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Wednesday, August 21, 1974
University Daily Kansan
Nowheresville
Kansan Staff Photos by DEBBIE GUMP
County's Past Includes Various Governments
In July 1855, the first step in organizing Douglas County was taken—Lecrompton was designated the county seat. An act of the territorial legislature later that year appointed him Lecrompton to Lawrence. Since 1863 Lecrompton gave through many governmental changes.
The first governing body in Douglas County, the Commissioners Court, held its first meeting on May 26, and court consisted of several area residents and was headed by Sam J. Jones, Douglas County Sheriff. The court functioned as a public body rather than an administrative body.
Lawrence began its formation as a city in 1855 when it became a township. This era was a turbulent one for the city, as well as for the United States. Slaves was the issue of the township. Jeff Jones and Quantrill. Kansas entered the Union as a free state on Jan. 29, 1861.
In 1869, the city hall of Lawrence was built at Vermont and 8th streets and the county offices were located there. This building became a museum. Douglass County Court House was built.
After the Civil War, the Lawrence voters were more concerned with two other projects than with formulating a strong city governmental system. The voters wanted a bridge over the Kansas River and the extension of the railroad from Kansas City.
In 1863, Gen. George W. Collamore was elected mayor of Lawrence. Collamore enforced martial law in the city to keep the police, warring over slavery, from fighting.
The mayor was the head of the Lawrence government until the turn of the century. By
The mayor-council form of government was the next Lawrence system. This was government by a mayor and a partisan elected city council. The mayor-council form was popular in Lawrence until Rep. Charles Stough introduced a resolution in 1947 to permit adoption by first class cities of the manager-commission form of government, then 1977, but a population of more than 15,000 and was a first class city.
Perhaps more important to Lawrence is what future government can do for the city. In a Guide for Growth, adopted in 1964 by the Lawrence Planning Commission, the population of Lawrence was estimated to reach 75,000 by 1985.
that time the city commission had come into being. A 1914 issue of Kansas Municipalities listed Lawrence as a second class city, a city with a population between 2,000 and 15,000 with a commission form of government.
In 1981, Lawrence adopted the manager-commission form of government and began its search for a city manager. On June 19,
1961, James H. Wigwellow became the first city manager of Lawrence. That system remains today.
According to statistics in the report, urban use will increase 15 square miles, 2,400 more acres of residential land will be needed and 120 more acres will be needed for business.
Open space should be around residential areas, the report said, and traffic flow could be improved by the construction of a bridge to connect the present one on the Kansas River.
There are no dogs in Noria to frighten people, but there are no people either. The town consists of a dehydrating plant along side of the railroad tracks. When the
railroad first came through, a siding was built but there was notation added. That is the station's name.
Noria Without Population; Corn, Alfalfa Only Locals
Noria is a town that has no population.
Noris is one mile east of Lawrence along the Santa Fe railroad tracks. A corn and alfalfa planting plant, which belongs to the town's company. is the town's only structure.
Recently a white pickup truck stopped alongside the office of the plant while Don Callahan, Lawrence, Don Callahan, Waldburn, working on some of the plant's equipment.
A young man leaned out of the window of the truck and asked for directions to Noria.
The young man was tempted to ask what had happened to the rest of the town, but instead he turned to the water tanks with their maze of interconnecting pipes were supposed to be.
After Porter told him that it was a
dehydrating plant, the young man asked
what plants were, what had been added to its
food, and what bad happened to it.
"There wasn't any town here, just the railroad," Porter said. "There used to be a town on the other side of the highway by the name of Franklin."
A short-wave radio blared static loudly from a truck parked nearby, and a loose pipe banged hollowly on the side of one of the silver storage tanks. Soon a train came through, but didn't even blow its whistle at Noria's crossing.
By NANCY DICKERSON
Kansan Staff Reporter
Walk down any number of streets in town, especially those known to be populated by college students, and chances are there will have plants thriving in their windows.
"I think that when the railroad came through and put in the siding, they also put up a station, and just called it Noria," Porter said.
House Plants New Fad, Lawrence Dealers Say
He snickered as he thought that someone must have been dreaming. Not even Mother Earth would stop him.
Another fad? Seemingly so.
"house plants go along with this current back-to-nature trend," according to Jim Freeman, employee at the Garden Center, 15th and New York streets.
Whatever the reason for the widespread popularity of house plants, area plant shops and greenhouses agree that sales have doubled in the past year. And it doesn't seem that any particular kind is most popular.
"Everything we stock, from succulents to foliage plants, sells well," Rex Morrish, employee at Gardenland, 914 W. 23rd St., said yesterday.
BUT WHERE DOES the beginner start? With the mass of plant enthusiasts growing each year and a variety of books on the subject, you can see that there is plenty of information. So much, in fact, that the problem becomes one of condensing that information to the beginn-
"Get a plant that can be coped with," he recommends Chris Wagner, who orders plants from Athenia.
She warns beginners to "steer away from
the hand beaches to avoid scallops."
Several plants fall into the easy-to-care-er category but even they are fuzzy about them.
Contrary to accepted belief, no plant can tolerate direct sunlight from a south window except for cacti. Aloe, jade, ivy, African violet and rubber tree plants are plants that need a sunny area that receive good lighting, tolerating light if for only a couple of hours each day.
Boston fern, philodendron, Chinese evergreen, baby's tears and spathiphyllum in the minimum-care plants that do well in suburban areas, such as that received from north windows.
ACCORDING TO JOEL RAPP, author of "Mother Earth's Hasle-Free Plant Book," plants require certain things to be healthy. Besides proper light, they need water, humidity, air, food and soil, grooming and an occasional transplant. He also suggests that plants do better when they receive music and love.
"Beginners have a tendency to overwater or improperly water plants," Freeman said.
The plant is getting too much water if the leaves turn yellow. If the leaves are droopy, not enough water is being given.
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