History Education Energy Water Parks Neighborhood
Architecture and Local Transit
Downtown
Lawrence is located 25 miles - 40 kilometers -
east of Topeka and 35 miles - 56 km – west of Kansas City. Though
Lawrence has a designated elevation of 866 feet - 264 m, the highest
elevation is Mount Oread on the University of Kansas campus with an elevation
of
1,020 feet - 310 m.
History Douglas County was part of the Shawnee Indian Reservation until the Kansas
Territory was
opened to settlement in 1854; the Oregon Trail
went through here and Hogback Ridge was used as a landmark on the trail. Lawrence
was entangled with the slavery issue as Northern Democrats argued that
residents should be able to decide the issue in newly created territories. Popular
sovereignty was embodied in the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. The law united
anti-slavery forces into a movement committed to stopping the expansion of
slavery, resulting in pro and anti-slavery elements moving into Kansas.
Emigration the New England Emigrant Aid Company was chartered by the
Massachusetts Legislature to facilitate emigration to the region and selecting
Lawrence as the site for the first colony with twenty-nine men remarking on the
beauty of the spot and the magnificence of the view. The main street was named Massachusetts to commemorate the origins
of the pioneer party. Pro and Anti-slavery
groups co-existed for a few short months when pro-slavery settler Franklin
Coleman killed a Free Stater at Hickory Point; violent political divisions
characterized public life in Kansas for the next 10 years. During the Civil
War, pro Confederacy forces rode into the city; houses and businesses in Lawrence
were burned and between nearly 200 men and boys were murdered.
Quantrill's Raid was one of the most destructive in the history of
Kansas
Energy facing an energy crisis in the early 1870s, Lawrence constructed a
dam across the Kansas River to help provide the city with power; the Lawrence
Land & Water Company completed the dam in 1873. The dam helped win business
against Kansas City and Leavenworth.
Water Lawrence is located between the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers and several
major creeks: Burroughs Creek, Baldwin Creek, Yankee Tank Creek in southwest
Lawrence flows through central Lawrence and converges with the Wakarusa River which
was dammed to form Clinton Lake. Potter Lake is on the University of Kansas
Campus and Mary’s Lake is located within Prairie Park. The Haskell-Baker
Wetlands, maintained by Haskell University is an extensive open space located
in the southern part of the city featuring wetlands, native plants, hiking and
biking trails, and interpretative signage about the prairie and wetland
ecosystems.
Travel
destinations and itineraries based on client interests by
leveraging an in-depth knowledge of your destination, superior client
service in the planning stages and throughout the trip or event and logistics
expertise to reduce accommodations and transport costs as well as transfer
times.
Education Lawrence is home to University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations
University. The United States Indian Industrial Training School opened in 1884.
Boys learned tailor making, blacksmithing and farming while girls were taught
cooking and homemaking. In 1993 the name was changed to the Haskell Indian
Nations University.
The
Elizabeth M. Watkins Community Museum is on the
premises of the Watkins National Bank which opened in 1888 at 11th and
Massachusetts. Founded by Jabez B. Watkins, the bank would last until 1929.
Watkin’s wife Elizabeth donated the bank building to the city.
The Free State Brewing Company opened
in 1989, becoming the first legal brewery in Kansas in more than 100 years. The
restaurant is in a renovated inter-urban trolley station in downtown Lawrence.
Parks Lawrence has 54 parks which include community and neighborhood parks,
trails, cemeteries and nature preserves. A new, multi-use trail system called
the Lawrence Loop encircles the city and will create a 22-mile paved
recreational trail, a green transportation network, and opportunities for
environmental restoration.
Neighborhood Architecture The architecture of Lawrence is greatly
varied. Most buildings built before 1860 were destroyed in the Lawrence
Massacre. Architectural styles represented in Old West Lawrence include
Italianate, Victorian, Gothic Revival and Tudor.The National Register of
Historic Places includes: Old West Lawrence, Oread, Hancock, Breezedale, and
most of Rhode Island Street in East Lawrence.
Local Transit in 1871, the Lawrence Street Railway Company opened and offered
citizens easy access to hotels and businesses along Massachusetts Street. The
first streetcar was pulled by horses and mules.
Today, two bus systems operate in the city:
Lawrence Transit, known as the T, is
a public bus system operated by the city, and KU on Wheels, operated by the
University of Kansas. Intercity bus service is provided by Greyhound. Amtrak
provides passenger service with a stop at the downtown Lawrence Station on the
Southwest Chief line connecting Chicago and Los Angeles.
