Monday, April 17, 1961 University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Courtesy The Kansas Historical Society
WHEAT BRINGERS?—Mennonite farmers are shown here as they prepare for the evening meal in the temporary quarters they occupied in central Kansas. The Mennonites came from Russia to Kansas, lured by promises of immunity from military service, which their religion forbade, and the prospect of cheap, fertile land. Here they grew the hardy winter wheat that was to make Kansas the breadbasket of the nation.
Mennonites Didn't Bring First Wheat
By Jane Boyd
The story of Kansas wheat and the Mennonites is an example of how history becomes distored after continued repetition and the lapse of years and memories.
The story which has gained wide circulation states that the Mennonite immigration into Kansas brought with it the golden grain that makes modern Kansas breadbasket to the nation.
However, the Mennonites came to Kansas in 1874. Kansans started raising wheat in 1873.
THE MENNONITES are a religious sect which originally immigrated to Kansas from southern Russia. The men wear beards, and the women wear long hair and dark hose. Many are conscientious objectors.
A part of the wheat story is true. The Mennonites brought Kansas its best variety of wheat, the hard winter wheat, better known as Turkey Red. But this story, too, is just a little distorted. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad and some millers were more instrumental than the Mennonites in bringing Turkey Red to the area.
This is how the Mennonites and hard winter wheat happened to come to Kansas.
First, there would not have been any Mennonites in Kansas if this state had not been the first to offer the Mennonite immigrants military exemption.
The Mennonites who came to investigate the lands in the United States liked the land and weather in Kansas. But they wanted, first, to have a promise that they would be free of military obligations.
They had to have that promise before they settled, because for hundreds of years the sect had moved about from land to land, persecuted by kings and governments because of their religious beliefs.
In 1871 a prominent Mennonite and Prussian consul, Cornelius Jansen, began to correspond with various countries and agencies in search of land for his people.
C. B. Schmidt, an implement dealer from Lawrence, was hired by the Santa Fe as a land agent to help induce the Mennonites to come to Kansas.
DURING THE SUMMER of 1873, a delegation of 12 Mennon-
ites came to North America in search of just the right land. Five of them came to Kansas. Schmidt spent one week with these people, showing them the land. Before they left they had Schmidt reserve some 100,000 acres for them.
Bernard Warkentin, a miller in Halstead, also was instrumental in getting the Mennonites here. He supposedly was interested in helping his kinsmen, in getting the area settled, and in more business for his mill.
Warkentin was one of the chief figures in encouraging importation of hard winter wheat from Russia. The Santa Fe helped with the importation. At one time the company chartered a boat and had some wheat brought over at the railroad's expense.
But Kansans had been urged to raise wheat, and did so before the Mennonites came. One Dr. H. A. Ensign wrote a letter to the newspaper in Newton in 1872 urging that Kansans raise wheat.
Dr. Ensign recommended wheat because, as he said. "We have a soil and climate evidently adapted to the growth of wheat; and it is simply a ruminous practice to look for a supply of our bread stuff from abroad, when we can raise it so easily at home." Kansans took the advice to heart, and wheat fields sprang up in the state before the Mennonites came.
DR. ENSIGN advised farmers to grow wheat and then some "good Yankee" could come in and make his fortune running a mill.
Some stories about the Men-
nonites are true. For example,
they did bring the mulberry, wild
olive, and apricot trees into Kans-
as.
They brought the mulberry trees in order to feed the leaves to their silkworms. But the lack of a near market for the silk brought a quick end to this business.
First High School Erected in Chapman
Chapman had the first city high school in the state, built following enactment by the legislature of a bill establishing the state-wide system of city high schools.
The system was first conceived by J. H. Canfield, a KU professor and father of the novelist Dorothy Canfield Fisher.
University Had 3 Teachers, 55 Students at 1866 Opening
By Judy Scholes
Late in 1866, three men walked to class on Mt. Oread, then a bleak mound rising high above the surrounding country. These men were the entire faculty of the new University of Kansas, opening its doors to 55 students this first day of operation.
THE CLASSES starting here this late summer day were part of a Kansas dream that began many years before. As early as 1855 provision was made for a University. This was included in one of the first charters of Lawrence, incorporating a University of Kansas Territory in Douglas County.
Another effort was made in 1863. There was a contest between Lawrence and Emporia over the site, Lawrence winning by one vote. The bill was signed by Governor Carney on Feb. 20, 1863, and on March 1, 1864, a bill to organize the university passed.
But it was not until five years later that the legislature took action on establishing the university. At that time it passed a bill placing the university in Manhattan. Governor Robinson, a Lawrence resident, vetoed the bill.
THE ORGANIZATION BILL stated that "the object of the University shall be to provide the inhabitants of this state with the means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, sciences and the arts." The governing body of the university was to be the Board of Regents. It was to proceed with construction of the building when funds became available.
Lawrence citizens contributed land and money amounting to $20,000. Active construction work began in the fall of 1865.
By the summer of 1866 the work was nearly complete. The Board
of Regents met in July of that year and elected the faculty, inspected the buildings, authorized advertising of the university in Kansas newspapers and set the opening date for Sept. 12, 1866.
THE MICHIGAN CHARTER was used as a pattern in setting up KU's charter. The only significant difference was that KU was to be coeducational. It was the third state university to admit both men and women.
Elial J. Rice was made president of the first faculty, which consisted of Frank H. Snow and David H. Robinson. Together they drew up the first curriculum. The Rev. R. W. Oliver was appointed chancellor by the Board of Regents. Until December 4, 1867, the chancellor had no direct connection with the faculty. At that time John Fraser was appointed chancellor and president of the faculty.