Kansas: Kansas Historical Society
Showing results 1 to 10 of 86
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HM2BH_marais-des-cygnes-massacre_Pleasanton-KS.html
Nothing in the struggle over slavery in Kansas did more to inflame the nation than the mass killing which took place May 19, 1858, about four miles northeast of this marker. Charles Hamelton who had been driven from the territory by Free-State men, retaliat…
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HM357_nicodemus_Bogue-KS.html
In July, 1877 Negro "exodusters" from Kentucky established a settlement here in the Promised Land of Kansas which they named Nicodemus. Although the colonists lacked sufficient tools, seed and money they managed to survive the first winter, some by selling …
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HM7G9_big-basin_Ashland-KS.html
This marker stands within a geologic feature known as the Big Basin, which is a sinkhole or "sink" about a mile in diameter and more than a hundred feet deep. Although it has the appearance of a valley, it is entirely surrounded by higher ground. Like sever…
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMD2B_the-city-of-leavenworth_Leavenworth-KS.html
Two weeks after Kansas was officially opened for settlement, the state's oldest city was born. The date was June 12, 1854, and the town was named for nearby Fort Leavenworth.
In September, type for the first regular weekly newspaper in Kansas was set und…
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMD7I_battle-of-black-jack_Wellsville-KS.html
This "battle" was part of the struggle to make Kansas a free state. In May, 1856, Proslavery men destroyed buildings and newspaper presses in Lawrence, Free-State headquarters. John Brown's company then killed five Proslavery men on Pottawatomie Creek not f…
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMD7U_baldwin_Baldwin-City-KS.html
Here, and for the next 300 miles west, Highway 56 roughly follows the old Santa Fe Trail, and frequently crosses it. White settlement began in this area in 1854, the year Kansas became a territory, and in 1855 the town of Palmyra was founded. When Baker Uni…
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMDH5_lawrence_Lawrence-KS.html
Lawrence was established in 1854 by the Emigrant Aid Company, a New England organization formed to prevent the new Kansas territory from becoming a slave state. When the first legislature enacted the so-called Bogus Laws with severe penalties for opposing s…
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMDHJ_capital-of-kansas_Topeka-KS.html
Topeka was founded in 1854 at the site of Papan's Ferry where a branch of the Oregon Trail crossed the Kansas river as early as 1842. Anti-slavery leaders framed the Topeka Constitution, 1855, in the first attempt to organize a state government. The next ye…
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMDRZ_shawnee-friends-mission_Merriam-KS.html
In 1825 the Federal government began moving Eastern Indians to new lands west of the Mississippi. This sign is on a 2,500 square mile tract assigned to the Shawnees.
With this tribe came Methodist, Baptist and Quaker missionaries. One mile east and a lit…
historicalmarkerproject.com/markers/HMEBM_fort-scott_Fort-Scott-KS.html
This western outpost, named for General Winfield Scott, was established by U.S. Dragoons in 1842. The fort was located on the military road that marked the "permanent Indian frontier" stretching from Minnesota to Louisiana and stood midway between Fort Leav…