THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY AUGUST 17, 2009
MONDAY, AUGUST 17.2009
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LAWRENCE
Historic house now open to public for guided tours
The Murphy Bromelsick House, located at 10th and Delaware Streets, holds important documents related to Civil War era history of Lawrence.
BY DAVID UGARTE
dugarte@kansan.com
Chance Dibben/XANSAN
A historic landmark in east Lawrence is now open to the public from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays through September 21.
The Murphy-Bromelsick House, located at the corner of 10th and Delaware Streets in Hobbs Memorial Park, was built in the 1860s after the infamous raid by William Quantrill. John Speer, one of the little-known founders of Lawrence, constructed the house between 1866 and 1869.
Mark Kaplan, Lawrence preservation activist, said John Speer was the first newspaper publisher in Kansas in the 1860s and a radical abolitionist. He said Speer was one of the first advocates for having a university built in Lawrence. Kaplan said Speer's influence in Lawrence and Kansas history has gone almost totally unnoticed.
"Speer was way, way ahead of his time," Kaplan said. "He's like a giant in Kansas history, but nobody knows about him."
John Speer's great-great-grandson, Marty Speer, shows the Murphy-Bromelsick house to anyone interested in the history of Lawrence and the historic events in Kansas that led to the Civil War. Inside the old brick house, Marty Speer has a collection of black and white photos of his great-great-grandfather and other Lawrence founders as well as
maps, documents and other pieces of Lawrence history.
"I'm here to carry on John Speer's legacy," Marty Speer said. "There is an extreme amount of history here that is untapped."
what he most proudly displays is the giant re-creation of an original document he keeps at home, called "Speer's Defy." The document is a one-page list of sentences and phrases printed by John Speer to strengthen Lawrence residents' resolve to keep Kansas a free state during the border wars with Missouri. Marty Speer said he had had the document since the '60s, but had no idea where it originated from or what its historical value was. Now, with the Murphy-Bromelsick house as a focal point, Marty Speer wants to do what he can to educate anyone interested in Lawrence history about the influence John Speer had on the city and about the history behind the house.
Jonathan Earle, associate professor of history, said the Murphy-Bromelsick house was a pristine and unusual example of "vernacular architecture." He said it was the type of place where middle-class Americans actually lived and worked a century and a half ago. Most structures that have been preserved until now were owned by rich people who could afford to build grand houses and pass them down to their children, Earle said.
Earle said John Speer wanted Lawrence to be home to a university.
and not some other facility such as the jail in Leavenworth, or the state capital in Topeka.
"Like many anti-slavery partisans in Lawrence, he saw the future of the territory and the town as one with educational opportunities." Earle said. "It was not an obvious choice."
Kaplan said John Speer helped A.D. Searle survey the land where the University now stands. He said John Speer was obsessed with
rebuilding the town after two of his sons were killed in Quantrill's raid. The University became part of his vision of a rebuilt Lawrence.
"He was pretty much a founding father of Lawrence," Marty Speer
said.
Touring the Murphy-Bromelsick house is free and open to the public.
— Edited by Steph Schneider
TRANSPORTATION
Highway patrol to enforce left lane law
BY MIKE BONTRAGER
mbontrager@kansan.com
The "left lane law" has been in place for years, but law enforcement had not been actively enforcing it. From July 1, 2009 to July 1, 2010, law enforcement will be pulling drivers over for driving in the left lane, but not passing another vehicle, to educate them about the law. After July 1, 2010, any driver driving in the left lane without proper cause will be issued a citation.
Highway patrol officers are pulling drivers over for driving in the left lane without the intention of passing another vehicle outside city limits on highways such as I-35 and K-10.
The law states that unless passing another vehicle, driving in the left lane on highways outside city limits is illegal. The only exceptions are if a driver is making a legal left turn or is directed by traffic control signal or law, such as the move-over law that requires vehicles to move away from emergency or maintenance vehicles displaying flashing lights.
The cost for driving in the left lane will be a $60 fine and $82 in court costs.
Michael Stock, Merriam senior, said he used the highway at least two hours every day to get to his internship in Topeka. Stock said he was aware of the left lane law, but thought it was unnecessary.
"I don't think they've done a good enough job advertising it," Stock said. "I've mentioned it to other people and they all just kind of laughed at it and they've never heard anything about it."
Stock said that he would be angry if he was ever pulled over because of the law and that he thought there were more important problems law enforcement should focus on.
Stock said he thought most people didn't know about the law.
"I understand the reasoning behind it," Stock said. "There's kind of a rule of the road that kind of doesn't need to be enforced."
SEE LAW ON PAGE 32
SEE LAW ON PAGE 32