| 1541 | Coronado in Kansas: 1st recorded entry of Europeans into area. Spanish withdraw, but presence in North America introduces horse, plus missionaries and traders in overall area see KSHS Timeline Essay on Exploration |
| 1600s- 700s | French explorers & fur traders down from Canada via Mississippi (17th) and up Missouri (early 18th); ally with Kansa & Osage |
| 1803 | Louisiana Purchase: Kansas becomes US territory |
| 1804-1820 | US explorations of new territory: Lewis & Clark 1804, Major Stephen H. Long's expedition 1819-20 (which labels whole plains area "Great American Desert" fit only for non-farming, uncivilized peoples |
| 1820s-30s
|
Euro-American presence & interaction
with native inhabitants expands:
- Sante Fe Trail opens 1821, 1825 Council Grove treaty with Osage to allow safe passage to travellers; see Susan Shelby Magoffin trail diary 1846-7, and KSHS bibliography on The Sante Fe Trail - Frontier forts established (Ft Leavenworth 1827); see KSHS Bibliography on Kansas Frontier Forts - See KSHS Native Americans selected bibliography - Indian Missions founded in E. Kansas (see KSHS bibliography on Kansas Indian Missions & Missionaries): 1829: Shawnee Methodist Mission - Rev Thomas Johnson & wife, 1831: Shawnee Baptist Mission opened: Idea of Isaac McCoy (see KSHS info on Isaac McCoy Papers): missionionaries included Johnston Lykins, Jotham Meeker (see KSHS page on Meeker Papers, 1825-1864), John G. Pratt (see KSHS page on John G. Pratt Papers). - 1830 "Indian Removal" moves eastern Native American tribes west of Mississippi to Great American Desert lands including Kansas; land to be held by them forever (revised starting 1853) - Oregon Trail cuts across NE Kansas |
Territorial and Civil War Era 1854-65
| 1854 | Kansas-Nebraska Act allows former Indian lands opened (as of May 30, 1854) to Euro-American settlement, leaves open to settler vote question of whether each will be slave or free |
| March 1854 | Eli Thayer of Massachusetts creats Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society (1855 becomes New England Emigrant Aid Society) to send settlers committed to Free State cause; see KU Carrie's Emigrant Aid documents, plus KSHS info on New England Emigrant Aid Company Papers |
| 1850s | Earliest Kansas settlers arrive:
- Emigrant Aid's Dr. Charles Robinson and Samuel C. Pomeroy; James H. Lane all become important Free State cause fighters and early Kansas state politicians; Robinson helps found both Lawrence and Topeka (with Cyrus K. Holliday) - Isaac T. Goodnow helps found Manhattan - John Brown, rabid free stater, arrives in Osawatomie - Clarina Nichols arrives to urge Kansas state constitution, when written, give women equal rights - John Ritchie and wife arrive in Topeka -Robert Gaston Elliot founds Kansas Free State newspaper 1854 Other free state newspaper editors include John Speer and T. Dwight Thatcher - Thomas Ewing Jr. becomes first supreme court chief justice; commands Ks-Mo Border district in Civil War; see Thomas Ewing, Jr. Papers - Edwin Tucker comes to Kansas 1857 as boy, keeps diary; later serves in legislature, is early Washburn U. regent - Thomas C. Wells letters describe life in Manhattan Kansas 1856-60 - Edward Fitch arrives 1855, marries Sara Fitch, dies 1863 in Quantrill's raid: see Kansas History articles for many letters of both |
| 1856-1858 | Bleeding Kansas: violence erupts
between Missouri "ruffians" and Kansas Free State "Jayhawkers"; resulting
disputed elections and events pushes whole nation closer to confrontation
- 2 women Free State supporters publish influenctial books: Hannah H. Ropes (Six Months in Kansas) and Sara T. L. Robinson (Kansas: Its Interior and Exterior Life) - Julia Louisa Lovejoy writes letters home about emigrant experiences in Kansas - by 1857 Free Stater cause pretty safe in crucial NE Kansas Topeka-Lawrence corridor; increased anti-slave settlement and reports of "bogus" pro-slave elections means US Congress won't accept Pro-Slave Lecompton Consitution, laws. But some violence continues to south (including John Brown's Osawatomie) through 1857-8 |
| 1856-65 | the Reverend Richard Cordley comes to Lawrence, later describes Pioneer Days in Kansas 1856-65 and The Lawrence Massacre |
| 1859-60 | Free State Wyandotte Constitution drafted 1859; thanks to Clarina Nichols' work (see KSHS Nichols page), some increased womens rights included |
| Jan 29, 1861 | Kansas becomes a state: Robinson 1st governor, Lane and Pomeroy 1st senators |
| 1861-1865 | Civil War Era
- many Kansas regiments serve in Union army; figures include Gen. James G. Blunt - Aug 21, 1863 Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence - Oct 1864 Price's Raid (most major Civil War fighting in Kansas) |
Era of Settlement, Expansion, Agrarian Protest, c 1860s-1890
| 1860s-1880s | Age of Industrial, RR expansion. 1859 Atchison, Topeka & Sante Fe RR organized in Topeka; 1862 Congress OKs transcontinental RR. 1877 barbed wire helps fence prairies |
| 1860s-90s+ | Age of Reform Movements: see KSHS bibliography |
| 1860s-90s+ | Many groups immigrate to Kansas: see KSHS African-Americans in Kansas and the West, Cultures and Religious Groups in Kansas bibliographies |
| 1860s-80s | Great Plains settled: 1862 Homestead Act, buffalo slaughers, etc open up plains to common men and women. See KSHS Women on the Western Frontier bibilography. Possible individual settlement stories: Howard Ruede, Abbie Bright (see KSHS info and excerpts of Bright Diary), Ise family. Mary "Mother" Bickerdyke, Civil War Nurse, convinces 300 veterans to move to Kansas. Foreign immigration increases 1870s-90s; 1874 Russian Mennonite Bernhard Warkentin credited with bringing hard red winter wheat to Kansas. |
| 1850s- | Kansas towns and cities grow. |
| 1870s- | African-Americans: Exodusters: former slaves come to Kansas 1877 as Reconstruction ends in south; Nicodemus founded 1877 (again see KSHS bibliography on African-Americans in Kansas and the West ); 1889 Alfred Fairfax 1st Black elected to state legislature |
| c 1867-late 1880s | Cattle trails link up with RR: 1867 Abilene 1st railhead. Cattle drives, cow towns follow until 1886 blizzard, drouth, overgrazing, fencing end open range grazing, trail drives; Nat Love famous black cowboy known as "Deadwood Dick"; Wyatt Earp appointed to Wichita Police 1875; later to Dodge City |
| 1860s- | Kansas women's suffrage expands, but not complete: 1867 campaign fails; 1886 Kansas women get right to vote in municipal elections (but not state or national); 1887 Susanna Madora Salter elected mayor of Argonia (1st woman in nation). See KSHS survey of Kansas Women's Suffrage. |
| 1867 | Lucy Hobbs Taylor (see KSHS profile and bibliography) of Lawrence 1st woman dentist in Kansas |
| 1880 | Kansas first state to adopt constitutional amendment establishing prohibition |
| 1867-1930 | Orphan Trains to Kansas; see Kansas Collection information and profiles |
Protest, Reform, Changing Life in Kansas, c. 1890-1920s
| 1890s | Populist Era: 1890 Kansas People's (Populist) Party founded; important Populist speakers include Mary Elizabeth Lease,Annie Laporte Diggs and "Sockless" Jerry Simpson. William A. Peffer 1st Populist senator in nation 1891; 1892 Populist Lorenzo Lewellings elected governor; 1893 "Legislative War" for control Ks House of Representatives. See KSHS Populism and Radical Politics bibliography |
| 1890s 1910s | Progressive Era: William Allen White (see KSHS William Allen White page)1895 begins publishing Emporia Gazette; Progressive governors E.W. Hoch and Walter Stubbs bring reform |
| 1890s-1920s | Kansas arts and education develops: artist Birger Sandzen arrives Lindsborg 1894 (d. 1954); Margaret Hill McCarter of Topeka publishes 15+ novels, is 1st woman to address Republican National Convention |
| 1897 | Topeka minister Charles M. Sheldon publishes nationally-known In His Steps arguing for lives guided by Christianity; is prohibitionist |
| 1890s-1900s | Women's reform and service activities: 1890s Carrie Nation's saloon smashing campaign to make prohibition actually enforced (see KSHS Nation hammer page and Wichita State Nation collection site ; also see other prohibitionists: Dr. Eva Harding, Rev. Frank Emerson, Rev. John Thomas McFarland. Sister Frieda Kaufman is Newton nurse, educator, administrator of Bethel order of Mennonite women who operate health center. |
| 1890s-1920s | Prominent African-Americans: Beginning of longest-running Black newspaper in US: Nick Chiles founds the Plaindealer 1899; John A. Gregg (b. 1877) grad KU 1902, becomes prominent pastor Kansas and elsewhere |
| 1890s | Sports: James A. Naismith (basketball inventor) coaches KU basketball |
| 1904-1923 | Samuel Crumbine, MD introduces progressive public health |
| 1910s-20s | Women in politics: Kansas woman suffrage amendment ratified; 1918 Minnie Grinstead 1st woman elected to Kansas legislature; 1920s Lila Day Monroe works to keep women's issues important politically |
| 1910s- | Publishing: 1911 Edgar Watson Howe, Atchison, begins publication of E. W. Howe's Monthly; 1912 E. Haldeman-Julius takes over Appeal to Reason, with wife Marcet begins publishing Little Blue Books (see Haldeman-Julius Collection, Page) |
| 1919-1930s | Dr. John R. Brinkley claims successful goat gland therapy (eventually debunked); later runs unsuccessfully for governor |
| 1910s-20s | Albin Kasper Longren is aviation pioneer, see KSHS bibliography |
| 1925 | Dr. Karl Menninger helps found Menninger Sanitarium in Topeka |
| 1928 | Senator Charles Curtis elected Vice-President of US; only Native American in that office |
| 1920s-30s | Wichita-native Louise Brooks in Hollywood and European films: see KSHS clippings and bibliography; Coffeyville native Eva Jessye starts New York City career as "grand dame of African-American music" |
Depression, Drought and Dust: 1930s
| 1929-39 | Depression in Kansas |
| 1933-1938 | Drought and dust storms across Great Plains - region becomes "Dust Bowl" |
| 1932 | Walter H. and Olive Ann Beech found Beech Aircraft in Wichita (see Beech Partners in Aviation website), also Beech profile |
| 1930s | "Goat Doctor" John R. Brinkley; runs for governor |
| 1930s | Adventurous Kansas Women: 1937 Amelia Earhart (see KSHS Earhart page)disappears; Osa Johnson (see KSHS Johnson page)continues African/Asian photography, lectures after husband Martin dies 1937 |
| 1936 | Ks. Gov Alf Landon unsuccessful run for president |
| 1930s-40s | John Steuart Curry does statehouse murals |
| 1930s | Charlie Parker (see KSHS Parker page) creats bebop in Kansas City |
| 1930s-60s | Radicalism: Kansas-born Earl Browder well-known Communist |
Today's Kansas: World War II and Beyond
| 1941-1945 | WWII era: Kansans mobilized to serve in military and in homefront; bases & defense plants in Kansas; |
| 1940s-50s | Dwight D. Eisenhower: Runs D-Day; elected President of US (some very limited resources at Eisenhower Library website) |
| 1949 | Georgia Neese Clark (Gray) US Treasurer |
| 1950s | William Inge dramas set in Kansas very successful on Broadway |
| 1954 | Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (see KSHS Brown page) overturns segregation; various Topekans involved |
| 1980s | Elizabeth "Grandma" Layton (see Layton profile, also "Moments of Glory" section) nationally-famous for paintings |
| 1933-1980s | Zula Bennington Greene writes "Peggy of the Flint Hills" column |
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