Lost Kansas Communities Student Papers
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Item Open Access The Home Away From Home: El Quartelejo Pueblo Ruins, Scott County, Kansas(Kansas State University. Dept. of History, 2011-04-19) Shearmire, BrantleeIn this paper, the author discusses the El Quartelejo Pueblo ruins located in present-day Scott County, Kansas. The Taos and the Picuris Indians who came from what is today northwestern New Mexico fled their homelands due to their Spanish overlords who denounced and prohibited the Indians from practicing their religious ceremonies, imposed Christianity upon them, and forced them into labor. Eventually the Spaniards sent a party of soldiers to retrieve the Indians and escort them back. The pueblo the Indians built would lie dormant for nearly 200 years before being discovered again, accidentally, by an early Scott County pioneer, Herbert Steele.Item Open Access A Tale of Two Cemeteries: Dispatch, Smith and Jewell Counties, Kansas(Kansas State University. Dept. of History, 2011-04-19) Hocking, JillianLocated on the border of both Smith and Jewell Counties, tiny Dispatch was founded by the Dutch Reformed Church. When the church split along doctrinal lines, two cemeteries evolved for two different church populations. The main church was founded in 1871; the split occurred in 1872. The landscape of this area still reveals its early history. The bleak, flat prairies stretching around a large church and its two graveyards tell a tale of dissent and survival. The author, connected through family to these Dutch settlers, provides photographs and stories.Item Open Access Western Frontier of Orion, Gove County, Kansas(Kansas State University. Dept. of History, 2011-04-19) Zerr, BradThis study of the slowly-vanishing town of Orion explores the western Kansas environment and the founding of a community in 1886. Wheat farmers claimed large farms in this area. Named for a schoolteacher, Orion had a vital life through World War II, when a gunnery range kept it vitalized. A few buildings, an abandoned store, and a cemetery remain. This study contains on-site photographs and personal research by the author.Item Open Access Irish Immigration in Springdale, Alexandria Township, Leavenworth County, Kansas, 1860 – 1907(Kansas State University. Dept. of History, 2011-04-19) Baker, ZachThe author describes the life of an early Irish Catholic settlement in eastern Kansas. Originally a Quaker community, Irish immigration "exploded" there just after the Civil War, eventually stamping the town with a particular religious culture. After railroads made the Fort Riley mail road obsolete, Springdale declined. St. Thomas Catholic Church was a vital center for decades.Item Open Access Warriors at White Rock: White Rock Township and White Rock City, Republic County, Kansas, 1862-1926(Kansas State University. Dept. of History, 2011-04-19) Clark, TylerThe White Rock Valley in Republic County saw Indian violence from both the Cheyenne and the Pawnee. This essay traces the founding of the town of White Rock City and its decline during the railroad years. The vital early years of the town are connected intimately to many Native American stories and records. The author discusses settler perceptions that they eventually "outlasted the Indians."Item Open Access The Rough and Gone Town of Ladore, Kansas(Kansas State University. Dept. of History, 2011-04-19) Mog, ChristyIn southern Neosho County, the "wild west" community of Ladore flourished between 1869 and 1901, when its post office closed. Early events including gambling and lynchings stamped the town with a legendary character. The author writes an engaging portrait of this vanished town and provides maps and photographs as well as concrete newspaper accounts. She explores the intriguing origins of its name. Ladore died when the M,K and T railway abandoned the proposed depot there.
