Kansas Timeline

Soil - Harney silt loam - 1990
State Flower - Wild Native Sunflower "Helianthus Annuus" adopted 1903
State Flag - In 1927, the state legislature decided that the state flag should consist of a sunflower atop the state seal on a blue background. Directly beneath the sunflower is a blue and gold bar signifying Kansas as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The word "Kansas" was added to the flag in 1961.
State March - "The Kansas March" by Duff E. Middleton (no words) adopted 1935
"Here's Kansas" composed by Bill Post in 1992
State Tree - Eastern Cottonwood "populous deltoids" adopted 1937
State Bird - Western Meadowlark adopted 1937
State Animal - American Buffalo (correct name - bison) "Bison bison" adopted 1955
State Insect - Honeybee "Apis mellifera" adopted 1976
State Reptile - Ornate Box Turtle "Terrapene ornata" adopted 1986
State Amphibian - Barred Tiger Salamander "Ambystoma tigrinum mavortium" adopted 1994
State Motto - "Ad Asta Per Aspera"
Latin for "To the Stars Through Difficulties"
State "Nicknames" -
Wheat State, Sunflower State, Jayhawker State, Breadbasket State, Cyclone State, Midway USA, Great American Desert, (part of "Dust bowl")
State Song - "Home on the Range" adopted 1947; Original name was "Western Home" lyrics by Dr. Brewster Higley, music by Daniel Kelley

Total Sq. Miles - 82,828 - Kansas ranks 15th in size
Border States - Colorado (West), Missouri (East), Nebraska (North), Oklahoma (South)
Area Codes - 785, 316, 913
105 counties - Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Barber, Barton (only county named after a woman, Civil War volunteer nurse Clara Barton), Bourbon, Brown, Butler (largest Kansas county, larger than state Rhode Island), Chase, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Coffey, Comanche, Cowley, Crawford, Decatur, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Edwards, Elk, Ellis, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford, Franklin, Geary, Gove, Graham, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Greenwood, Hamilton, Harper, Harvey, Haskell, Hodgeman, Jackson, Jefferson, Jewell, Johnson, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Labette, Lane, Leavenworth, Lincoln, Linn, Logan, Lyon, McPherson, Marion, Marshall, Meade, Miami, Mitchell, Montgomery, Morris, Morton, Nemaha, Neosho, Ness, Norton, Osage, Osborne, Ottawa, Pawnee, Phillips, Pottawatomi, Pratt, Rawlins, Reno, Republic, Rice, Riley, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Saline, Scott, Sedgwick, Seward, Shawnee, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner, Thomas, Trego, Wabaunsee, Wallace, Washington, Wichita, Wilson, Woodson, Wyandotte.
Kansas - First in wheat production, general aviation production, quail and prairie chicken harvest.
Capital City - Topeka 095.691 W 39.037 N
Population - 2,477,574 (1990)
Largest Cities - Wichita, Kansas City, Overland Park, Topeka
Smallest Cities - Freeport, Oak Hill, Benedict, Frederick
Highest Point - Mount Sunflower in Wallace county - 4,039 feet above sea level
Lowest Point - Verdigris River in Montgomery county - 680 feet above sea level

* Note = a "normal" school is a school for training high school graduates to become teachers

1540s AD
Wichita and Pawnee Indians living in area that would become Kansas.

1541
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado in Kansas: 1st recorded entry of Europeans into area. Spanish withdraw, but their presence in North America introduces the horse, plus missionaries and traders in overall area . Coronado, Spanish explorer, was the first white man in present Saline County. Coronado expedition enters Quivira reaching a point near the present site of Junction City.

1542
Father Juan de Padilla, a priest who had accompanied Coronado, returned to Kansas. He hoped to bring Christianity to the Indians. He was killed, however, by those he tried to help. Father Padilla is said to have been the first Christian martyr in America.

1600s
French explorers & fur traders come down from Canada via Mississippi (17th) and up the Missouri (early 18th); ally themselves with the Kansa and Osage Indians.

1682
Rene Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle reached mouth of the Mississippi. Claimed all the territory drained by that river and tributaries in the name of France, called it "Louisiana."

1719
Charles Claude du Tisne explores upper "Louisiana" territory; he visits Osage Indian villages near the mouth of the Osage River and crosses northeast corner of Kansas to Pawnee on Republican River.

1720
The French and Spanish fight a battle over the possession of Kansas 50 years before the Revolutionary War. Colonel Don Pedro de Villazur and his little Spanish army are massacred by the French and their Pawnee allies. The French gain the right to carry on their fur trade in Kansas.

1722
French erect Fort Orleans near the mouth of the Osage River, under the command of M. Etienne Venyard, Sieur de Bourgmont.

1724
M. Etienne Venyard, Sieur de Bourgmont, made contact with Indians in present day Doniphan County. Bourgmont ascends the Missouri River to Kansa villages; he traverses Kansas to the Rocky Mountains.

1762
Nov.; France ceded the province of "Louisiana" to Spain by the treaty of Fountain bleu; "Louisiana" was ceded back to France by the secret treaty of St. Ildefonso.

1763
White Hair (Pawhuska) of Osage Tribe, who will be great-great-great-grandfather to Charles Curtis was born.

1767
White Plume (Nom-Pa-Wa-Ra) "He who scares all men" who will be great-great-grandfather to Charles Curtis was born.

1800
April 30; a treaty was concluded at Paris by which the province of "Louisiana" was ceded to the United States.
William Curtis was born Dec. 22, Charles Curtis' grandfather

1803 April 30 - Louisiana Purchase
The United States concluded a "deal" when it signed an agreement to purchase the entire Louisiana Territory From France. This brought forth the exploration of a new American territory. Kansas became par of U.S. Territory.

1804
Louis Gonville born, later married daughter Wy-he-see, daughter of White Plume.

1804- 1806 Lewis and Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark expedition passed through the Leavenworth area. On July 4, 1904, at the location of present day Atchison the group celebrated what was probably Kansas' first Independence Day. Charles Curtis' great-great-grandfather White Plume, gave assistance to the Lewis and Clark expedition.

1806
Captain Zebulon Pike replaces Spanish flag with United States flag in Pawnee Indian village (now Pike's Pawnee Village State Park).

1808
Nov. 10, Treaty with the Osage, Articles of a treaty and concluded at Fort Clark, on the right bank of the Missouri, about five miles about the Fire Prairie, in the territory of Louisiana, between Peter Chouteau, esquire, agent for the Osage, and specially commissioned and instructed to enter the same with by his excellency Meriwether Lewis, governor and superintendent of Indian affairs, in behalf of the United States of America, of the one part, the chiefs and the warriors of the Great and Little Osage, for themselves and their nations.
"The United States being anxious to promote peace, friendship and intercourse with the Osage tribes, to afford them every assistance in their power, and to protect them from insults and injuries of other tribes of Indians, situated near the settlements of the white people, have thought proper to build a fort on the right bank of the Missouri, a few miles above the Fire Prairie (Kansas?), and do agree to garrison the same with as many regular troops as the President of the United States may, from time to time, deem necessary for the protection of all orderly, friendly and well disposed Indians of the Great and Little Osage nations, who reside at this place, and who do strictly conform to, and pursue the counsels or admotions of the President of the United States through his subordinate officers."

1812
Missouri Fur Company dissolves and is succeeded by the American Fur Company, which concentrates in Kansas.

1815
Louis Pappan (pah-pan) born in Canada, grandfather to Charles Curtis.

Oct. 28, Treaty with the Kansa, A treaty of peace and friendship, made and concluded at St. Louis between Ninian Edwards and Auguste Chouteau, Commissioners Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, on the part and behalf of the said States, of one part; and the undersigned Chiefs and Warriors of the Kanza Tribe of Indians, on the part and behalf of their said tribe, of the other part.
"The parties being desirous of re-establishing peace and friendship between the United States and their said tribe, and of being placed, in all things, and in every respect, upon the same footing upon which they stood before the late war between the United States and Great Britain, have agreed to do the following articles:
Article 1: Every injury or act of hostility by one or either of the contracting parties against the other, shall be mutually forgiven and forgot.
Article 2: There shall be perpetual peace and friendship between all the citizens of the United States of America and all the individuals composing the said Kanza tribe, and all the friendly relations that existed between them before the was shall be, and the same are hereby renewed.
Article 3: The undersigned chiefs and warriors, for themselves and their said tribe, do hereby acknowledge themselves to be under the protection of the United States of America, and of no other nation, power, or sovereign, whatsoever."

1818(?)
Julie Gonville, daughter to Louis Gonville, granddaughter to White Plume was born, and will be grandmother to Charles Curtis.

1819
The "Western Engineer" was the first steamer to enter the Kansas River.

1820's
A band of as many as 1,500 Pawnees live in 40-50 earth lodges in the spring and in the fall, in the large fortified village of Kitkehahki. During the winter and summer, they travel through western Kansas, living in tipis and replenishing their meat supply through successful buffalo hunts.

1820
Two Presbyterians missions are established for the Osage Indians: the Union on the Neosho River and the Harmony on Marais des Cygnes River.

1821
The Santa Fe Trail was established by Captain William Becknell (credited as the "Father of Santa Fe Trail) to haul freight from Kansas City to Santa Fe.

1822
Aug. 31; Treaty with the Osage, Articles of a treaty, entered into and concluded at the United States Factory on the M. De. Cigue Augt. by and between Richard Graham, Agent of Indian Affairs, authorized on the part of the United States for that purpose, and for the Chiefs, Warriors, and Head Men, of the tribes of Great and Little Osage Indians, for themselves and their respective tribes, of the other part. (See year 1808)
"Whereas, by the second article of the Treaty made and entered into between the United States and the Great and Little Osage nation of Indians, concluded and signed at Fort Clark, on the Missouri, on the tenth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and eight, it is stipulated that the United States shall establish at that place, and permanently continue, for all seasons of the year, a well assorted store of goods, for the purpose of bartering with them on moderate terms for their peltries and furs: Now, we, the said Chiefs, Warriors and Head Mean, in behalf of our said Tribes, for and in consideration of two thousand three hundred and twenty-nine dollars and forty cents, to us now paid in merchandise, out of the United States Factory, by said Richard Graham, on behalf of the United States, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do exonerate, release, and forever discharge, the United States from the obligation contained in the said second article above mentioned; and the aforesaid second article is, from the date hereof, abrogated and of no effect."

1824
Daniel Webster describes Kansas as a worthless area. (Great American Desert)

1825
George Sibley, a surveyor for the U.S. Government, reaches an agreement with the Osage Indians in a grove of oaks - it gives travelers through Kansas safe passage on the Santa Fe Trail. Sibley notes in his journal that the spot should be called "Council Grove".

June 2, Treaty with the Osage, Articles of a treaty made and concluded at St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, between William Clark, Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Commissioner on the part of the United States, and the undersigned, Chiefs, Head Men and Warriors, of the Great and Little Osage Tribes of Indians, duly authorized and empowered by their respective Tribes or Nations.
"The Great and Little Osage Tribes or Nations do, hereby, cede and relinquish to the United States, all their right, title, interest, and claim, to lands lying within the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas, and to all lands lying West of the said State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas, North and West of the Red River, South of the Kansas River, and East of a line drawn from the head sources of the Kansas, Southwardly through the Rock Saline, with such reservations, for such considerations, and upon such terms as are hereinafter specified, expressed and provided for."

June 3, Treaty with the Kansa - The Kansans do hereby cede to the United States all the Land lying within the state of Missouri, to which the said nation have title or claim; and do further cede and relinquish, to the said United States, all other lands which they now occupy, or to which they have title or claim, lying West of of the said State of Missouri, and within the following boundaries; beginning at the entrance to the Kansas River into the Missouri River, from thence North to the NorthWest corner of the State of Missouri; from thence Westwardly to the Nodewa river, thirty miles from its entrance; from thence to the entrance of the big Nemahaw river into the Missouri and with that river to its source; from thence to the source of the Kansas river, leaving the old village of the Pania Republic to the West; from thence on the ridge dividing the waters of the Kansas river from those of the Arkansas, to the Western boundary of the State line of Missouri and with that line, thirty miles, to the place of beginning.

The necessary treaties were negotiated between the Kansa Indians and Osage Indians for a cession of Kansa-Osage land onto which eastern Indians could be moved.

Aug. 10, Treaty with the Great and Little Osage - Whereas the Congress of the United States of America, being anxious to promote a direct commercial and friendly intercourse between the citizens of the United States and those of Mexican Republic, and, to afford protection to the same, did, at their last session, pass an act, which was approved 3rd March, 1825, "to authorize the President of the United States to cause a road to be marked out from the western frontier of Missouri to the confines of New Mexico" and which authorizes the President of the United States to appoint Commissioners to Carry said act of Congress into effect, and enjoins on the Commissioners, so to be appointed, that they first obtain the consent of the intervening tribes of Indians, by treaty, to the marking of said road, and to the unmolested use thereof to the citizens of the United States and of the Mexican Republic; and Benjamin H. Reeves, Geo. C. Sibley, and Thomas Mather, Commissioners duly appointed as aforesaid, being duly and fully authorized, have this day met the Chiefs and Head men of the Great and Little Osage Nations, who being all duly authorized to meet and negotiate with the said Commissioners upon the premises, and being specially met for that purpose, by the invitation of said Commissioners, at the place called the Council Grove, on the river Nee-o-zho, one hundred and sixty miles southwest from Fort Osage; have, after due deliberation and consultation binding on the said Great and Little Osages, from after after this day:

White Hair (Pawhuska) who will be great-great-great-grandfather to Charles Curtis dies. (actual year unknown)

1827
May 8, Col. Henry H. Leavenworth selects site of military post, Fort Leavenworth (originally known as Cantonment Leavenworth) will be first permanent white settlement in what becomes Kansas. Made of log and bark huts with a stone wall for protection. It will be the Indian frontier's chief base of operations for 30 years.

Government sends Daniel Morgan Boone to teach agriculture to Indians; Boone locates on land in what is now Jefferson County.

Aug. 22; First white child born in Kansas was Napoleon Boone, son of Daniel Morgan Boone, at an Indian agency.

1828
William Curtis married Permelia Hubbard, Aug. 21 (father & mother of Oren Arms {Captain Jack} Curtis)

1829
Reverend Thomas Johnson establishes Methodist mission and school for Shawnee Indians, near present site of Turner. (Greater Kansas City)

William L. Sublette's pack-train, en route West by way of Independence, Mo. traveled on the Santa Fe Trail some distance before turning Northwest toward the Kansas River. This became the Oregon-California Trail.

1830's
The Pawnees are pushed farther north by other Plains Indians. The Kitkehahki village is abandoned. 11,000 Native Americans from several other states are moved to Kansas. Missionaries will follow.

1830
May, The Indian Removal Bill of 1830 uprooted the Kickapoo, Shawnee, Delaware, Potawatomie, Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Iowa, Miami, Sac, and Fox tribes. An "Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing of any states or territories, for their removal west of the river Mississippi" was passed by Congress and signed by President Andrew Jackson.

1831
Isaac McCoy was instrumental in founding the Shawnee Baptist Mission opened by Johnston Lykins. It was located a few miles South and West of the Kansas River mouth in what is now Johnson County.

1832
Kickapoo, Potawatomie, Kaskaskia, Peoria, Wea and Piankeshaw Indian reservations are established in Kansas.

1835
Reverend Jotham Meeker publishes the first Kansas newspaper, first newspaper published in the Algonquian language for members of the Shawnee tribe in North America, the "Siwinowe Kesibwi" (Shawnee Sun)

1837
Ottawa Baptist Mission (now Ottawa University) is founded by Reverend Jotham Meeker.

Surveying begins for the Fort Leavenworth-Fort Gibson military road. It will link the forts on the "Permanent Indian Frontier".

1839
Louis Pappan marries Julie Gonville, parents of Helen C. Pappan, who is mother to Charles Curtis.

The Shawnee Methodist Mission was relocated in 1839 on a 2,240-acre grant some 2 miles southwest of Westport, Missouri (also now smothered by Kansas City), in what became Kansas's Johnson county. Here was established a large diversified farming enterprise, including a twelve acre apple orchard, the first on Kansas soil.

Joseph and Ahcan Pappan (pah-pan) establish a ferry across the Kaw (now known as Kansas) River where Topeka now stands.

Helen C. Pappan was born, future mother of Charles Curtis, daughter of Julie Gonville Pappan.

1841
First emigrant wagon train headed for the Pacific. The Bidwell-Bartleson party's journey West was from Independence, Mo. via "Sublette's Trace" (the now developing Oregon-California Trail).

Lieutenant John C. Fremont, with Kit Carson as guide, explores the Kansas and Platte Rivers.

1843
Wyandot Indians settle on reservation in eastern Kansas, establish city of Wyandot (Kansas City, Kansas).

First group of Oregon emigrants, a population of 900, sets out from Elm Grove (larger groups will pass through Kansas in 1844 and 1845).

1844
First move to organize Kansas into a Territory is made at Uniontown by Missourians.

1846
Mexican War begins; General Stephen W. Kearney marches from Fort Leavenworth to California.

Kansa Indians cede 2 millions acres of land and relocate southeast of Council Grove.

During the war with Mexico, Fort Leavenworth is the chief outfitting post for the army of the West.

1847
Fort Mann is constructed to provide protection along the Santa Fe Trail. It will soon be abandoned.

1850
Coal is found near present site of Pittsburg is dug by settlers for their own use.

Aug. 8, Fort Atkinson (also called Fort Sod) was established by Lt. Col. Edwin Vose Sumner, 1st Dragoons. It was located about two miles West of the present Dodge City, on the left side of the Arkansas River near the site of the old abandoned Fort Mann. Intended to control the Indians and protect the Santa Fe Trail. This small army outpost was made entirely of sod buildings.

Kaw Mission at Council Grove was built by the Methodist Episcopal Church South with government funding to serve as a school to educate the Kaw Indians after they were relocated from their reservation near Topeka in 1847. Thomas S. Huffaker contracted to teach at the school.

1852
Flour milling got its start in Kansas by Mattitins Splitlog in Kansas City.

1853
Camp Center is built by Major Ogden on the Kansas River near the Republican to protect both the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. It is quickly re-named Fort Riley and becomes the new supply depot for the Army.

Wyandot Indians organize Kansas Nebraska into Provisional Territory and elect delegate to 33rd Congress; Congress fails to recognize the act and the delegate.

May 30, President Pierce signs bill, Kansas Nebraska Act, creating two Territories, divided on the 40th parallel of latitude, opens territory to settlers.
Kansas is organized as a territory, including the eastern half of present-day Colorado. Congress breaks with precedent, allowing the territory's citizens to determine the slavery question for themselves. Fort Leavenworth is the first territorial capital. It will take fewer than 40 years to settle 1 million citizens into the new area.

1st Territorial Governor Andrew H. Reeder (07/07/1854- 04/17/1855)
was appointed the first territorial governor of Kansas by President Franklin Pierce.

Eli Thayer of Worcester, Massachusetts, founds the Massachusetts Emigrant id Society to promote the settlement of anti-slavery groups in Kansas with the ultimate objective of making it a free state.

Mar.; Charles Robinson helps found Lawrence (became center of Free-State activities) named after Amos A. Lawrence, promoter of the Emigrant Aid Society from Boston, Mass.

Clarina Nichols arrives to urge Kansas state constitution, when written, to give women equal rights.

May; 2,000,000 acres of Delaware and Shawnee Indian land is made available to whites by public auction and pre-emption.

Nov.; Pro slavery element dominates election of delegate General John W. Whitfield to Congress.

Dec.; Topeka was founded by five anti-slavery activists, among them Cyrus K. Holiday.

Fort Atkinson was abandoned due to the poor conditions of the sod buildings.

Swiss immigrants first arrive and settle in Potawatomie (Onage), Nemaha (Bern, Neuchatel) and Allen (Geneva) counties.

Kansas is home to 5 Indian Nations as well as 20 tribes the U.S. Government relocated to the area.

Council Grove becomes a town. Seth Hayes, great-grandson of Daniel Boone and cousin to Kit Carson, is the town's first official resident. He establishes the Hays House, a trading post.

The Valley Falls Mill was built by Isaac Cody (father of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody).

Moses Grinter begins operating a trading post overlooking the Delaware Crossing on the Kansas River.

Apr.; Doctor Robinson sends an order to Eli Thayer for 100 Sharp's rifles, which become known as "Beecher's Bibles."

Jun.; Free State Convention is held at Lawrence; it is Adjourned June 25, when Convention declares "In reply to threats of war... our answer is: 'We are ready.'"

Shawnee Mission Legislature asks President Pierce to remove Governor Reeder.

Aug.; Le Compton, near Lawrence, is selected as permanent seat of government.

Free State Convention at Lawrence calls for election to draw up a state constitution.

Sept.; Free Staters, at Big Springs, nominate Reeder as delegate to Congress, and organize Free State Party.

John Brown and his followers were attacked by several hundred pro slavery men. In this "battle" of Osawatomie, the settlement was burned and Brown's son Frederick was killed.

1857
Former Ohio schoolteacher, William Clarke Quantrill, moves to Kansas and begins farming. He hones his violent nature by living with thieves, murders, brigands, and commits several murders himself.

Timothy and Sylvia Hersey establish Abilene as a small dugout, log cabin hamlet and stagecoach stop along the banks of Mud Creek. The town's name means "city of the plains". (trivia - which was named first, Abilene, Kansas, or Abilene, Texas? answer, Abilene, KANSAS was first)

October 31, the first court ever held in Lawrence was in session; Samuel N. Wood, Justice of the Peace.

The Hays House, said to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi River, was founded in Council Grove by Seth M. Hays.

The Last Chance Store, built at Council Grove, was the last chance for those headed to Santa Fe, to stock up on supplies.

1858
The Marais des Cygnes massacre took place in Linn County, five Free State men murdered.

Julia Archibald Holmes of Lawrence is the first woman to climb to the top of Pike's Peak.

Dec. 11, poles for the telegraph were up as far as Leavenworth, Jefferson City, and Kansas City.

A camp on Pawnee Rock is established in the heart of Native American buffalo hunting grounds. Re-named Camp Alert; it is the most important of the Kansas forts along the Santa Fe Trail.

April : A stage line begins operating between Leavenworth and the gold fields near Denver.

Junction City was incorporated due to a special act by the Kansas Territorial Legislature.

Dec.; Abraham Lincoln tours Kansas, speaks at Atchison, Troy, and Leavenworth.

1860
Camp Alert as re-named to honor Colonel B.F. Larned, the Army's Postmaster General. It is also moved 3 miles from its original location.

Jan 25, Charles Curtis was born in Eugene (now know as North Topeka) Kansas to Oren Arms (Captain Jack) Curtis and Ellen Pappan Curtis.

March 15, Charles Curtis was baptized at the Immaculate Conception in St. Marys, Kansas

The Pony Express operations begins at St. Joseph, Mo. - going through Northeast Kansas - to Sacramento, Calif.

Mar. 20, iron arrived in Kansas and track laying began on the Elwood & Marysville Railroad, 5 miles from Elwood to Wathena. This was the first railroad iron laid down in Kansas.

Dec. 24, Annie Elizabeth Baird was born in Altoona, Penn parents were John and Jane Baird.. future wife of Charles Curtis.

The Civil War begins. Many Fort Larned soldiers are re-assigned to other locations, making protection of travelers on the trail more difficult. William Quantrill eagerly fights with the Confederate Army At Wilson's Creek and Lexington, Missouri. By Christmas, he forms a band of guerrilla troops, leading his men on raids against Kansas and Missouri farmers and townspeople who favor the Union.

Jan. 29th, Kansas entered the Union as the 34th state, after 3 unsuccessful constitutional conventions.

Feb.;
First State Governor, Dr. Charles Robinson (Lawrence), is inaugurated. (R) (1861-1863)

Apr.; First U.S. Senators from Kansas, James H. Lane (died in office) and Samuel C. Pomeroy, are elected.

1862
Mar. 13th, Treaty with the Kansa Indians, previous treaty to be amended to provide that a fair and reasonable value of the improvements shall receive certificates of indebtedness, shall be issued to him for an amount equal to the appraisement. (White Hair's mark in on this treaty)

June; Ottawa Indians in Kansas become U.S. citizens; heads of families are to receive 160 acres of land.

Sept. 2, Elizabeth Curtis, born, daughter of Ellen Pappan Curtis and Oren Arms (Captain Jack) Curtis, sister to Charles Curtis.

Dec. 22, Jerome A. Colvin born in Lima, Ohio, future husband of Elizabeth Curtis.

First governor in United States to be impeached, Charles Robinson of Kansas (acquitted)

Quantrill's band is mustered into the Confederate Army service but continues to operate independently. Quantrill is infamous for murder, robbery, and the mutilation of the dead. His band raids Olathe.

Aug. 21, Quantrill's guerrillas (including Frank James) mount a surprise attack on Lawrence, killing 150 residents, looting and burning most of the city. Only 1 of the guerrillas was killed. They escaped into the Missouri hills.

Quantrill leads another slaughter at Baxter Springs 2 weeks after Lawrence. They attack a Union Headquarters train, killing 98 Federals and losing only 6 of their own men.

Kansas State University in Manhattan was established as the nation's second original land-grant university.

Emporia State University at Emporia was established as the Kansas State Normal School.

Charles Curtis' mother Ellen, died, she was 23 years old. Place of grave is unknown. So his father Oren Arms (Captain Jack) Curtis left him in the care of his Indian grandmother Julie Gonville Pappan at the Kansa Indian Reservation at Council Grove, Morris county. Oren Arms (Captain Jack) Curtis then signed up for the Union side of the Civil War, became a Captain.

Blumont College becomes the Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science.

1864
Oct. 25, The only major Civil War battle fought in Kansas occurred at Mine Creek in Linn County . This battle, involving 25,000 men (one of the largest cavalry engagement of the war) led by Generals Curtis, Blunt, and Pleasanton from the Union forces and Generals Marmaduke and Price from the Confederate Army resulted in the Southern troops being routed, ending the threat of a Confederate invasion of Kansas.

Boyhood home of Charles Curtis at 905 North Van Buren St. in North Topeka was built by his grandfather William Curtis, a 12-room Victorian house on a large tract of Kansa Indian Land purchased a year earlier from Charles Curtis' maternal grandmother, Julie Gonville Pappan. Recently demolished (1997?) by City of Topeka.

First year Kansas can cast votes for President, Kansas supported Abraham Lincoln (14,252 to 3,791) against General George McClellan.

Fort Zarah is established to give protection to the Santa Fe Trail. Named for Major H. Zarah Curtis, who was killed by Quantrill's guerrillas in the Baxter Springs Massacre.

1865
3rd Governor Samuel Johnson Crawford (Garnett) (R) (1865-1868)
(youngest governor) (resigned to take command of the 19th Regiment)

Fort Dodge is established to give protection to settlers on the Santa Fe Trail.

Fort Fletcher is established to protect military roads, guard the mails, defend construction gangs on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and protect the stagecoaches en route to Denver on the Smokey Hill Trail.

Camp Pond Creek is established and then re-named for General H.L. Wallace who lost his left at the battle of Shiloh.

Treaty with the Osage, ceded land beginning at the Southeast corner of their present reservation , and running thence North with the Eastern boundary thereof 50 miles to the Northeast corner; thence West with the Northern line 30 miles; thence South 50 miles to the Southern boundary to the place of beginning , for $300,000.00 (White Hair's mark is on this treaty)

Sept.; Osage Indians sell to United States a tract 30 x 50 miles square, and cede strip 20 miles wide, partly in Kansas.

Lincoln College (now known as Washburn University) was established in Topeka by the Congregational Church, first classes in Jan, 1866.

1866
The University of Kansas at Lawrence was opened at the first state university in the Great Plains Area.

Fort Fletcher is re-named in honor of General Alexander Hays, a casualty of the Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War.

Legislature ratifies Fourteenth Amendment to United States Constitution, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and in the State wherein they reside."

A lynch mob hangs 3 black soldiers accused of murder from the railroad bridge west of Hays.

1867-1868
William Frederick Cody "Buffalo Bill", gained his nickname from his success in supplying the men working on the Union (later Kansas) Pacific Railroad with buffalo, killing 4,280 of them in Kansas in just two years.

Lucy Hobbs Taylor, first woman to earn Degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery, established practice in Lawrence.

Nov.; Lincoln College (in Topeka) is renamed Washburn College in recognition for the financial support of New England philanthropist, Deacon Ichabod Washburn.

What is claimed to have been the first alfalfa in Kansas was planted on the present site of Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina.

Brookville Hotel in Brookville (near Salina) Kansas was built. It is still in business and famous for it's family style chicken.

James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok, sheriff of Hays City, shoots down Samuel Strawhim, a drunken teamster causing trouble.

1870
Charles Curtis attended Lincoln School, was located at 5th and Madison in Topeka, while working in the livery stable during his spare time.

1870-1880s
Homesteaders flock to Kansas; great influx of domestic and foreign immigrants.

1870s
The Bender Family lived on the road south from Independence in Montgomery county, halfway between the "Little House on the Prairie" and Independence, and near a landmark known as Bender Mounds. People disappeared on that road and they were never heard from again. Occasionally the Benders invited travelers to stay for dinner. These itinerants were then murdered and robbed of their valuables.

The Kansas Pacific reached through Kansas to the Colorado line, and by the end of 1872, the Santa Fe had done the same.

Kansas ratifies (1st state to do so) Fifteenth Amendment to U.S. Constitution, "The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any other State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This gave African-Americans the right to vote.

Treaty is concluded with Osage Indians for purchase of "Osage Diminished Reserve."

Charlie Fredericks rides from Fort Hays to Phillipsburg claiming the Indians will soon attack. Phillipsburg citizens build a fort and name it in honor of John Bissell upon the land it was located. Volunteers man the fort. No Indian hostilities will ever take place there, however.

The Newton city council passed an ordinance prohibiting the running at large of buffalo and other wild animals.

Congress authorizes removal of Osage Indians from Kansas to Indian Territory.

"Home on the Range" written in Smith county, Original title "Western Home". Became state song in 1947.

The first sidewalk in Hutchinson was a wooden one from the courthouse to a railway depot.

Charles Curtis (13 years old) was advised by his Kansa-Osage Indian grandmother Julie Gonville Pappan to leave the Indian Reservation at Council Grove, to abandon the tribe and "make something of himself. He went to stay with his other (English) grandmother Permelia Hubbard Curtis in Topeka.

1878
Chiefs Dull Knife and Little Wolf of the Northern Cheyennes led their people in a flight from starvation on the reservation in Oklahoma to their homelands in Yellowstone, Wyoming. The trek climaxed on Sept. 27th when 284 braves, women and children made their final stand on the bluffs of Ladder Creek, now Beaver Creek, just south of Scott City State Park. This encounter with the U.S. Calvary was the last Indian battle in Kansas. The site - Squaws Den Battleground - drew its name from the pit in which the women and children were placed after helping to dig rifle pits for the warriors. The breastworks the Indians dug to withstand the attack by soldiers are still visible.

Garden City was founded and later named after the beautiful garden of the founder's wife.

Charles (and his sister Elizabeth) Curtis were dropped from Kansa Tribal roll.

"Exodusters" flee South for Kansas "promised land;" large 1880 black settlements established earlier at Nicodemus and the Dunlap.

1880
A Prohibition amendment to the Kansas Constitution was ratified by voters. It remained in effect until 1948 when a system of liquor licensed sales was established, first state in the U.S. to pass this controversial amendment.

1881
The first long distance connection was established between Wathena, Kansas and St. Joseph, Missouri.

Charles Curtis, age 21, was admitted to the Bar after studying law while being a hack driver (taxi but using a coach)

1882
E.P. McCabe of Graham County becomes state auditor; first black elected to statewide office.

Haskell Institute, a college school for Indians, is established at Lawrence by U.S. Government.

Kansas, at the New Orleans Exposition, took first prizes on wheat, corn, flour, sorghum sugar, apples, and cattle; 65 first and second ribbons, leading every state in the United States.

1886
Jan. 6, Permelia Jeannette Curtis was born, to Charles and Annie Elizabeth Baird Curtis.

1887
Kansas women are granted right to vote in municipal affairs, though not state and federal.

Kansas women given municipal suffrage; Susanna Madora Salter elected mayor of Argonia first woman in Kansas (first woman in nation to become a mayor!).

Feb. 8,
    The General Allotment Act for Indians (also known as the Dawes Severalty Act, named for its sponsor and author Senator Henry Laurens Dawes) became law, prepared for Indian citizenship and to end the reservation system, inaccurately called the "Curtis" Act (by authors, usually by Indians, by people who favor Indians or are against Charles Curtis who was not even elected to the Kansas House of Representatives until 1892, Charles Curtis is wrongfully {blamed} acknowledged as the author of this act which he is NOT).
    Congressman Henry Laurens Dawes (1816-1903), author of the Dawes Act, once expressed his faith in the civilizing power of property with the claim that to be civilized was to "wear civilized clothes..... cultivate the ground, live in houses, ride in Studebaker wagons, send children to school, drink whiskey and own property."
    The Dawes Act sought to absorb tribe members into the national body politic. Allotments could be sold after a statutory period of 25 years, and surplus land not allotted was opened to settlers.
    To get on the Dawes Tribal Rolls, Native Americans had to "anglicize" their names, this "melting pot" chicanery allowed agents of the government, who were sent to the frontier to administer the Dawes Act, to slip in the names of their relatives and friends onto the Dawes Act Tribal Rolls, thus reap millions of acres of land for their friends and cronies.

An act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That in all cases where any tribe or band of Indians has been, or shall hereafter be, located upon any reservation created for their use, either by treaty stipulation or by virtue of an act of Congress or executive order setting apart the same for their use, the President of the United States be, and he hereby is, authorized, whenever in his opinion any reservation or any part thereof of such Indians is advantageous for agricultural and grazing purposes to cause said reservation, or any part thereof, to be surveyed, or resurveyed if necessary, and to allot the lands in said reservation in severalty to any Indian located thereon in quantities as follows:

        To each head of a family, one-quarter of a section of land;
        To each single person over eighteen years of age, one-eighth of a section of land;
        To each orphan child under eighteen years of age- one-eighth of a section of land; and
        To each other single person under eighteen years now living, or who may be born prior to the date of the order of the President directing an allotment of the lands embraced in any reservation, one-sixteenth of a section of land:

Provided, That in case there is not sufficient land in any said reservation to allot lands of the classes above names in quantities as above provided, the lands embraced in such reservation or reservations allotted to each individual of each said classes pro rata in accordance with the provisions of this act: And provided further, That where the treaty or act of Congress setting apart such reservation provides the allotment of lands in severalty in quantities in excess of those herein provided, the President, in making allotments upon such reservation, shall allot the lands to each individual Indian belonging thereon in quantity as specified in such treaty or act; And provided further; That when the lands allotted are only valuable for grazing purposes, an additional allotment of such grazing lands, in quantities as above provided, shall be made to each individual.

Sec. 2 That all allotments set apart under the provisions of this act shall be selected by the Indians, heads of families selecting for their minor children, and the agents shall select for each orphan child, and in such a manner as to embrace the improvements of the Indians making the selection, where the improvements of two or more Indians have been made on the same legal subdivision of land, unless they shall otherwise agree, a provisional line may be run dividing said lands between them, and the amount to which is entitled shall be equalized in the assignment of the remainder of the land to which they are entitled under this act: Provided, That if any one entitled to an allotment shall fail to make a selection within four years of the President shall direct that allotments may be made on a particular reservation, The Secretary of the Interior may direct such tribe or band, if such there be, and if there be no agent, then a special agent appointed for that purpose, to make a selection for such Indian, which selection shall be allotted as in cases where selections are made by the Indians, and patents shall issue in like manner.

Sec. 3 That the allotments provided for in this act shall be made by special agents appointed by the President for such purpose, and the agents in charge of respective reservations on which the allotments are directed to be made, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of the Interior may from time to time prescribe, and shall be certified by such agents to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in duplicate, one copy to be retained in the Indian Office and the other transmitted to the Secretary of the Interior for his action, and to be deposited in the General Land Office.

Sec. 4 That where any Indian not residing on a reservation, or for whose tribe no reservation has been provided by treaty, act of Congress, or executive order, shall make settlement upon any surveyed or unsurveyed lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated, he or she shall be entitled, upon application to the local land-office for the district in which the land is located, to have the same allotted to him or her, and to his or her children, in quantities and manner as provided in this act for Indians residing upon reservations; and when such settlement is made upon unsurveyed lands, the grant to such Indians shall be adjusted upon the survey so as to conform thereto; and patents shall be issued to them for such lands in the manner and with the restrictions as herein provided. And the fees to which the officers of such local land-office would have been entitled had such lands been entered under the general laws for disposition of public lands shall be paid to them, from any moneys in the Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, upon a statement of an account in their behalf for such fees by the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and a certification of such account to the Secretary of the Treasury by the Secretary of the Interior.

Sec. 5 That upon the approval of the allotments provided for in this act by the Secretary of the Interior, he shall cause patents to issue therefor in the name of the allottees, which patents shall be of the legal effect, and declare that the United States does and will hold the land thus allotted, for the period of twenty-five years, in trust for the sole use and benefit of the Indian to who such allotment shall have been made, or, in case of his decease, of his heirs according to the laws of the State or Territory where such land is located, and that at the expiration of said period the United States will convey the same by patent to said Indian, or heirs as aforesaid, in fee, discharged of said trust and free of all charge or encumbrance whatsoever: Provided, That the President of the United States may in any case in his discretion extend the period. And if any conveyance shall be made of the lands set apart and allotted as herein provided, or any contract made touching the same, before the expiration of the time above mentioned, such conveyance or contract shall be absolutely null and void: Provided, That the law of descent and partition in force in the State or Territory where such lands situate shall apply thereto after patents therefor have been executed and be delivered, except as herein otherwise provided; and the laws of the State of Kansas regulating the descent and partition of real estate shall; so far as practicable, apply to all lands in the Indian Territory which may be allotted in severalty under the provisions of this act; And provided further, That at any time after lands have been allotted to all the Indians of any tribe as herein provided, or sooner if in the opinion of the President it shall be for the best interests of said tribe, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate with such Indian tribe for the purchase and release by said tribe, in conformity with the treaty or statute under which such reservation is held, of such portions of its reservation not allotted as tribe shall, from time to time, consent to sell, on such terms and conditions as shall be considered just and equitable between the United States and said tribe of Indians, which purchase shall not be complete until ratified by Congress, and the form and manner of executing said release prescribed by Congress: Provided however, That all lands adapted to agriculture, with or without irrigation so sold or released to the United States by any Indian tribe shall be held by the United States for the sale purpose of securing homes to actual settlers and shall be disposed of by the United States to actual and bona fide settlers only tracts not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to any one person, on such terms as Congress shall prescribe, subject to grants which Congress may make in aid of education; And provided further, That no patents shall issue therefor except to the person so taking the same as and homestead, or his heirs, and after the expiration of five years occupancy thereof of such homestead; and any conveyance of said lands taken as a homestead, or any contract touching the same, or lieu thereon, created prior to the date of such patent, shall be null and void. And the sums agreed to be paid by the United States as purchase money for any portion of any said reservation shall be held in the Treasury of the United States for the sole use of the tribe or tribes Indians; to whom such reservations belong; and the same, with interest thereon at three per cent per annum, shall be at all times subject to appropriations of Congress for the education and civilization of such tribe or tribes of Indians or the members thereof. The patents aforesaid shall be recorded in the General Land Office, and afterward delivered, free of charge, to the allottee entitled thereto. And if any religious society or organization, is now occupying any of the public lands to which this act is applicable, for religious or educational work among the Indians, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to confirm such occupation to such society or organization, in quantity not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in any one tract, so long as the same shall be occupied, on such terms as he shall deem just; but nothing herein contained shall change or alter any claim of such society for religious or educational purposes heretofore granted to by law. And hereafter in the employment of Indian police, or any other employees in the the public service among any of the Indian tribes or bands affected by this act, and where Indians can perform the duties required, those Indians who have availed themselves of the provisions of this act and become citizens of the United States shall be preferred.

Sec. 6 That upon the completion of said allotments and the patenting of the lands to said allottees, each and every member of the respective bands or tribes of Indians to whom allotments have been made shall have the benefit of and be subject to the laws, both civil and criminal, of the State or Territory in which they may reside; and no Territory shall pass or enforce any law denying to any such Indian within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law. And every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States to whom allotments shall have been made under the provisions of this act, or under any law or treaty, and every Indian born within the territorial limits of the United States who has voluntarily taken up, within said limits, his residence separate and apart from any tribe of Indians therein, and has adopted the habits of civilized life, is hereby declared to be a citizen of the United States, and is entitled to all the rights, privileges, and immunities of such citizens, whether said Indian has been or not, by birth or otherwise, a member of any tribe of Indians within the Territorial limits of the United States without in any manner affecting the right of any such Indian to tribal or other property.

Sec. 7 That in cases where the use of water for irrigation is necessary to render the lands within and Indian reservation available for agriculture, the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, authorized to prescribe such rules and regulations as he may deem necessary to secure a just and equal distribution thereof among the Indians residing upon any such reservation; and no appropriation or grant of water by any riparian proprietor shall be permitted to the damage of any other riparian proprietor.

Sec. 8 That the provisions of this act shall not extend to the territory occupied by the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Seminoles, Osage, Miamies, Peorias, Sacs and Foxes, in the Indian Territory, nor to any of the reservations of the Seneca Nation of New York Indians in the State of New York, nor to that strip of territory in the State of Nebraska adjoining the Sioux Nation on the south added by executive order.

Sec. 9 That for the purpose of making the surveys and resurveys mentioned in section two of this act, there be, and hereby is, appropriated out of any moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of one hundred thousand dollars, to be repaid, proportionately out of the proceeds of the sales of such land as may be acquired from the Indians under the provisions of this act.

Sec. 10 That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to affect the right and power of Congress to grant the right of way through any lands granted to an Indian, or a tribe of Indians, for railroads or other highways, or telegraph lines, for the public use, or condemn such lands to public uses, upon making compensation.

Sec. 11 That nothing in this act contained shall be construed as to prevent the removal of the Southern Ute Indians from their present reservation in Southwestern Colorado to a new reservation by and with consent of a majority of the adult males members of such tribe.

1889
11th Governor Lyman Underwood Humphrey (Independence) (R) (1889-1893)

Sept.; First county high school in United States in Chapman, Dickinson county, made of limestone cost of $12,000; enrollment first year was 137.

1890s
James A Naismith (basketball inventor) is basketball coach at Kansas University in Lawrence.

First fully automatic (mechanized) shooting gallery invented by Charles Wallace Parker of Abilene.

1891
First national penitentiary to be authorized by Congress is located in Leavenworth (though not the first completed)

1892
April 1, Leona Virginia Curtis born, to Charles and Annie Elizabeth Baird Curtis.

Oct. 5, the Dalton gang rode into Coffeyville and robbed two banks of nearly $25,000 in 12 minutes. A shootout ensued and two of the three Dalton brothers were killed. The youngest brother was sentenced to life in the Kansas Penitentiary at Lansing.

Charles Curtis first elected to House of Representatives on Republican ticket.

1893
12th Governor Lorenzo Dow Lewelling (Wichita) (Populist) (1893-1895)

1894
A brigade of "Coxey's Army" met its waterloo at Scott City when a train commandeered by miners at Cripple Creek, Colo. was halted in the area by a U.S. Marshal and his deputies - bring to a close the "last invasion of Kansas soil by anybody's army."

1895
13th Governor Edmund Needham Morrill (Hiawatha) (R) (1895-1897)
(oldest governor at 61)

1896
Charles Curtis proposed a bill that the mixed-blood children of white men and Indian women should have "the same right and privileges to the property and annuities of the tribe to which the mother belongs, by blood as any member of the tribe." Proposal failed in Congress.

First carousel with a jumping horse mechanism by Charles Wallace Parker of C.W. Parker Amusement Company of Leavenworth.

1898
Charles Curtis and his sister Elizabeth are restored to Kansa Tribal Rolls.

Nick Chiles founds the "Plaindealer", first(?) black newspaper of United States.

1901
Fort Hays State University at Hays was established as the Western Branch of the State Normal School at Emporia.

Carry Nation, who launched her saloon smashing campaign in Medicine Lodge and Kiowa, brings her show to Topeka.

1902
Charles Curtis (and his sister Elizabeth) and his children are all listed on the Kansa Tribal Rolls.

Pittsburg State University at Pittsburg was established as the Auxiliary Manual Training Normal School.

The Kansas State Capitol building was completed. It was constructed over a period of 37 years from 1866-1903, cost a total of $3.2 million. The French Renaissance style is constructed of native Kansas limestone.

The William Curtis (grandfather to Charles Curtis) home of 905 North Van Buren, North Topeka, was substantially damaged during the flood of Kaw (Kansas) River.

Daughter to Charles Curtis, Permelia Jeannette Curtis graduated from Topeka High School in Topeka, Kansas.

Charles Melvin tried to solve the "wet-dry" problem in Allen County by dynamiting the saloons on the Square. Three buildings were gone but the "wet-dry" problem was not.

Dec.; First forward pass in football history thrown, Washburn College and Fairmont College (now Wichita State University) were playing.

1906
The first Federal Penitentiary Building in Leavenworth was completed Feb. 1st.

1907
"The Vanderbuilt Cup" was the first opera shown in the new Brown Theater in Concordia.

Charles Curtis purchased house at 1101 Topeka Blvd. in Topeka and lived there whenever he was in Topeka (when Congress was not in session), the House has been restored and does accept visitors for tours with prior notice.

1908
Permelia Jeannette Curtis (daughter of Charles Curtis) graduated from Wellesley Women's College

Dr. Samuel J. Crumbine, secretary of State Board of Health, launches public health campaign.

First International Horseshoe Pitching Contest was held at Bronson, winner was Frank Jackson of Blue Mound, Kansas.

1909-1910
America's first patented helicopter was invented by William Purvis and Charles Wilson of Goodland.

1911
July 9, The Smoky Hill River was so low that farmers fished with pitchforks.

Housewives made fireless cookers from boxes and old trunks, insulating them with paper or hay. Food was partially cooked and quickly put in tight-fitting lard or syrup pails. This way the food was cooked without further heating the kitchen.

Dec. 2, When the first woman's jury in Kansas entered the jury room at El Dorado, they paused, uncertain what to do. One said: "I believe we should pray." They bowed their heads in silent prayer, listened attentively to instructions, and returned a verdict in three hours.

1913
19th Governor George Hartshorn Hodges (Olathe) (D) (1913-1915)
(closest election, 29 votes over Arthur Capper)

Kansas oil production was 24,083 barrels. Of the 2,174 holes drilled, only 483 were dry.

1914
July 4; First 300 mile motorcycle race in United States held at Dodge City, winner was Glenn R. Boyd of Denver, Co. time was 4 hours, 24 minutes 58 seconds, average speed was 67.92 miles per hour.

1915
20th Governor Arthur Capper (Topeka) (R) (1915-1919) he is first native Kansan to hold the office, also Quaker pacifist

Permelia Jeannette Curtis (daughter of Charles and Annie Elizabeth Baird Curtis) married Major Charles Peasley George in the Curtis family home at 11th and Topeka Boulevard in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas

Dwight David Eisenhower (of Abilene, born in Denison, Texas) graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point with the rank of second lieutenant.

1917
Kansas has produced 25,402,521,000 cubic feet of natural gas in the past year, and 112 gas wells had been drilled.

Former Governor; Arthur Capper is elected U.S. Senator; he is re-elected again in 1924- 1930 and 1936.

Lorraine Elizabeth Wooster elected state superintendent of public instructions, one of the country's first woman to hold statewide office.

July 9, Leona Virginia Curtis (daughter of Charles and Annie Elizabeth Baird Curtis) married Webster Knight II of the prominent Knight family in Rhode Island in Washington D.C.

1920s
Lila Day Monroe works to keep women's issues important politically.

1920
The O'Henry candy bar was invented by Tom Henry of Arkansas City. The candy bar was originally called "Tom Henry" but was changed later when Mr. Henry sold the rights to his candy bar to a candy factory.

1921
Amelia Earhart Putnam, a native of Atchison, made her first solo flight, she was nicknamed "Lady Lindy".

Amelia Earhart Putnam, became the first woman to be granted a pilot's license by the National Aeronautic Association.

William Allen White (1868-1944) "Sage of Emporia", editor and publisher of Emporia Gazette wins Pulitzer Prize.

1924
The handkerchief-dress craze hit Kansas. At Atchison over 250 dozen red and blue bandannas were sold to women who made dresses of them.

Jun 20, Annie Elizabeth Baird Curtis died in Washington D.C. buried in Topeka, Kansas.

Walter Anderson, Wichita, one of the founders of the White Castle eating houses and known as the "Hamburger King," operated 22 White Castles. He bought the first one in Wichita with a loan of $60.

Walter P. Chrysler, son of Henry Chrysler, was born in Wamego, Kansas, and grew up in Ellis, Kansas. At Ellis, Walter P. Chrysler received his public education and learned his trade as a machinist. He was an industrialist who established the Chrysler Motors Cooperation in 1925.

Charles Curtis received a Honorary Degree of Letters from Washburn College in Topeka, Kansas.

1927
The Cigarette Tax was the first sales tax to be imposed by any state, by the 1927 Kansas Legislature.

1928
One-seventh of the world's wheat crop, 12,400,000 acres was grown in Kansas.

Charles Curtis, (Topeka) Kansas U.S. Senator (R) is elected Vice-President in Kansas City, Missouri Republican Convention.

1932
At the Olympics in Los Angeles, Vice-President Charles Curtis gave the opening address.

In Salina, sugar was 47 cents for ten pounds, lard was 6 cents a pound, lettuce was 5 cents a head, frankfurters were three pounds for 25 cents, coffee was 49 cents for three pounds, and cheese was 15 cents a pound.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivers major farm address of 1932 campaign in Topeka.

Charles Curtis was re-nominated for Vice President on Hoover ticket, was defeated for re-election.

Sept. 3, Jerome A. Colvin, husband of Elizabeth Curtis (Charles Curtis' sister) dies on in Topeka..

Charles Curtis announced establishment of his residence in Washington D.C. leaving the previous residence of 1101 Topeka Avenue (now Boulevard) in Topeka.

1933-1980s
Zula Hull Bennington Green writes "Peggy of the Flint Hills", also wrote a book "Skimming the Cream", was the first accredited woman war correspondent of United States.

1936
Governor Landon is unsuccessful Republican candidate for President of the United States (lost by one of the greatest margins in U.S. Political history)

Glen Cunningham, (Elkhart county & Indian) sets world record in one mile run.

Feb. 8; 10:25 am, Charles Curtis dies of a heart attack at his home in Washington D.C.

John Stuart Curry is commissioned to paint murals in Kansas State Capitol in Topeka.

"Prohibition" continues in Kansas but legislature allows sale of 3.2 beer; sales tax initiated.

1938
Brown County claimed what was said to be the first Kansas REA, (Rural Electric Association).

1939
28th Governor Payne Ratner (Parsons) (R) (1939-1943) of Jewish religion

Aug. 16, Elizabeth Curtis Colvin Layton (Charles Curtis' sister) dies in Topeka.

1947
30th Governor Frank Carlson (Concordia) (R) (1947-1950)
(resigned - elected to U.S. Senate)

The state of New Mexico was the last holdout to keep Indians from voting, the Indians within the state could vote in Federal elections by Federal law, but the state would not allow the Indians to vote in state elections, this was stopped.

1948
Kansas voters repeal prohibition amendment, which had been part of the state constitution for 69 years.

1949
Feb. 20 : The first International Pancake Race is held in Liberal. It pits the women of Liberal against the woman of Olney, Bucks, England; in a Shrove Tuesday pancake toss and race.

Paola was the first city in Kansas to authorize an industrial promotion levy.

Georgia Neese Gray Clark of Richland, Kansas, appointed first woman U.S. Treasurer.

1950
31st Governor Frank Lester Hagaman (Fairway) (R) (1950-1951)
(succeeded Carlson)

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of "Scientology", established the Hubbard Dianetic Research Foundation in Wichita

1952
Dwight D. Eisenhower (of Abilene, though was born in Denison, Texas) was inaugurated the 34th President of United States. (trivia - Kansas was 34th State in 1860)

SRCA (Sunflower Rod and Custom Association) oldest car club in nation, held 1st drag races in Kansas at Great Bend

The U.S. Supreme Court orders the desegregation of public schools across the country after hearing Brown vs Topeka Board of Education.

1955
33rd Governor Fred Hall (Dodge City) (R) (1955-1957)
(resigned - appointed Justice of Supreme Court)

35th Governor George Docking (Lawrence) (D) (1957-1961)
1st Democrat to serve 2 terms

Charles E. Whitaker, native of Doniphan County, Kansas, appointed justice of U.S. Supreme Court.

The ICEE machine, the first frozen carbonated drink machine was invented by Omar Kneclik of Coffeyville.

1964
Fort Larned is named a national historic site and is included in the National Park System.

1967
38th Governor Robert B. Docking (Arkansas City) (D) (1967-1975)
son of Governor George Docking (had most terms as governor - 4)

1969
Dwight D. Eisenhower died (born in Denison, Texas), the 34th President of United States, buried in Abilene, Kansas.

1970
Oct. 2 : A plane carrying the Wichita State University football team crashes, killing 30.

1971
The first Electronic Switching System (ESS) was installed at Kansas City, Kansas by Southwestern Bell.

Liberal's Sheila Turner sets a world record as the fastest pancake runner, running the race in 58.5 seconds.

1978
Nancy Landon Kassebaum (daughter of Governor Alfred "Alf" Moss Landon) become 1st woman elected to United States Senate for Kansas who did not succeed her husband in either House of Congress.

Nov. 4, State Constitutional amendment, approved, will allow Kansans to place legal bets on dog and horse races; residents will also have State lottery, and be able to order liquor by the glass in public places for first time since Prohibition.

1988
Two native Kansans seek presidency, Bob Dole (Russell) and Gary Hart (Ottawa), neither wins, FYI - Gary Hart now writes using the name "John Blackthorn"

March 13 - A tornado went through Hesston, Harvey counties and other Kansas towns. The tornado was on the ground for more than two hours. It was at times over a half-mile wide. It caused millions of dollars of damage and two deaths.
Another tornado cut a 500-yard path through western Sumner county.

1991 -
42nd Governor Joan Finney (Topeka) (D) (1991-1995) 1st woman governor of Kansas

April 26 - There were some killer tornados reported near Wichita. The killer tornados that destroyed 1,120 homes, damaging 571 more, injured more than 200 people and left 20 dead.

1993 -
The Flood of 1993 June/July
Flood gates were opened at Milford Reservoir (Republican River) and Tuttle Creek Reservoir (Big Blue River), flooding on the Smokey Hill River. July 11 marked the beginning of the flood in Kansas City. 4.6 million acres of farmland -- nearly 1/5th of the state's total farm acreage -- were damaged or destroyed, crop losses total more $434 million with 53,000 farmers affected. There was one death, more than $475 million estimated property and crop damage. 46 counties were declared federal disaster areas.

1996
Fort Hays State University, division II National Basketball Champs, record of 34-0.

October 22 - Unexpected snowstorm hit Kansas City area, eight inches of snow fell in Overland Park, the largest snowfall ever in the month of October. Most of the trees still had their leaves; the branches could not handle the wet heavy snow. Downed tree limbs and power lines were everywhere. Over 170,000 homes in the Kansas City area were without power. Power restoration to residents took close to a week. The clean-up of tree limbs took much longer.

1997
Special mail cancellation to honor Charles Curtis, Jan. 25 to Feb. 24. See Memorials

1998
Special mail cancellation to honor Charles Curtis, Jan. 25 to Feb. 24. See Memorials

1999
Special mail cancellation to honor Charles Curtis, Jan. 25 to Feb. 24. See Memorials

2000
Special mail cancellation to honor Charles Curtis, Jan. 25 to Feb. 24. See Memorials

2001
Special mail cancellation to honor Charles Curtis, Jan. 25 to Feb. 24. See Memorials

2002
Special mail cancellation to honor Charles Curtis, Jan. 25 to Feb. 24. See Memorials

Updated Jun 01, 2009
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