elizabeth donated the bank building to the city to use as a city hall. In 1970, the city built a new city hall and after extensive renovations, the bank reopened in 1975 as the Elizabeth M. Watkins Community Museum.
₋Address: 1047 Massachusetts St, Lawrence, KS 66044, United States
₋Phone: +1 785-841-4109
₋Website: https://www.watkinsmuseum.org/
3.Clinton Lake
₋Clinton Lake is a reservoir on the southwestern edge of Lawrence, Kansas. The lake was created by the construction of the Clinton Dam, and the 35 square miles (91 km²) of land and water is maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
₋The Wakarusa Valley has had a history of violent floods before the construction of Clinton Lake. Previous floods had devastated the former towns of Belvoir, Bloomington and Sigil numerous times. With the construction of the lake, several towns were demolished including Sigil, Belvoir, and Bloomington, as well as Richland in Shawnee County.
₋Construction of the dam and lake was authorized by the Flood Control Act of 1962 (Public Law 87-874), and funds were allocated for the project in 1971. Construction began in 1972, and the dam was completed in 1975. Impoundment began on November 30, 1977, yet the conservation pool was reached in 1980. Filling the reservoir slowly helped create a more hospitable environment for fish by allowing the native grass to remain on most of the upper lake-bed. In April 1981, the lake began multipurpose operations including flood control, water supply, and recreation.
₋Website: https://ksoutdoors.com/State-Parks/Locations/Clinton
VI.History
₋Settlement and early years
₋Prior to Kansas Territory being established in May 1854, most of Douglas County was part of the Shawnee Indian Reservation, which had been created in 1830. During this period, the Oregon Trail ran parallel to the Kansas River, roughly through the area where Lawrence would eventually be situated. A hill in the area, then known as "Hogback Ridge" (now known as Mount Oread, which sits on the water divide separating the Kansas and Wakarusa River) was used as a landmark and an outlook by those on the trail. While this territory was technically unopened to settlement prior to 1854, there did exist a few "squatter settlements" in the area, especially just north of the Kansas River.
₋Lawrence was founded "strictly for political reasons" having to do with slavery, which was heavily debated in the United States during the early-to-mid 1800s. Northern Democrats, led by Senators Lewis Cass of Michigan and Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, promoted the idea of "popular sovereignty" as a middle position on the slavery issue. Proponents of this doctrine argued that it was more democratic, as it allowed the citizens of newly-organized territories (and not politicians from Washington, D.C.) to have a direct say as to the legality of slavery in their own lands. (Meanwhile, enemies of the bill, especially those in the north, derisively called this political idea "squatter sovereignty".) Douglas eventually made popular sovereignty the backbone of his Kansas–Nebraska Act—legislation that effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska—which finally passed in Congress in 1854.
₋The Christian abolitionist and Protestant minister Richard Cordley later noted that after the bill became law, "there was a feeling of despondency all over the north" because its passage "opened Kansas to [the possibility of] slavery [which many] thought [was] equivalent to making Kansas a slave state." This was largely because nearby Missouri allowed slavery, and many rightly assumed that the first settlers in Kansas Territory would come flooding in from this state, bringing their penchant for slavery with them. In time, anger at the Kansas-Nebraska Act united antislavery forces into a movement committed to stopping the expansion of slavery (which eventually was institutionalized as the Republican Party). Many of these individuals decided to "meet the question [of slavery in Kansas] on the terms of the bill itself" by migrating to Kansas, electing antislavery legislators, and eventually banning the practice of slavery altogether. These settlers soon became known as "Free-Staters". Even before the bill passed, some people already had this idea. In early May 1854, four men—Thomas W. and Oliver P. Barber, Samuel Walker, and Thomas M. Pearson—made a tour of the new territory with the intention of finding a good place to settle. These men passed over what would become Lawrence, passing up on the spur of the hill of what is now Mt. Oread. The Kansas-Nebraska Act passed while they were in the territory, and they were instrumental in convincing others to come. In his book A History of Lawrence (1895), Cordley wrote:
₋Branscomb was tasked with exploring the Kansas River up to about the location of Fort Riley, whereas Robinson scouted land near Fort Leavenworth and the nearby city of the same name; after assessing the territory that they had surveyed, the two recommended that the New England Emigrant Aid Company (NEEAC) send its settlers to claim territory along the Oregon Trail near Hogback Ridge. The two likely chose this site because it was the "first desirable location where emigrant Indians had ceded their land rights." The area was also attractive because it was close to not only on the Oregon Trail, but also the Santa Fe and the 1846 Military Trails.
₋Concurrent with Robinson and Branscomb's exploration, the NEEAC was soliciting some of its members into settling in Kansas. At first, the NEEAC had wanted to send a somewhat sizeable group of settlers to claim the land. Unfortunately, a cholera outbreak in the Missouri Valley prevented this from happening. In the end, a small group of only twenty-nine men—a group that Eli Thayer would later call the "pioneer colony"—volunteered for the job. Led by Branscomb, these pioneers left Boston, Massachusetts and set out for Kansas Territory on July 17, 1854; according to Thayer's antislavery newspaper the Kansas Crusader for Freedom: "Immense crowds had gathered at the station to give them a parting God-speed. They moved out of the station amid the cheering of the crowds who lined the track for several blocks." In late July, the group met Robinson in St. Louis, who discussed with them the next leg of the journey and provided them with transportation. The pioneers arrived in Kansas Territory near the close of July, and at about noon on August 1, they ate their first meal on Hogback Ridge itself (which was soon re-named "Mount Oread" after the Oread Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts). Immediately thereafter, about half of this party set off to claim land in the nearby countryside, where about fifteen of the original settlers remained, and began to establish a city between Mount Oread and the Kansas River (roughly where Massachusetts Street now runs).
₋While all of this was unfolding, a follow-up party of sixty-seven individuals, guided by Robinson and Samuel C. Pomeroy (that latter of the two being an abolitionist and a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives), left Worcester, Massachusetts, on August 31; along the way to Kansas, settlers of similar political inclinations joined this group, and when the party reached their destination on September 9–11, it had grown to about 114 people. This second party included about ten women, a number of children, and several musicians. A third group of settlers arrived in the vicinity of the future city on October 8–9, although many "became disgusted by the outlook" of the settlement and returned to New England, feeling as if they had been "deceived" by the NEEAC. A fourth group of settlers arrived on October 30, followed by a fifth on November 20, and a sixth on December 1. On September 18, the early colonists convened and established a "voluntary municipal government", and by September 20, the settlers had approved a constitution (which included principles of prohibitionatory Maine law) to govern their town. The settlement was created against threats of pro-slavery men that the free-staters ought to be "driven from the country." The first rally of forces from Lawrence was the night of September 30, done to protect Rev. Thomas J. Ferril, a free-state Methodist preacher from Missouri; however, his assailants had surrounded his house, threatening violence and to destroy his property, had retreated upon seeing a body of armed free-staters without injury to either side. The next day, a free-state man's tent was torn down by a woman. Pro-slavery men rallied to prevent the tent's reconstruction, which was being performed by a group of about 20 armed free-staters, but it was completed without any violence. However, the next day, a considerable band of pro-slavery men had appeared threatening a repeat of the attack, but upon seeing their opponents ready, the pro-slavery men retreated with renewed threats of vengeance.
₋When the settlers first arrived, most had referred to their fledgling city simply as "Wakarusa" (after the nearby river of the same name), but other names were being considered, like "New Boston" (in recognition of both the NEEAC's city of operation and the hometown of many early settlers) and "Plymouth" (after Plymouth Rock). Meanwhile, settlers from Missouri derisively referred to it as "Yankee Town", due to its New England connections. Another name considered around this time was "Lawrence". Many approved of this name because it would honor Amos Adams Lawrence, an Ipswich-based businessman and noted abolitionist, who, Cordley writes, was "a man of wide personal influence" and "one of the first men of means" to fund the Emigrant Aid Company. Others hoped that by giving their town Lawrence's name, he would be inclined to support them with monetary donations, which supposition proved correct. Another factor that made "Lawrence" a popular choice was that it was unbesmirched, having "no bad odor attached to it in any part of the Union." Consequently, on October 1, the settlement's leaders voted to approve "Lawrence" as the name of their new city, and on October 17, the citizens drew territory lots so as to begin erecting homes and businesses. Around this time, the Lawrence settlers got into a heated argument with proslavery land-squatters, who were hoping to establish a city named "Excelsior" on the land where Lawrence was being constructed. While these proslavers threatened violence against anyone who stood in their way, they eventually acquiesced to the New Englanders, and no open conflict occurred.
₋In early October 1854, the first governor of the Kansas Territory, Andrew Horatio Reeder, arrived, had a reception and a festival, and after a welcoming speech by Samuel C. Pomeroy, made a conciliatory speech urging harmony and order, while evading the slavery question. The first winter in Lawrence was characterized by great hardship, as the people were predominantly living in sod houses and "shanties made of clap-boards." About two miles (3.3 km) south of Lawrence, at the first election on November 3, 1854, which was to elect only Congressional delegates, there was a commotion; it ended with a man named Henry Davis attacking a pro-slavery man named Lucius Kibbee with a Bowie knife. The fight ended when Kibbee shot Davis, making this Kansas's first homicide. While briefly incarcerated at Fort Leavenworth, Kibbee was never tried.
₋By the end of 1854, two newspapers touting the free state mission had been established in the town: the Herald of Freedom, edited by George W. Brown, and the Kansas Pioneer, edited by John Speer, renamed the Kansas Tribune after Speer discovered that a proslavery Kansas Pioneer newspaper already existed. A third paper, the Kansas Free State, was also created by editors Robert Gaston Elliott and Josiah Miller, and began publication in early January 1855. The Plymouth Congregational Church was started in September 1854 by Reverend S. Y. Lum, a missionary sent to Kansas from Middletown, New York. The first post office in Lawrence was established in January 1855, and E. D. Ladd was appointed the town's first postmaster. On January 10, 1855, the first school in Kansas was established in Lawrence by voluntary contributions, and it was taught by Edward P. Fitch.
₋"Bleeding Kansas"
₋At the start of 1855, settlers who held opposing opinions about slavery had settled in the Kansas Territory around the Lawrence area and began vying for political power. Secret societies, called Blue Lodges, were created, and their sole purpose was to make Kansas a slave state. Their plan was to come into Kansas on the day of the election and vote so as to gain control of the legislature. Before the election, a census was conducted. Kansas had a population of 8,601 with 2,905 of them being voters. Lawrence, specifically, had 369 voters. At the legislature election on March 30, 1855, about 700–1,000 armed pro-slavery men from Missouri voted at the election. They came in over 100 wagons, and they were armed with guns, rifles, pistols, and Bowie knives. They also brought two pieces of artillery. Due to their large numbers, they went unchallenged. They left for Missouri the next morning, having camped in Lawrence the night before. Silas Bond was shot at and driven from the polls on the grounds that he was "an obnoxious free-state man." 1,034 votes were cast in Lawrence, 232 of which were legal, with 802 being from non-residents. There were only 2,905 legal voters in the territory, but 6,307 votes were cast. The people appealed to Governor Andrew Reeder to set the election aside, to which he agreed initially, but after being threatened by pro-slavery people, he decided instead to hold another election in districts in which there were protests, such as Lawrence. The people of Lawrence felt this did nothing, and many were uncertain about what would happen or what they needed to do.
₋In June 1855, a meeting was held in Lawrence, at which resolutions were adopted intending to resist any laws that may be passed by the legislature, and they declared that the legislature was elected by "armed usurpers from Missouri." This paved the way for a larger convention on June 25. Between June 8 and August 15, 1855, seven meetings were held in Lawrence for the purposes of resisting the legislature. The free-state leaders sent George W. Deitzler to the east to secure weapons from other anti-slavery people. Amos Lawrence and others sent crates full of rifles, to which they labeled "books" because "the border ruffians had no use for books, they came through without being disturbed." With the help of Horace Greeley, a howitzer was sent to Lawrence. On August 27, 1855, the proslavery faction in Douglas County (based primarily out of the territorial capital, Lecompton, as well as smaller satellite settlements like Franklin and Lone Star) got a boost when acting territorial governor Daniel Woodson appointed the zealously proslavery settler Samuel J. Jones to the office of county sheriff. Then, in October 1855, the outspoken abolitionist John Brown arrived in the Kansas Territory; he brought with him a wagon-load of weapons with which he intended to use to fight off "Satan and his legions" (i.e., proslavery settlers).
₋For much of 1855, the pro- and antislavery factions existed uneasily with one another. Then on November 21, 1855, after an intense verbal altercation, the proslavery settler Franklin N. Coleman shot the Free-Stater Charles Dow in the head, killing him. The murder was the culmination of a long-simmering feud between the two, as for some time they had bickered about a land claim near the Hickory Point post office, located about 14 miles (23 km) south of Lawrence. According to the Border War Encyclopedia, "Politics had not motivated Coleman to kill Dow, but the murder marked the genesis of the violent political divisions that characterized Kansas for the next 10 years." When Jones investigated the crime, Coleman argued that he had simply been acting in self-defense. The sheriff sided with his proslavery compatriot and chose to instead arrest Dow's free state affiliate Jacob Branson for disturbing the peace. Branson was quickly rescued by Samuel Newitt Wood and a gang of Free-Staters by breaking him out of jail. He was rescued at one in the morning, just two hours after the arrest. As the gang of free-staters were heading back, they were unsure of what to do. They consulted with Charles Robinson, and they all realized that the pro-slavery people would label this act of breaking someone out of jail as an insurrection. They realized that the militia would be called to carry out the arrests of those who broke Branson out of jail, but that they would likely use it as an excuse to destroy Lawrence. The rest of the city was unaware of the rescue at this time. It was decided that the men who broke Branson out of jail would need to keep out of the way. Robinson informed the others at a meeting of citizens that morning, to which they agreed. They then started preparing the city for defense.
₋To calm the increasingly belligerent settlers, the governor of the Kansas Territory, Wilson Shannon, called on the Kansas militia to intervene and keep the peace. Shannon had intended for the militia to be composed of Kansans, but Jones mustered a small army of 1,200–1,500 proslavery men, all but about 50 came from Missouri. When the citizens of Lawrence learned of Jones's army, they raised up a defensive militia of 600–800 men armed with "Beecher's Bibles". Robinson was chosen to direct the city's military operations, the future state senator James Lane was selected as his second-in-command, and a "committee of safety" was also created, which organized squads of about 20 men to keep watch over the city. Lawrence was additionally aided by John Brown and his four sons: John Jr., Oliver, Owen, and Watson. Five forts of earthwork or rifle pits were constructed, and a solid defense was prepared. While both sides were ready for a fight, an outright clash between the two militias was prevented at least in part by the harsh Kansas winter. On December 8, Shannon had had enough and ordered representatives from both sides to meet at the proslavery stronghold of Franklin to sign a peace treaty. Terms were agreed to, and eventually, after much persuading, the Missouri army reluctantly left the area. This conflict, despite its rather diminutive size and scale, would later be known as the "Wakarusa War".
₋In the spring of 1856, the proslavery forces, hoping to diminish the power of the anti-slavery settlers, singled out the Kansas Free State, the Herald of Freedom, and the Free State Hotel (the latter of which was owned and operated by the NEEAC) as "nuisances" that needed to be stopped. On April 23, 1856 Sheriff Jones entered into Lawrence and attempted to arrest about a dozen members of the extralegal Free-State legislature (a rogue governing body which had been set up in opposition to the official proslavery territorial government). During the commotion, Jones was non-fatally shot by a sniper named Charles Lenhart, and Lawrence residents promptly drove the sheriff out of town. The people of Lawrence disavowed the act, and they offered a $500 bounty for the sniper's arrest. A few weeks later, on May 11, Federal Marshal Israel B. Donaldson proclaimed the act had interfered with the legal execution of warrants against select antislavery settlers. This proclamation was bolstered by a Kansas grand jury's presentment that "the building known as the 'Free State' Hotel' [in Lawrence had been constructed with a view to military occupation and defence, regularly parapetted and port holed, for the use of cannon and small arms, thereby endangering the public safety, and encouraging rebellion and sedition in this country". Donaldson, Jones, and Missouri senator David Rice Atchison consequently raised up another army comprising around 800 southerns. Ostensibly this army's purpose was to enforce the legal arrest warrants, but the group was also motivated by a desire to stamp out the Free-Stater nest that was Lawrence.
₋On May 21, Donaldson and Jones rode into town and successfully arrested those who had previously evaded them. While the citizens of Lawrence hoped that the officers would leave peacefully after making the arrests, this did not come to pass. Donaldson dismissed his men, who were immediately deputized by Jones. The sheriff was then joined by more followers and together they began to sack the city. After seizing the house of Charles Robinson (who had recently been arrested in Missouri, and was held in prison near Lecompton on ground of treason) to serve as his headquarters, Jones and his men attacked the offices of the antislavery newspapers. The attackers smashed the presses, tossed the type into the nearby Kansas River, and threw already-printed copies of the newspapers into the wind. After this was done, the proslavery mob shot the Free State Hotel with a cannon before burning it down. Jones and his men then pillaged $30,000 worth of valuables. When Jones left the city, he and his men lit Robinson's house on fire for good measure. Although the city was thoroughly ransacked, the human cost of the attack was low: only one person—a member of Jones's posses—died during the attack when he was struck by a piece of falling masonry. In late September 1856, another sack seemed nigh when, according to the Kansas State Board of Agriculture 1878 Biennial Report, "2,700 proslavery men appeared in sight of Lawrence, and the city was temporarily defended by Free-State men, under the command of Maj. J. B. Abbott". However, this threat was neutralized when the recently-installed territorial governor John W. Geary realized what was about to happen and called for federal reinforcements to defend the city.
₋In both 1855 and 1857, Lawrence received a charter from the proslavery government in Lecompton, but the citizens, being adamant in their opposition to the "Bogus Legislature", refused to accept it, as it would have organized Lawrence under proslavery laws. In July 1857, the citizens of Lawrence then attempted to secure an "official" city charter from the extralegal Free-State legislature before issuing one themselves. This act was seen as one of bold-faced insurrection by the newly-installed territorial governor Robert J. Walker; as a result, on July 15, 1857 Walker ordered William S. Harney to send a regiment of soldiers to watch over the city and impose martial law. These troops remained in the vicinity of Lawrence until the territorial elections in October of that year. By this time, it seemed as if the struggles of Lawrence's early citizens were coming to fruition. In the election of 1857, free-staters gained the upper hand and were able to oust the proslavery majority from the territorial legislature. By the start of the next year, Samuel Jones—long the enemy of Lawrence's free state population—resigned his post as sheriff and left the territory. On January 16, 1858, Lawrence was declared the seat of Douglas County (an honor that had previously belonged to Lecompton). In February of that year, the legislature approved the city charter that had been drafted a little less than a year prior in July, and soon James Blood became the first mayor of the city. Around this time, the antislavery legislature often met in Lawrence, which functioned as the de facto capital of Kansas Territory from 1858 until 1861 (although Lecompton was still the de jure seat of the governing body).
₋Kansas statehood and the American Civil War
₋On October 4, 1859, the Wyandotte Constitution was approved in a referendum by a vote of 10,421 to 5,530, and after its approval by the U.S. Congress, Kansas was admitted as a free state on January 29, 1861. By the time the Wyandotte Constitution was framed in 1859, it was clear that the proslavery forces had lost in their bid to control Kansas. But while Kansas's entrance into the Union as a free state arguably ended the Bleeding Kansas period, it coincided with the outbreak of the American Civil War. During the war, Lawrence became a stronghold for Jayhawker guerilla units (also known as "Red Legs"), led by James Lane, James Montgomery, and "Doc" Jennison, among others. These groups raided parts of western Missouri, stealing goods and burning down farms; it was a common belief by southerners that the goods snatched by these Jayhawkers were stored in Lawrence. On August 21, 1863, Lawrence was attacked and destroyed by William Quantrill and hundreds of his irregular Confederate raiders. Most houses and businesses in Lawrence were burned and between 150 and 200 men and boys were murdered, leaving 80 widows and 250 orphans. About $2,000,000 worth of property (equivalent to $41,529,730 in 2019) was destroyed. The Plymouth Congregational Church in Lawrence survived the attack, but a number of its members were killed and its records were destroyed.
₋Following Quantrill's raid, the survivors and their Unionist allies began to clean up the damage and restore their settlement. After a very bitter winter that forced the citizens to temporarily put their work on hold, rebuilding continued into 1864, and was completed with a zeal that Richard Cordley described as akin to "a religious obligation." Given the trauma of 1863, the citizens of Lawrence were on edge during this period of rebuilding; Cordley notes, "Rumors [of guerrilla attacks] were thick and the people were particularly sensitive to them." Consequently, Lawrence citizens organized themselves into companies to protect the city. Around this time, the federal government also erected several military posts on Mount Oread (among them Camp Ewing, Camp Lookout, and Fort Ulysses) to keep guard over the city. However, no further attacks were made on Lawrence, and these installations were eventually abandoned and dismantled after the war.
₋Post-Civil War
₋Attempts to begin a university in Kansas were first undertaken in 1855, but it was only after Kansas became a state in 1861 that those attempts saw any real fruition. An institute of learning was proposed in 1859 as The University of Lawrence, but it never opened. When Kansas became a state, provision was included in the Kansas Constitution for a state university. From 1861 to 1863 the question of where the university would be located—Lawrence, Manhattan or Emporia—was debated. On January 13, 1863, Manhattan was made the site of the state's land-grant college, leaving only Lawrence and Emporia as candidates. The fact Lawrence had $10,000 plus interest donated by Amos Lawrence plus 40 acres (160,000 m2) to donate for the university had great weight with the legislature. Eventually, Lawrence beat out Emporia by one vote, and in 1866, the University of Kansas (KU) was opened to students.
₋The first railroad that connected Lawrence was built in 1864, starting from Kansas City. It was surveyed by the Union Pacific Railway, Eastern Division, and the first train to Lawrence traveled on November 28, 1864. The first train to operate in Kansas south of the Kansas River did so by crossing the river in Lawrence on November 1, 1867.
₋Facing an energy crisis in the early 1870s, the city contracted with Orlando Darling to construct a dam across the Kansas River to help provide the city with power. Frustrated with the construction of the dam, Darling resigned and the Lawrence Land & Water Company completed the dam without him in 1873; however, only when J.D. Bowersock took over the dam in 1879 that the constant damage to the dam ceased and repairs held up. The dam made Lawrence unique which helped in winning business against Kansas City and Leavenworth. The dam closed in 1968 but was reopened in 1977 with help from the city, which wanted to build a new city hall next to the Bowersock Plant.
₋The first wind-powered mill in Kansas was built in Lawrence in 1863 near the corner of what is now 9th Street and Emery Road. It was partially destroyed during Quantrill's Raid, but it was rebuilt in 1864 at a cost of $9,700. It continued to be operational until July 1885, but on April 30, 1905, it was destroyed in a fire.
₋In 1884 the United States Indian Industrial Training School was opened in Lawrence. Boys were taught the trades of tailor making, blacksmithing, farming and others while girls were taught cooking and homemaking. In 1887 the name was changed to the Haskell Institute, after Dudley Haskell, a legislator responsible for the school being in Lawrence. In 1993 the name was changed again to Haskell Indian Nations University.
₋20th century and beyond
₋In 1888, Watkins National Bank opened at 11th and Massachusetts. Founded by Jabez B. Watkins, the bank would last until 1929. Watkin's wife Elizabeth donated the bank building to the city to use as a city hall. In 1970, the city built a new city hall and after extensive renovations, the bank reopened in 1975 as the Elizabeth M. Watkins Community Museum.
₋In 1903, the Kansas River flooded causing property damage in Lawrence, especially North Lawrence. The water got as high as 27 feet and water marks can still be seen on some buildings especially at TeePee Junction at the U.S. 24–40 intersection and at Burcham Park. Lawrence would be hit by other floods in 1951, where the water rose over 30 feet, and in 1993 but with the reservoir and levee system in place, Lawrence only had minimal damage compared to the other floods.
₋Also in 1903, Theodore Roosevelt visited Lawrence on his way to Manhattan where he gave a short speech and dedicated a fountain at 9th & New Hampshire. The fountain was later moved to South Park next to the gazebo. Roosevelt would visit Lawrence again in 1910 after visiting Osawatomie where he dedicated the John Brown State Historical Site and gave a speech on New Nationalism.
₋In 1871, the Lawrence Street Railway Company opened and offered citizens easy access to hotels and businesses along Massachusetts Street. The first streetcar was pulled by horses and mules and the track just ran along Massachusetts Street. After the 1903 flood, the Kansas River bridge had to be rebuilt but was not considered safe for a streetcar to pass over. The Lawrence Street Railway Company closed later that year. In 1907, C.L. Rutter attempted to bring back a bus system, after having failed in 1902. In 1909, a new streetcar system was implemented putting Rutter out of business and lasting until 1935. In 1909, the streetcar company created Casey's Coaster (also known as Daisy's Dozer), a wooden roller coaster which lasted from 1909 to the 1920s, in Woodland Park.
₋In 1921, Lawrence Memorial Hospital opened in the 300 block of Maine Street. It started with only 50 beds but by 1980, the hospital would expand to 200. LMH has been awarded several awards and recognitions for care and quality including The Hospital Value Index Best in Value Award and is ranked nationally in the top five percent for heart attack care by the American College of Cardiology.
₋In 1929 Lawrence began celebrating its 75th anniversary. The city dedicated Founder's Rock, commonly referred to as the Shunganunga Boulder, a huge red boulder brought to Lawrence from near Tecumseh. The rock honors the two parties of the Emigrant Aid Society who first settled in Lawrence. Lawrence also dedicated the Lawrence Municipal Airport on October 14.
₋In 1943, the federal government transported German and Italian prisoners of World War II to Kansas and other Midwest states to work on farms and help solve the labor shortage caused by American men serving in the war effort. Large internment camps were established in Kansas: Camp Concordia, Camp Funston (at Fort Riley), Camp Phillips (at Salina under Fort Riley). Fort Riley established 12 smaller branch camps, including Lawrence. The camp in Lawrence was near 11th & Haskell Avenue near the railroad tracks. The camp would close by the end of 1945.
₋In 1947, Gilbert Francis and his son George opened Francis Sporting Goods downtown, selling mostly fishing and hunting gear. A decade later they moved across the street to larger retail space at 731 Massachusetts Street, enabling them to expand into other sporting goods. In November 2014, in the wake of the opening of a new Dick's Sporting Goods location in Lawrence, Francis Sporting Goods, announced its retail business within what had become Lawrence's Downtown Historic District would close by the end of the year, allowing the Francis family to focus on supplying uniforms and equipment to teams.
₋In the early 1980s, Lawrence grabbed attention from the television movie The Day After. The TV movie first appeared on ABC but was later shown in movie theaters around the world. The movie depicted what would happen if the United States were destroyed in a nuclear war. The movie was filmed in Lawrence, and hundreds of local residents appeared in the film as extras and in speaking roles.
₋In 1989, the Free State Brewing Company opened in Lawrence becoming the first legal brewery in Kansas in more than 100 years. The restaurant is in a renovated inter-urban trolley station in downtown Lawrence.
₋In 2007, Lawrence was named one of the best places to retire by U.S. News & World Report. In 2011, the city was named one of America's 10 best college towns by Parents & Colleges.
VII.Other Information
₋Transportation
₋Interstate 70, as the Kansas Turnpike, runs east–west along the northern edge of the city, interchanging with U.S. Route 59 which runs north–south along North 2nd Street, 6th Street and Iowa Street. Another east–west route, U.S. Route 40, runs through northern Lawrence along 6th Street roughly 2 miles south of I-70. U.S. 40 runs concurrently east–west with U.S. 59 for approximately 1 mile between Iowa Street and Massachusetts Street. The two routes turn north before crossing I-70. One half-mile north of I-70, U.S. 40 splits from U.S. 59 and turns east, running concurrently with U.S. 24, exiting the city.
₋K-10, an east–west state highway, enters the city from the east along 23rd Street, then turns south, running concurrently with U.S. 59 for 1.5 miles before splitting off and continuing west and finally north around western Lawrence as a bypass, terminating at an interchange with I-70 northwest of the city. The K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway is a project with the goal to connect K-10 and the Kansas Turnpike. To transfer between K-10 and the Kansas Turnpike, drivers must use Lawrence city streets. The K-10 South Lawrence Trafficway, already partially built, was proposed as a solution to traffic, air quality, and safety concerns. However, the project has received criticism and been the subject of many protests for more than a decade because of opposition to the trafficway being built through the Haskell-Baker Wetlands. More recently, it appears completion of the project is underway. In June 2011, the Kansas Department of Transportation announced it would provide $192 million to complete the trafficway and in July 2012, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court's ruling that all necessary permits were properly obtained and construction could commence As for the wetlands, about 56 acres were taken for the construction of the South Lawrence Trafficway; because of this some 380 acres of man-made wetlands were developed next to the site.
₋Two bus systems operate in the city. Lawrence Transit, known locally as "The T", is a public bus system operated by the city, and KU on Wheels is operated by the University of Kansas. Together, the two systems operate 18 bus routes in the city. Both systems are free to KU students, faculty, and staff. Both systems are owned and operated by MV Transportation. Greyhound Lines provides intercity bus service with a stop in Lawrence. In addition, the Johnson County, Kansas bus system provides inter-city transport between Lawrence and Overland Park college campuses in a route known as the K-10 Connector.
₋Lawrence Municipal Airport is northeast of the city, immediately north of U.S. 40. Publicly owned, it has two runways and is used for general aviation. The nearest airport with commercial airline service is Kansas City International Airport which is approximately 50 miles northeast of downtown Lawrence.
₋Two Class I railroads, BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad (UP), have lines which pass through Lawrence. The BNSF line enters the city from the east and exits to the north, roughly following the course of the Kansas River. The UP line does the same on the north side of the river, running through the city's northeast corner. Using the BNSF trackage, Amtrak provides passenger rail service on its Southwest Chief line between Chicago and Los Angeles. Amtrak's Lawrence station is a few blocks east of downtown.
₋According to the 2017 American Community Survey, 76.6% of working city of Lawrence residents commuted by driving alone, 8.9% carpooled, 2.6% used public transportation, and 6.0% walked. About 2.0% used all other forms of transportation, including taxicab, motorcycle, and bicycle. About 3.8% of working city of Lawrence residents worked at home. In 2017, 2.5% of city of Lawrence households were without a car. 77.3% of city of Lawrence residents also work in Lawrence.
₋Lawrence ranked 62nd in the United States for the highest percentage of commuters by bicycle in 2011 at 1.73%.
₋Health and Utilities
₋Lawrence has one hospital, the non-profit community-owed Lawrence Memorial Hospital. The hospital has been awarded several awards and recognitions for care and quality including The Hospital Value Index Best in Value Award, and it is ranked nationally in the top five percent for heart attack care by the American College of Cardiology.
₋The most predominant electric provider is Westar Electric, and the most predominant gas provider is Black Hills Energy. Midco and DirecTV are the major television providers. Internet providers include Midco, Wicked Broadband, CenturyLink, Exede and Wildblue Internet Service, HughesNet, Allconnect, and ViaSat Satellite. There are numerous telephone service providers in Lawrence, including Midco, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and others.
₋Snow removal services are provided by the Lawrence Street Maintenance Division, who is also responsible for maintaining the city's streets, curbs, alleys, and gutters, the Kansas River and Mud Creek levee, some of the infrastructure of the Lawrence Municipal Airport, and street sweeping.
VIII.Contact Information
Government
Mayor: Jennifer Ananda
City Manager: Craig Owens
City Hall
Address:
6 East 6th Street
PO Box 708
Lawrence, KS 66044
TEL: (785) 832-3000
Email: cityhall@lawrenceks.org
Website: https://lawrenceks.org/contacts/