University Dally Kansan / Wednesday Aug. 23, 1989
7E
Over the river North Lawrence gives city a rural flair
by Charles Higginson Kansan staff writer
For many KU students and Lawrence residents, North Lawrence is nothing more than the mixed collection of stores and light industry along North Second Street between the city and I-70.
But North Lawrence is much more than that. It's a unique neighborhood where 2,200 residents and dozens of businesses find an atmosphere not common elsewhere in Lawrence.
The Kansas River and the Union Pacific Railroad run through the neighborhood and its history. They have guided, defined and limited its growth and development from the earliest days of white settlement.
Johnny's Tavern, 401 N. Second St., stands between the river and the railroad tracks. That location makes it a good place to begin an exploration of North Lawrence. Johnny's opened in 1950; said Doug Hassig, who has owned the tavern for 11 years.
"When we started, a lot of people said it was a terrible location," he said. "It's been going great. We do a lot of student trade."
a De of students
Hassig recently expanded the tavern to accommodate the crowds of people who line up
outside the building, many of whom are students who have crossed the bridge just to visit Johnny's.
Other restaurants that draw people to North Lawrence are La Tropicana, 434. Locus St., El Matador, 404. Locust St., and Strick's Restaurant, 732 N. Second St...
Crossing over into North Lawrence, there is a sense of entering another city. That is in part because it once was a separate city, and artifacts of the separation remain. The numbered streets run north-south, for example, rather than east-west as in the rest of the city.
The land that is now North Lawrence was reserved to the Delaware Indians in 1829, according to A. B. Ewing's 1941 book on North Lawrence history. The land was opened to white settlement in 1854, but several white immigrants had already settled there. The first post office in the area was established in 1882 under the name Jefferson.
This part of Lawrence was left untouched by disastrous raids during the controversies over slavery in the 1850s and '60s. Neither Sheriff Sam Jones in 1856 nor William Quantrill in 1863 crossed
the river to extend the destruction of the anti-slavery bastion in south Lawrence.
North Lawrence was incorporated as a separate city in 1867, and became part of Lawrence in 1870 when it consolidated with the settlement on the south side of the river.
The first bridge across the river was begin in 1863, and the Kansas Pacific Railroad completed a line from Wyandotte to North Lawrence in 1864. Many new residents came in by rail thereafter.
Railroad officials erected a complex of repair shops in 1870 in an area northeast of North Lawrence known as Bimarck Grove. The ships were dismantled ten years later, and no trace of them remains.
In the 1800s, a fairground operated at Bismarck State Fairs were conducted there. Exhibition halls and a ractetrack drew crowds estimated at 20,000. This complex also has vanished.
However, residents still visit the site to pick their own fresh strawberries or sweet corn at Bismark Gardens. Rt. 4.
The Union Pacific passenger depot was built in 1899 near Elm and North Second streets. The brick and limestone building stands empty now, its windows boarded over. A local group is raising money to move and renovate the station.
North Lawrence. The soil underlying, much of the area is a rich, sandy riverbottom loam ideal for gardening and agriculture. That soil has made North Lawrence what it is today.
"It's really kind of a small town within the town," said Bob Moody, president of the North Lawrence Neighborhood Association and a resident for 10 years. "It's got its own special character.
with special care. "We've got excellent garden spots. The gardening and soil are just terrific over here."
The river redefined North Lawrence in 1903, when about a third of the built-up area north of the river washed away in extensive flooding. The floods left the river channel approximately twice as wide as it had been.
The small-town atmosphere is immediately apparent to a driver who heads east from North Second along Elm or Locust streets. The farther east he drives, the larger the lots are. Mailboxes lean out to the roadside over grassy ditches; in many blocks all the boxes are on one side of the street.
Here are Lyon Street, Lake Street, and Lincoln Street. Pleasant street runs two blocks long; Maiden Lane, just one.
The river has also been kind to
A 30-foot windmill whirls in a back yard, its frame bright green, its blades yellow with a central brown circle; a huge spinning sunflower.
Despite increased development, North Lawrence remains an area that attracts people who, for various reasons, prefer it to the larger city to the south. Lillian Goble has lived at 603 Elm St. since 1957. Her parents bought the property in 1831.
"It is a neighborhood of people who like to live in a quiet end of town," she said. "They like to live in homes that they own."
"I can look at other neighborhoods on the south side, and I really wouldn't want to live over there."
Johnny'a Tavern, 401 N. Second St.
Tomas Stargardter/KANSAN
Strick's Restaurant, 732 N. Second St.
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