UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, August 19, 1992
9E
Founding of Lawrence centered around anti-slavery controversy
By John Brothers Special to the Kansan
On a grassy knoll at the intersection of Sixth and Massachusetts streets, a 12-foot, red quartzite rock, the Shunganung Boulder, stands silent sentinel over the Kansas River and the city around it.
In 1929, the citizens of Lawrence, with the help of a Santa Fe Railway crane, hoisted the 21-ton boulder from its resting place upstream in the Kansas River, placed it on a railroad car and brought it to town, shattering in the process the plans of a group of Topekans who thought the rock would look nice on the Statehouse lawn.
Once the boulder had been safely shipped to Lawrence, the citizens propped it up in a park and placed a bronze memorial on it dedicating the boulder to Kansas pioneers and settlers from New England who had founded the city of Lawrence 75 years earlier.
The founding of Lawrence has its roots in the slavery controversy that tore the country apart during the first two-thirds of the 18th century.
The question of whether slavery should be permitted in the territories had been frequently and vigorously debated in Congress, and in 1854 Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, allowing territories applying for statehood to decide the slavery question for themselves.
Thus, the Kansas-Nebraska Act provided the impetus for the settling of Kansas and Lawrence as both pro- and anti-slavery
factions began pushing settlers into the area to pack the electorate.
It were northern abolitionists who, fearing that the Kansas-Nebraska Act would allow slavery to spread throughout the West, promoted the settling of Lawrence.
Eli Thayer, a Massachusetts legislator and businessman, proposed that Kansas Territory be settled with persons against slavery who would "drive the hideous thing from the broad and beautiful plains where they are going to raise free homes."
Thayer was also a practical man, and his plan called for "connecting the anti-slavery sentiment of the North with a speculative enterprise to be carried out in Kansas."
Thayer chartered the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company — later called the New England Emigrant Aid Company — in April 1854, securing backing from a number of prominent and wealthy abolitionists.
The company hired Charles Robinson, who later became the first governor of Kansas, as its resident agent and sent him to Kansas to find a site for settling. Robinson arrived in Kansas in July 1854 and selected the present site of Lawrence for settlement, paying $500 to Charles Stearns, who had preempted the land several weeks earlier.
The first organized group of Emigrant Aid Company settlers to give up the urban amenities of New England for the Kansas Territory left Boston on July 17, 1854. There were 29 of them, and the financial aspect of their endeavor is illustrated by a
There were only three farmers in the original party. However, there were two men who listed their occupation as speculator, and one who described himself as a sportsman. There were also two merchants, two physicians, a banker, a lawyer, an architect, numerous mechanics, one laborer and a reporter from Boston.
look at the passenger list.
The first party arrived on Aug. I and spent the night camped on the hill that is now called Mount Oread. It was named by the settlers that night in honor of Oread Seminary, a school for women founded by Thayer in Worcester, Mass. The Oreads were a group of mountain nymphs in Greek mythology.
The two groups were not the only settlers in the area. Emigrants heading west by wagon train had been passing through Lawrence for at least 10 years when the New England settlers arrived.
A second group of settlers left Boston on Aug. 29 and arrived here, 114 strong. Sept.
The Oregon Trail crossed the Wakarusa River south of the present town site, went north along what is now Tennessee Street and then clambered over Mount Oread before heading west on present-day Sixth Street. By 1854, there were a number of settlers in the area, most of them squatters who had dropped off the passing wagon trains.
the second group's arrival. They adopted a constitution, formed a town government, surveyed the town site and began selling lots and farm claims.
The two groups sponsored by the Emigrant Aid Company joined three days after
The central street grid of the present city was planned at this time. The north-south streets were named for the 32 states and the east-west streets were named for persons esteemed by the settlers. The town was laid out with Massachusetts Street as the principal and widest street.
To the east were planned 12 streets named after the other original colonies, although Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and most of Maryland streets were soon lost to conflicting land claims and to a railroad right-of-way.
The streets west of Massachusetts were named after the remaining states in the order of their admission to the Union, although history students would not be advised to use street placement as a mnemonic devise because the settlers made some mistakes. Iowa Street should be one block east of Wisconsin, and Texas Street is missing altogether.
The town itself was named on Oct. 6. The settlement had gone by a number of names
— Yankee Town, New Boston and Wakarua — but these were all deemed unacceptable for various reasons. The settlers finally decided to name the town after Amos Adams Lawrence, a new England textile merchant who supported the abolitionist cause and who was treasurer of the Emigrant Aid Company.
Lawrence building owner uncovers history
By John Brothers
Special to the Kansan
The oldest building in downtown Lawrence survived Quantrill's raid, a Lawrence woman's research has shown, although subsequent modifications to its facade and structure have all but obliterated its connection with the past.
The building is at 729-731 Massachusetts St., the current location of Jennings Daylight Doughnuts and Francis Sporting Goods.
Carol Bulher Francis, the building's owner, has spent almost a decade researching its history to establish a connection with Quantrill's rall. She has published the results of her search in The House Building My Search for Its Founda-
Francis said that she bought the building for business reasons in 1978 and that it was
"I was obsessed with finding out," she said. "I spent years tracking this down — lots and lots of time at Spencer and lots of time at the Kansas State Historical Societv."
not until four years later, when the previous owner told her that the building had survived Quantrell's raid, that she began to look into its past.
Francis first clue was a correspondent's sketch from an 1863 Harper's Weekly. The sketch, made shortly after the raid, depicts a devastated Lawrence downtown with only one three-story building left standing. A sign advertising "Dry Goods and Groceries" was painted on its north side.
Through documentary research involving the examination of building abstracts, insurance records, newspapers and fire runs, Francis was able to identify her building in the Harper's sketch.
Francis' research connected five people
with the building:
Josiah Miller, the building's first owner. M hired John Haskell, the architect who later designed the Douglas County courthouse and the Statehouse in Topeka, to design the building. The original building was actually two identical buildings built on one lot, one in 1858 and one in 1860.
Joseph Wharton, a merchant who leased the north half of the building in 1860. Wharton painted the "Dry Goods and Groceries" sign on the north exterior of the building
Lida Wharton Tiffany Eldridge, Wharton's daughter. Eldridge bought the north half of the lot, 729 Massachusetts St., in 1862. One year after the raid, she stated on an insurance application that the building had never been on fire.
731 Massachusetts St. House was in the building at the time of the raid, but he somehow survived.
Jacob House, a merchant who sold "Gents Furnishings" in the south building.
Irma House, Jacob House's daughter-in-law. Irma House inherited the building on the death of her husband, Robert House. Irma House renovated the building in 1921, removing the top story and replacing the facade.
Francis began restoring the building to its 1921 state in 1986. She stripped layers of paint to reveal the original woodwork, and chiseled up asphalt floor tiles to reveal the original wood floor.
"If I had known how much work that book was going to take, or how much work this building was going to take, I would never have had the courage to start it.
Francis received a Certificate of Commendation from the American Association for State and Local History.
Lawrence namesake was an abolitionist preferred anonymity
By John Brothers Special to the Kansan
Lawrence was named for a man who shunned public attention.
He did not want the town named after him, and he did not visit his namesake until 30 years after its founding.
Amos Adams Lawrence was a wealthy New England textile manufacturer who opposed the spread of slavery. He was the treasurer and principal manager of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, the anti-slavery enterprise that promoted the founding of the city of Lawrence.
Lawrence subscribed heavily to the company's shares, but he was not driven as much by profit as other officers of the company.
Lawrence was a philanthropist who supported many causes, and his support of the Emigrant Aid Company was, to him, a way to prevent slavery from moving into the territories. Much of the company's activity was financed by his private funds.
The townpeople disagreed on what to name the city. Some favored calling it New Boston or Yankee Town to reflect the settlers' New England origins. Others, wanting to avoid connotations of radical abolitionism in New England, favored the name Wakanaus, the Indian name of the nearby river.
The citizens asked Lawrence for suggestions.
The citizens asked Lawrence for suggestions.
"It is my decided opinion that the Indian names of places, if they are not too harsh, are the best," Lawrence replied in a letter.
But by the time Lawrence's answer reached the settlers, they had already named the town after him. It fell to Charles Robinson, the resident agent for the Emigrant Aid Society, to tell Lawrence of this honor.
Lawrence was not pleased.
"My motives, thus far, have been pure and unselfish; and I wish them not only to be, but to appear so; this would not be the case, should it be made public that the settlement had been named for me," he wrote to Robinson.
Lawrence also did not want a proposed college named after him, for which he had donated $10,000. He wrote to Robinson asking that the college be named Free State College.
"It may seem assuming too much to suggest a name for it, but I do so to prevent my own from being thought of," he wrote.
He finally visited the city on May 28,1884, accompanied by his wife and daughter.
Lawrence's gift was a factor in the Legislature's decision to place the state university in the city.
The townspeople and University faculty members treated him to a tour and scheduled his presence at a number of honorary functions during the following week.
Amos Lawrence left town the next day.
Celebrate Hawk Week!!
SPONSORED BY THE OFFICE OF NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION
HawkDays
ATTENDA WORKSHOP Time Management Listening and Notetaking Succeeding in Math 101 or English 101.
PERSONAL CLASS SCHEDULE TOURS Meet at Jayhawk in front of Strong Hall Wednesday, August 19 to Friday, August 21, 10:30am and 2:30pm
TAKE A TOUR
• Watson-Anschutz Libraries • Computer Center
• Robinson Athletic Center
FACULTY FOCUS
• Dr. Dennis Dailey: Sexuality and the College Student August 19, 11:30am-12:20pm, 3139 Wescoe
• Dr. Sally Frost-Mason: Succeeding in a Large Class and How to Choose an Adviser
August 20, 11:30am-12:20pm, 3139 Wescoe
• Dr. Rick Snyder: Hope and College Success August 21, 1:30-2:20pm, 4020 Wescoe
FACULTY FOCUS
A special thank you to the Kansas Union Bookstore, Department of Student Housing, Student Union Activities, and the Alumni Association for sponsoring Hawk Week prizes and programs.
For more information, or to pick up a schedule stop by the Office of New Student Orientation, 45 Strong Hall or call 864-4270.
PLAYFAIR Guaranteed to be unlike anything you've ever participated in before! Lots of games & comedy. August 19, 7:00-8:30 pm, Allen Field House Lawn MOVIE ON THE HILL Bring a blanket and enjoy the SUA free outdoor showing of "Fletch" August 19, 9:00 pm, Campanile Hill BEACH-N-BOULEVARD Enjoy this carnival of activities! August 20, 7:00-9:00 pm, Wescoe Beach DOWNTOWN PROMOTIONS DAY Activities and discounts for KU students at participating downtown stores and restaurants. August 22, 9:00 am-5:00pm
PLAYFAIR
TRADITIONS NIGHT some of KU's great traditions. This event is open to all but honors our new students. 23: 7:00-8:30 pm.Memorial Stadium
THE SCOOP FROM BOOTS
your first day of classes enjoy a free ice cream social presented by the Student Alumni Association. 2014-2015 Booth Adams Alumni Center