1880 census of Nicodemus Township, Graham County, Kansas
Creator: United States. Census Office. 10th census, 1880
Date: June 8, 1880 through June 23, 1880
This census schedule provides details--including the name, age, race, and occupation--of both white and black settlers in Nicodemus Township in Graham County, Kansas. This township had been settled by Exodusters in 1877 along the south fork of the Solomon River. Today, the town of Nicodemus is the only surviving Exoduster settlement west of the Mississippi River.

200 Block of East Fourth Street, Topeka, Kansas
Date: May 02, 1962
This black and white photograph shows a view of a two-story house and dilapidated shed between Quincy and Monroe Streets in the 200 block of East 4th Street in Topeka, Kansas. This area of the town was part of the Urban Renewal program in the 1960s to rehabilitate aging and decaying inner cities by massive demolition, slum clearance or development.

200 Block of East Fourth Street, Topeka, Kansas
Date: May 02, 1962
These two images show a two-story house between Quincy and Monroe Streets, in the 200 block of East 4th Street, in Topeka, Kansas. This area of Topeka was part of the Urban Renewal program in the 1960s to rehabilitate aging and decaying inner cities either by massive demolition, slum clearance or development.

200 and 300 blocks of Quincy Street Topeka, Kansas
Date: Between 1960 and 1969
This black and white photograph shows a view of an alley that has overgrown brush and dilapidated buildings in the 200 and 300 block of Quincy Street Topeka, Kansas. This area of Topeka was apart of the Urban Renewal program in the 1960s to rehabilitate aging and decaying inner cities either by massive demolition, slum clearance or development.

300 block of Madison Street, Topeka, Kansas
Creator: King, Orin C.
Date: November 09, 1961
This black and white photograph shows a view of a two-story house and dilapidated shed in the 300 block of Madison Street, Topeka, Kansas. This area of Topeka was part of the Urban Renewal program in the 1960s to rehabilitate aging and decaying inner cities either by massive demolition, slum clearance or development.

4th of July parade in Alma, Kansas
Date: 1893 and 1894
Three photographs of 4th of July celebrations in Alma, Kansas. In the first photograph, six girls in patriotic dress pose during Alma's 1893 4th of July festivities. The second photograph captures the 1893 4th of July parade from the balcony of the Alma Hotel as it proceeds north on Missouri Street. In the third photograph, children dressed in patriotic clothes pose on a float constructed in a wagon in this view from the 1894 Alma 4th of July parade.

4th of July parade in Eskridge, Kansas
Date: Between 1881 and 1889
Two photographs showing the 4th of July parade on Main Street in Eskridge, Kansas. The first photograph is a view of the east side of Main Street looking toward the intersection of 1st and Main. The town of Eskridge had moved to this location only six years before this photo was taken. The second photograph, looking south on Main Street from 1st Avenue, is a rare view of the west side of Main Street prior to the 1890 fire which destroyed all of the block down to the Trusler Building. In 1913, fire destroyed the exact same portion of that block. In this view, a re-enactment of Bill Cole's Last Ride, a story of Indians attacking Cole and the Smith boys, who were overland mail carriers.

A. Finch to Thaddeus Hyatt
Creator: Finch, H.
Date: December 22, 1856
This letter, written from Osawatomie by A. Finch to Thaddeus Hyatt, chairman of the National Kansas Committee, provided general information about the inhabitants of Osawatomie and neighboring areas. It included a list of about half of the settlers residing in Osawatomie at this time, including the four pro-slavery voters. Mr. Finch went into detail about the most fertile areas that would be excellent sites for free state settlements, and about the economic conditions and financial needs of the settlers.

A. H. Reeder to Franklin Crane
Creator: Reeder, Andrew H. (Andrew Horatio), 1807-1864
Date: September 1, 1858
Andrew Reeder, former governor of Kansas Territory, wrote from Easton, Pennsylvania, to inform Franklin Crane of the eastern response to elections in Kansas, and the prospects for the Leavenworth Constitution. Reeder also discussed the value of Topeka lots and a request to donate one lot for a church.

A. Oestreicher to Eli Thayer
Creator: Oestreicher, A.
Date: September 23, 1854
Oestreicher, writing from Cincinnati, Ohio, informed Thayer of the establishment of a Kansas Actual Settler's Association in that city. He indicated that the association, which was comprised primarily of German-Americans, planned to create a settlement in Kansas in the spring of 1855.

A.S. Harris to Thaddeus Hyatt
Creator: Harris, A S.
Date: September 22, 1856
A.S. Harris wrote from New York to Thaddeus Hyatt regarding an article in the Journal of Commerce that dealt with the upcoming Presidential election and the strife in Kansas. The clipping was attached to the letter, and it included a rather lengthy attack on emigrant aid societies.

A. T. Hall, Jr. and E. P. McCabe to Governor John P. St. John
Creator: Hall, A. T.
Date: April 11, 1879
A.T. Hall, Jr., Deputy District Clerk of Nicodemus, Kansas, and E.P. McCabe the Notary Public of Nicodemus in Graham County are requesting that Governor St. John honor a promise he made earlier in January of 1879 to recognize Nicodemus as the temporary county seat of Graham County.

A. Tuttle to Abelard Guthrie
Date: July 1, 1857
This letter related to an earlier one Tuttle wrote to Alfred Gray. He had made arrangements to purchase land from Guthrie and suggested he get the money from Gray or write to Tuttle directly. Mr. Tuttle expressed his hopes for the development of Quindaro but also his fears if the land falls into the hands of non-resident speculators. He also stated that any association of Mr. S. N. Simpson with the town would injure its prospects.

Abelard Guthrie
Abelard Guthrie was a member of the Wyandot tribe through his marriage to his wife Quindaro Nancy. He was elected as the Wyandot delegate to Congress in 1852. He was involved in the development of the town of Quindaro and had business dealing with numerous early territorial settlers.

Abelard Guthrie to Hiram Hill
Creator: Guthrie, Abelard
Date: November 11, 1858
Abelard Guthrie, a member of the Quindaro Town Company, wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts, rebutting Hill's accusations that he had acted in bad faith regarding certain enterprises of the Town Company. Guthrie stated that he had intended to begin the grading work on Kansas Avenue and other roads, but had found that the Company's funds were depleted; he suspected a swindling. He defended himself in light of other land purchases and business transactions and expressed extreme frustration at his bleak financial situation.

Abelard Guthrie to Hiram Hill
Creator: Guthrie, Abelard
Date: January 18, 1859
Abelard Guthrie wrote from Quindaro, Kansas Territory, to Hiram Hill in Massachusetts. Guthrie reported that there had been "considerable progress" in Quindaro lately: a railroad was being constructed, telegraph wires were hung, and a factory and foundry had been established. Guthrie told Hill that if Hill would forget the Kansas Avenue grading disagreement and repay him his debt, Guthrie would travel to Washington to obtain a railroad grant.

Abilene, Kansas
Creator: Baker-Co
Date: 1874
An illustration, titled "Abilene in its Glory," of crowds of people at the railroad depot in Abilene, Kansas. Also visible are a train drawn by a steam locomotive, people on foot and on horseback, a telegraph wire, a horse-drawn carriage, and buildings. The illustration was copied from Joseph G. McCoy's Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest, 1874. The illustrator is Henry Worrall.

Abilene, Kansas, looking northwest from the Courthouse
Date: 1886
Photograph of Abilene, Kansas, in Dickinson County, looking northwest from the Courthouse, 1886.

Abilene in its glory
Creator: Baker-Co
Date: 1874
An illustration of a train of cattle leaving Abilene, Kansas. The illustration was copied from Joseph G. McCoy's Historic Sketches of the Cattle Trade of the West and Southwest, 1874. The illustrator is Henry Worrall

About Nicodemus, The Daily Journal
Creator: Lawrence Daily Journal
Date: April 30, 1879
This article from the Lawrence Daily Journal discusses a newspaper article from the Chicago Tribune written during the Exoduster Movement in 1879 providing a brief history of the black community of freed people at Nicodemus, Kansas settled in 1877. Nicodemus is now a historic site administered by the National Parks Service.

Abstract of title report
Creator: The Hall Abstract and Title Co.
Date: 1879-1967
This is the complete abstract of title for lots 1 and 2, Block 10, in the Crescent Park 3rd Addition to Hutchinson, Kansas. The abstract contains a condensed history of the ownership for the property, beginning with the first transfer of the parcel to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad Co. in 1873, then listing each subsequent owner of the land up to 1967, when the abstract was compiled. It includes copies of the records from each time the property went through probate court proceedings. The plat map on page 2 includes Robinson's First Addition and part of the Central Land & Town Company's Second Addition. The legal description for that area is the southeast quarter and part of the southwest quarter of section 1, township 23 south, range 6 west. The map shows the route of the railroad spur that originally carried people to the Kansas State Fairgrounds. Since 1913, the fairgrounds has been located north of Crescent Boulevard. The record of the Crescent Park 3rd Addition begins on page 13, with a plat map of the addition on page 28. The neighborhood restrictions, which applied for 25 years from November 2, 1915, include the statement that "none of said lots shall be conveyed to owned or occupied by other than persons of the white race as owners or tenants." This was one method that was used in Kansas to create segregated neighborhoods.

Act of Incorporation, Wyandotte City
Creator: Fields, Henry C.
Date: June 8, 1858
This act of incorporation for Wyandotte City declared that the town would be incorporated into Leavenworth County, Kansas Territory. Incorporation was decided in court after several taxpayers presented a petition for Wyandotte City's incorporation into the territory and for permission to establish a local government. The document was recorded by Henry C. Fields, clerk of the court at Leavenworth.

Address before the Old Settler's Reunion, Lincoln, Kansas
Creator: Stanley, Arthur Jehu, 1874-1967
Date: September 17, 1915
An address given by Arthur Stanley before the Old Settler's Reunion in Lincoln, Kansas. Stanley recounts life in Lincoln, of living in a dugout, the fear of prairie fires, prairie schooners passing through, the naming and meaning of places in Lincoln, and many other stories of the county and prairie life in general.

Adolph Roenigk
Date: Between 1932 and 1938
Photograph of Adolph Roenigk (1847-1938) of Lincoln County, Kansas. He wrote the book, Pioneer History of Kansas, in 1933.

Advertisement for Nicodemus, Kansas
Creator: Hill, W. R.
Date: April 16, 1877
This advertisement for Nicodemus, Graham County, Kansas, describes the location of the colony near the Solomon River and the town company's plans to build more houses, businesses, and other public buildings. The trustees were quick to note that they will not build any saloon or "houses of ill fame" during the first five years of settlement. Nicodemus was settled in 1878 and is the oldest surviving all-black settlement west of the Mississippi River founded by former slaves. Today the town is a National Parks Service site and is open to visitors.