History of Wyandotte County, Kansas
VOLUME I
Through all the history of Kansas and of Wyandotte county there runs a thread of romance. There is an odd fascination in the accounts of those old explorers who came this way in the three centuries preceding the coming of the white men to dwell here. There is a quiet charm about the old Indian legends and in the stories of the wars and wanderings of these ancient tribes. There is something delightfully interesting in the tales of the old steamboat days told by the men and women who came up the Missouri and Kansas rivers in the Territorial days. The long struggle for statehood, the Border strife and the final conquest, one of the most thrilling periods in our nation's history, appeal to the author as well as to the reader.
The early history of Kansas and of Wyandotte county interwoven and inseparable, is a repetition of the old story of the battle of civilization with the forces of the wilderness. The passing of the savage Red Man, the education of his more enlightened brother, the Emigrant Indian from the east, the beginning of the future's development, and the final victory of peace, are in harmony with the history of Kansas and of Wyandotte county, which is a story crowded with vicissitudes and leading through a phenomenal growth to a promise of splendid triumph.
It has been the aim of the author to present something of all this in this work. And it should not be a colorless summary of dry facts and figures. The personal reminiscences of men and women of the early days who are still living have been used to give life and realism to the work. Here is undertaken a record of the progress of Wyandotte county, its people and its institutions up to the close of the first decade of the twentieth century. It is a story full of absorbing interest and it has been the endeavor of the author and those with whom he has been associated to tell it in an accurate but attractive manner. In this work the author, having been a citizen of the county for more than twenty-five years, has accumulated in that time much of that which appears in these two volumes. Also he has had access to a fund of historical information from the Kansas State Historical Society and in the public library of Kansas City, Kansas. Many others have contributed information, for which the author, the publisher and the reader, as well, are indebted.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I.
THE TRAILS OP THE EXPLORERS 1-16
CHAPTER II.
THE KANSAS INDIANS 17-28
CHAPTER III.
THE SHAWNEES, FIRST EMIGRANTS 29-38
CHAPTER IV.
THE DELAWARES 39-46
CHAPTER V.
THE OLD INDIAN MISSIONS 47-58
CHAPTER VI.
THE ANCIENT WYANDOT NATION 59-68
CHAPTER VII.
COME TO THEIR PROMISED LAND 68-78
CHAPTER VIII.
WYANDOTS BECOME CITIZENS 79-86
CHAPTER IX.
OLD WYANDOTTE'S EARLY DAYS 87-101
CHAPTER X.
OLD QUINDARO 102-107
CHAPTER XI.
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI 108-117
CHAPTER XII.
IN THE OLD STEAMBOAT DAYS 118-128
CHAPTER XIII.
STRUGGLE FOR CIVIL GOVERNMENT 129-145
CHAPTER XIV.
THE WYANDOTTE CONSTITUTION 146-159
CHAPTER XV.
FIFTY YEARS UNDER THE CONSTITUTION 160-166
CHAPTER XVI.
BOUNDARY LINE FIGHT 167-183
CHAPTER XVII.
SURVEYING A STATE LINE 184-188
CHAPTER XVIII.
KANSAS IN THE REBELLION 189-200
CHAPTER XIX.
WYANDOTTE IN THE CIVIL WAR 201-212
CHAPTER XX.
THE GREAT BATTLE OF THE BLUE 213-226
CHAPTER XXI.
"UNDERGROUND" AND WAR STORIES 227-233
CHAPTER XXII.
OUR BOYS IN THE PHILIPPINES 234-251
CHAPTER XXIII.
EARLY TIME CHARACTERS 252-270
CHAPTER XXIV.
ORGANIZATION OP THE COUNTY 271-283
CHAPTER XXV.
THE BENCH AND BAR 284-294
CHAPTER XXVI.
KANSAS CITY, KANSAS 295-311
CHAPTER XXVII.
OUTSIDE OP KANSAS CITY 312-325
CHAPTER XXVIII.
KANSAS CITY OF TODAY 326-342
CHAPTER XXIX.
PROTESTANT CHURCHES OF THE COUNTY 343-360
CHAPTER XXX.
CATHOLIC CHURCHES AND INSTITUTIONS 361-379
CHAPTER XXXI.
EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS 380-396
CHAPTER XXXII.
UNIVERSITIES AND SEMINARIES 397-410
CHAPTER XXXIII.
HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL SCHOOLS 411-416
CHAPTER XXXIV.
MEDICINE AND SURGERY 417-421
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE PRESS OP THE COUNTY 422-433
CHAPTER XXXVI.
SECRET AND BENEVOLENT SOCIETIES 434-440
CHAPTER XXXVII.
RAILROAD BUILDING IN KANSAS 441-459
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
PIONEER TALES OF RAIL AND TRAIL 460-471
CHAPTER XXXIX.
MID-CONTINENTAL INDUSTRIAL CENTER 472-487
CHAPTER XL.
AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE 488-502
Read the Book - Free
Download the Book - Free ( 11.7 MB PDF)
The annals of the state of Kansas and of the county of Wyandotte, reaching far back into the shadowy realms of romance and tradition, are 80 closely entwined that to write of the one also is to write of the other. Kansas, a mighty republic of itself, stretching from the Missouri river almost to the foot hills of the Rocky mountains, takes its name from the dominant tribe of North American Indians first found dwelling here; while Wyandotte, the Gateway or Open Door to that great empire, borrowed its name from the tribe of Indians that brought civilization to the region lying west of the Missouri river. Linked to these two is a history of development, of progress, of achievement, as romantic as any that ever has been told in song or story; for no other community in America has been brought up from a desert plain and made to blossom as a rose in so short a period of time.
|