Friday. May 1. 1998
The University Daily Kansan
Section B·Page 5
Lawrence Then & Now Sites provide slice of history
By Katie Eagan
The Goss House, 1101 211 St.], is one of several houses that survived Quantrill's raid of lawrence. The house has been standing since before the Civil War. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
Special to the Kansan
There's more to the history of Lawrence than the University of Kansas.
Historical sites throughout the city await discovery.
After the Civil War began in 1861, debate sparked slavery issues. Armed encounters were common between anti-slavery Jayhawkers from Kansas and Bushwhackers from Missouri, a slave state.
On Aug 21, 1863, William Clarke Quantrill led approximately 400 men in a guerrilla attack on Lawrence known as Quantrill's Raid. One witness said, "The attack was perfectly planned. Every man knew his place. The order was to burn every house and kill every man".
About 200 men were killed, and as many as 185 homes were burned.
Some of the houses survived Quantrill's Raid and are standing today.
- One main goal of the raiders was to capture the Eldridge House, which had been used as a fortress to harbor armed men. The Eldridge House was surrounded, plundered and burned. The present Eldridge Hotel, located at 701 Massachusetts, stands on the original site.
The Goss house, 1101 21st Street, was used as a hiding place during the raid. It was also a stop on the Underground Railroad, which helped enslaved African Americans reach freedom before the Civil War.
Just south of the Lied Center is the Pioneer Cemetery. The victims of Quantrill's Raid were first buried there and some remain. Other bodies were moved to the Oak Hill Cemetery where a monument stands in their honor. Oak Hill Cemetery is located one block north of 15th and Elwood streets.
History of Lawrence televised for class
Cable broadcasts sessions for students
By Emily C. Forsyth
eforysth@kansan.com
Kansan srfd writer
When Dennis Domer decided to teach a class about the history of Lawrence, which would be broadcast on television, he did not know what to expect.
What he didn't anticipate was that many of the students would watch the program in place of attending class.
"I would say that about 65 percent of the students come to class and the other 35 percent watch it on television," said Domer, associate professor
of American studies. "I'm a little old fashioned. I still prefer to have students come to class."
Aside from attendance problems, Domer said "Biography of a City: Lawrence," which was taught for the first time this semester, was a successful venture.
The 600-level course was offered for credit in history, humanities and American studies. Class sessions were videotaped every Tuesday evening and broadcast the following Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Sunflower Cable channel 6.
A $2,000 grant from the Kansas Commission for the Humanities covered the cost of taping the class.
Kelly Schuler, receptionist at Sunflower Cable, said the show had been a success with viewers.
"The response has been good," she
said. "I've had a lot of people call in asking for copies."
Domer said he had received positive feedback from people in the community.
"I'm pleased that so many people who are not in the course have been watching it on television," Domer said.
Each week guest speakers provided students and viewers in the community with a new perspective on Lawrence, either through a lecture or an interview conducted by Domer. Topics included cultural, social, economic and political issues from past to present.
Lectures covered subjects from Quantrill's raid to Lawrence as a center for American music and such historical residents as Langston Hughes and William S. Burroughs.
As part of the class, students were
expected to complete a project, which could be a research paper, an interview or a volunteer project. Domer said he hoped his students would delve into areas that had not been explored and uncover primary material.
He said he would teach the course again in about three years and he would make some changes to its structure. One improvement to the course would be the addition of an anthology of readings about Lawrence's history.
He said in some ways it was easier to teach the history of cities like Rome that have been canonized.
"The history of Lawrence is sort of floating out there like a hundred thousand different molecules of information that haven't come together in any formal, organized way." Domer said. "For that reason, it's difficult to teach at this point."
Historic raid remembered
By Chris Horton
chorton@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
The Kansas-Missouri basketball rivalry may be fierce, but it does not compare to the Jayhawkers and Bushwackers.
During the Civil War, loosely organized militant groups from Kansas and Missouri engaged in bloody guerrilla warfare that culminated in the burning of Lawrence on August 21, 1863, known as Quantrill's Raid.
Former Lawrence resident William Quantrill led about 400 men from Missouri into Lawrence at 5:00 a.m., where they engaged in a four-hour attack that left Lawrence in flames and more than 147 people dead.
The raid came at a crucial time during the Civil War, during which the war over slavery was raging, said Steven Jansen, director, Douglas County Historical Society and Watkins Community Museum of History, 1047 Massachusetts St.
At the time of the raid, Lawrence had been settled for nine years, and the population had reached 3,000. It also had become the center of free state sentiment in Kansas. Jansen said.
"Quantrill's Raid is considered one of the most important events of the Civil War west of the Mississippi River." Jansen said.
Quantrill's Raid came months after a Jayhawker attack upon the town of Osceola, Mo. in which the town was looted and burned, Jansen said.
"Quite a bit of what Quantrill's Raiders took from the raid on Lawrence was loot from the burning of Osceola," he said.
Quantrill and his raiders, known as Bushwhackers, entered Lawrence at where 19th and 23rd Streets are today, he said.
The raid often is viewed as an attack by proslavery forces on slavery opponents, but politics were not the driving force behind the raid, Jansen said. Neither the Jayhawkers nor the Bushwhackers were concerned with the slavery issue.
"Both sides used politics as a cover for illegal
violent activities," Jansen said. "They were each cut from the same cloth."
Octavius McAllaster, who lived on the 700 block of Rhode Island, recorded his version of the raid in a letter entitled "My Experience in the Lawrence Raid," which is in the Kansas Collection at the Spencer Research Library.
The events that actually transpired during Quantrill's Raid can only be determined through eyewitness accounts, he said.
"I at first supposed they were U. S. troops, as it was a very common thing for them to be passing through the city, but in an instant they spread out taking possession of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont Streets principally, shooting ever person they saw."
"I was up at about 5 o'clock on the morning of August 21, 1863. A noise attracted my attention and I looked south and saw between 300 and 400 horsemen on Rhode Island St." he wrote.
An excerpt of his letter contains the developments at the bedding of the raid.
Almost all of the 600, 700 and 800 blocks of Lawrence were burned to the ground, he said. Death estimates range from 147 to more than 200.
The raiders didn't leave Lawrence until 9 a.m. Jansen said.
Of the dead, 122 were buried at Pioneer Cemetery, which is located on West Campus, southeast of the Lied Center, Jansen said. The bodies later were disinterred and reburied at Oakhill Cemetery at 15th and Oakhill.
George McCleary, associate professor of geography, created a historical map of Quantrill's Raid as it progressed through Lawrence. The map, completed last summer, is quite different from its predecessor which had been used in brochures about the raid at Watkins Museum.
The point of the map is to illustrate the raid from the perspective one would take in examining a Civil War battle, he said.
"What we wanted to do was to make a different graphic statement than had been made before." Jones said.
The path of Quantrill's Raiders
Contributed graphic created by: Darin Grauberger
City thrives on tourism athletics for summer
By Aaron Knopf
aknopf@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Kansan staff writer
A number of events, festivals and celebrations draw tourists to Lawrence from across the state and the country.
University of Kansas students who leave Lawrence at the beginning of May might not know how much hustle and bustle occurs here starting in late spring and lasting through the summer.
- "I think the word has gotten out that Lawrence is a neat little place," said Jennifer Carter, travel sales and marketing manager for the Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Lawrence hotel and motel occupancy rates, which already exceed the national yearly average, reach their highest points in the summertime, Carter said. She could not provide the exact figures for local occupancy rates.
Carter said tourists who spent the night in Lawrence contributed $28.3 million to the local economy last year. She said the figure would be even higher if it included money spent by people who came just for the day.
Several popular events that have attracted many tourists to Lawrence in the past are taking place again this year.
Dancers will compete in several categories and monetary prizes will be awarded to the top five finishers in each category.
Haskell Indian Nations University holds its 14th annual graduation powow at Haskell Stadium from May 8-10. According to a press release, Haskell expects that 700 to 900 dancers will participate in the event and that more than 20,000 people will attend as spectators.
For more information on the pow wow, contact Darrell Flyingman at (785) 749-8485.
The pow wow begins at 7 p.m. on May 8.
The cost is $5 per day for a single adult or $12 for the entire weekend. Children ages 7 to 12 get in for $3 per day. There is no cost for children under age 6.
In July, the Sunflower State Games bring more than 8,000 people to Lawrence to compete in a wide range of sporting events. This is the ninth year for the Games, which will take place July 17-19 and July 24-26.
Vicki Hill, athlete services coordinator for the Games, said people of all ages and skill levels had participated in past years. The events range from track and field to basketball to precision kite flying.
"It's the most fun and the best competition around." Hill said.
Any person who is a resident of Kansas, is stationed in a Kansas military institute or attends school in Kansas is eligible to compete. Skill level is not a prerequisite for any event. Hill said.
Hill noted the appeal of the Games is in the opportunity to compete against people from across the state.
For more information on the Games, call (785) 842-7774 or check out the Web site at http://www.sunflowergames.org.
"We have such a wonderful history in our community, and history can draw people for economic reasons," said Rob Phillips, Eldridge Hotel general manager. "We decided it would be important to make another vehicle to tell the history of the Lawrence area."
History buffs come to Lawrence in August for Civil War Days. The Eldridge Hotel sponsors the event, which runs Aug. 16-23. This is the third year for the event.
The purpose of Civil War Days is to examine how the war was waged on the western frontier of the United States in places such as Kansas.
Phillips said this year's event was still in the planning stages. In past years, there have been daily lectures about Civil War weaponry, Quantrill's Raid and other matters of local interest.
He said these talks were meant for anyone who has an interest in the Civil War, not just academics. The Eldridge also intends to add activities that appeal to children.
Anyone planning a trip to Lawrence can stop by the Lawrence Visitors Center, at the intersection of North Second and Locust streets, for more information on what to do when in town. The Visitors Center also shows the movie Lawrence: Free State Fortress, which was produced in conjunction with the University of Kansas, as a primer on Lawrence history.