Lawrence, Kansas

Lore & Background

Lawrence was central to the Bleeding Kansas period (1854–1861), 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). The city 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.

The Kaw people, also known as the Kansa, settled the region including what is now Lawrence in the late 17th or early 18th century. A series of treaties with the U.S. government compelled the Kaw to relinquish the land to the Shawnee and their Indian Reservation, established in 1830. The Kansas Territory was established in May 1854. Lawrence was founded 'strictly for political reasons' having to do with slavery.

The Christian abolitionist and Protestant minister Richard Cordley later noted that after the Kansas–Nebraska Act 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'. Many slavery opponents 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 slavery altogether. These settlers soon became known as 'Free-Staters'.

Reader's Guide

When the settlers arrived, most had called their fledgling city simply Wakarusa, after the nearby river of the same name, but other names were considered, such as New Boston (in recognition of both the NEEAC's city of operation and the hometown of many early settlers). Meanwhile, settlers from Missouri derisively called it 'Yankee Town', due to its New England connections. Another name considered around this time was Lawrence. Many approved of this name in honor of Amos A. Lawrence.

The first rally of forces from Lawrence was the night of September 30, done to protect Thomas J. Ferril, a free-state Methodist preacher from Missouri. His assailants surrounded his house, threatening violence and to destroy his property, but retreated after they saw a body of armed free-staters without injury to either side. The next day, a woman tore down a free-state man's tent. Pro-slavery men rallied to prevent the tent's reconstruction by a group of about 20 armed free-staters, but it was completed without violence.

The next day, a sizeable band of pro-slavery men appeared, threatening a repeat of the attack, but upon seeing their opponents ready, they retreated with renewed threats of vengeance.

Did You Know?

• The first meal of the pioneer colony on August 1, 1854, was eaten on Hogback Ridge, which was soon renamed Mount Oread after the Oread Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts.
• The second party of settlers, arriving September 9–11, 1854, included about ten women, a number of children, and several musicians.