Lawrence, KS news and local guide

Lawrence was founded for political reasons tied to slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 left the territory's settlers to decide whether to allow slavery, and opponents of slavery set out to settle Kansas and vote it free. The New England Emigrant Aid Company, organized by Eli Thayer, Amos A. Lawrence and others, sent Dr. Charles Robinson and Charles H. Branscomb to explore the territory in June 1854, and they chose a site near Hogback Ridge on the Oregon Trail, close to the Santa Fe and Military trails. A cholera outbreak kept the first group small, and a "pioneer colony" of 29 men led by Branscomb left Boston on July 17, 1854. The town was named for Amos A. Lawrence, who gave it financial support. Lawrence became the center of free-state politics during the Bleeding Kansas period of 1854 to 1861 and was the scene of the Wakarusa War in 1855 and the Sacking of Lawrence in 1856. During the Civil War, on August 21, 1863, it was attacked in the Lawrence Massacre, in which many of its men and boys were killed and about $2 million in property was destroyed. Residents rebuilt through 1864. The University of Kansas was founded there in 1865 and Haskell Indian Nations University in 1884. Sources Wikipedia: Lawrence, Kansas