The cultures that settled Lawrence fought hard battles to become a thrivin The ingredients for one Midweste
Just by looking at its past, one can discover Lawrence's rich multicultural heritage. Indeed, many groups that are part of today's society contributed to Lawrence's vivid past.
THE ORIGINS
Before the official settlement, Native Americans from the Kansa, Osage and Delaware tribes lived in the place that is now Lawrence. They subsisted by hunting buffaloes and producing corn. However, archaeology shows that this Native-American population was fluctuating.
aing. "None of these tribes had originated in Lawrence, but they were here at the time of the founding," said Charles L. Stansifer, professor of history.
On a Friday night in 1936, a local auto dealer, merchants and the Granada Theatre on Massachusetts at $677. After the drawing, many of the townspeople stayed to watch "The Great Ziegfeld."
Although European voyagers had explored the region earlier, none had established permanent residency. The first settlers came in 1854 as a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
The first settlers, a group of only 29 people, came from Boston on Aug.1. 1854. They established a camp on the hill where KU now stands. The second party, with 67 members, joined them Sept.9.
LAWRENCE: Photos of what KU and the town used to look like Page 11,19,22.
lished in Lawrence.
BUSINESS, INDUSTRY, RAILROADS
The railroad continued to bring more people to the city.
"Mexican-Americans had come to build the railroad," Stansifer said. "The Santa Fe Railroad Company deliberately hired Mexicans because they were a cheap labor."
"The key point was the building of a bridge on the Kansas river," Stansifer said. The Santa Fe Trail brought more people to Lawrence.The expansion of the Santa Fe Railroad Company also brought a small population of Mexican Americans to north Lawrence.
WAR AND SLAVERY
Amos Lawrence was also a man of wealth and belonged to a distinguished New England family. He gave about $12,000 to help found a college at Lawrence, which ultimately became part of the endowment for KU.
These settlers, who were mostly farmers, organized very quickly. On Sept. 23, 1854, lots, streets and reservations were marked off as they stand today. These first settlers did not encounter Native-American resistance.
As the number of inhabitants started to increase, professions common to small cities appeared. There were shops, wagon-makers, barrel makers, a brewery and a saddlery. In the 1870s, a barbedw factory was built near the river and was powered by a water mill. Toward the end of the century, an organ company, the Reuters company, also was estab-
"Indians had already been killed by smallpox and other disease and conquest," Stansifer said. "When settlers came to Lawrence, there were no Indians left. Indians were pushed to the South and West and were finally concentrated into Oklahoma."
The newcomers named their city after Amos Lawrence of Boston, who had been one of the first men to endorse the movement West for the settlement.
Very early, the issue of slavery began to dominate the political scene in the new town. At the time of the settlement, conflicts already were erupting between abolitionist settlers from the North and slave-owning settlers from Missouri.
Courtesy University Archives
"Thanks to the underground railroad, there were also many instances where fugitive slaves were helped in Lawrence," says Adel Jendli, an
American studies professor from Tunis, Tunisia.
Lawrence's first election of representatives was dominated by the issue. Although anti-abolitionists asked 1,000 sympathizers to come to Lawrence to vote for pro-slavery representatives, the governor forced a new election. Finally, an anti-slavery representative was elected.
This poster was distributed in Lawrence in September 1855 by the Free-State Party.
"So the issue of slavery was very important from the early days,"Jendli said.
During the Civil War, Lawrence was the scene of guerrilla fighting. Fighters faithful to the Union took the name Hawkers first, then Jayhawkers. Their opponents were called Bushwackers.
In 1863, a pro-slavery activist was responsible for a blood bath in Lawrence
known as Quantrill's Raid. In the raid, 163 people were killed.
"Quantrill was a guy who obviously hated African Americans," Jendli said. "In 1863, he basically raided Lawrence and burned a lot of buildings and African-American houses."
The city, however, rebuilt itself almost as fast as it had burned, and more people moved to Lawrence. The town chose as its symbol the legendary bird
that is still alive after fire: the Phoenix. Although slaves were released from bondage after the North's victory, they did not achieve real freedom.
"Lawrence was just like any other town in the country at that time," Jendli said. The "separate but equal" law was present
in everyday Lawrence. "When African Americans went to the movie theater, they had to go to the balcony. There was this guy who would sell ice cream to African Americans, but at the same time he did not allow them to stay in his store."
Segregation was enforced.
"Quantrill was a guy who obviously hated African Americans."
African Americans were concentrated
Adol Jendil professor of American studies
in the East side of Lawrence. It was a poor area with modest housing," Jendli said. The East side was a place where land was low, and consequently, flooding was frequent.
Such racism in Lawrence had been the result of the growth in the number of African Americans. "In 1880, the percent of African Americans in Lawrence was 23.4." Jendli said. "This is the highest percentage of African
Americans ever in the history of Lawrence."
GERMAN MIGRATION
Another important ethnic group in Lawrence at the time was the German immigrants.
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Planet Lawrence
Hill September 13,1995