KANSAS CITY, KANSAS
IN JUNE, 1804, LEWIS AND CLARK, EXPLORING THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE, CAMPED WHERE THE KANSAS RIVER EMPTIES INTO THE MISSOURI. FORTY YEARS LATER THE WYANDOT INDIANS WERE MOVED HERE FROM OHIO. THEIR TRIBAL BURIAL GROUND, HURON CEMETERY, MAY STILL BE SEEN IN THE HEART OF THE CITY. THE TOWN OF WYANDOTTE WAS LAID OUT ON THE INDIAN VILLAGE SITE IN 1857. HERE THE CONSTITUTION UNDER WHICH KANSAS ENTERED THE UNION WAS FRAMED IN 1859. THRIVING RIVER TRAFFIC SOON MADE WYANDOTTE AN IMPORTANT GATEWAY TO KANSAS. FROM HERE THE UNION PACIFIC IN 1863 STARTED BUILDING WEST ACROSS KANSAS.
ALSO WITHIN PRESENT KANSAS CITY WAS QUINDARO, A RIVAL OF WYANDOTTE, FOUNDED IN 1856 BY FREE-STATE MEN. IN THE SOUTH PART OF TOWN IS THE SITE OF THE VILLAGE OF "THE PROPHET," A SHAWNEE WHO LED THE INDIAN FORCES AT THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE. WYANDOTTE AND OTHER TOWNS WERE MERGED INTO KANSAS CITY, KANSAS, IN 1886.
Verbatim 1941 text, presented as a historical record, not current interpretation. Kansas rewrote many of these signs in 2011-2012 and retired others, and the current texts use different language about Native people.
The Kansas Historical Society maintains the marker program and its current texts. Current marker program ↗
Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesBarry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford LibrariesDavid Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries
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