Lawrence and the Old Trails
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 39° 01.139 W 095° 08.242
15S E 314961 N 4321056
Historical marker located in rest area along the Kansas Turnpike near Lawrence.
Waymark Code: WM1ZHF
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 08/09/2007
Views: 54
Lawrence and the Old Trails
Between Lawrence and Topeka, the Kansas turnpike passes near the route of
the old Oregon ~ California Trail, traveled in the 1800s by explorers,
missionaries, soldiers, emigrants in search of land and forty-niners in search
of gold. Fifteen miles south of here was the Santa Fe Trail, which for
more than 50 years served mainly as a trail of trade and commerce. From
the Missouri River it was some 2,000 miles to Oregon and California and around
800 to Santa Fe, following trails established centuries earlier by Native
Americans. Tribes living in this area during the 1800s included the
Delaware, Kaw, Kickapoo, Shawnee, and Wyandot.
Travelers often stopped in Lawrence after its establishment in 1854.
The town became famous as a free-state headquarters in the territorial fight
over slavery, with some of its more prominent citizens helping to transport
slaves to freedom along the underground railroad. Proslavery men responded
in 1856 by sacking the town and destroying the newspaper office. Lawrence
underwent its greatest trial in 1863 when Confederate guerillas led by William
C. Quantrill burned the town and killed more than 150 men and boys.
Lawrence soon rebuilt, and today is home to the University of Kansas and the
Haskell Indian Nations University. ~ text of marker