1856-1862 and 1881-1948
Vicinity of 27th Street and Sewell Avenue
K.C.K. Historic District: March 1, 1984
HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
The area in question was originally part of the
Wyandott Purchase, the land that the Wyandot Indians
bought from the Delaware in 1843. Following passage of
the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, on January 31, 1855, the
Wyandots signed a treaty dividing the Wyandott Purchase among the individual
members of the tribe, thus opening the area to white
settlement. Ownership of the area in question under the
subsequent Wyandot allotments was divided among 13 indi-
viduals, including Esquire Greyeyes, Ebenezer O. Zane,
Mathew Brown, and Abelard and Nancy Brown Guthrie.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act had repealed the Missouri
Compromise which had limited the spread of slavery,
instead allowing the question of slavery in the new
territories to be settled by "popular sovereignty." This
immediately made control of Kansas Territory the goal of
competing pro- and anti-slavery forces. In the fall of
1856, the Quindaro Town Company was formed by an alliance
of abolitionist Wyandots and several former
representatives of the New England Emigrant Aid Company.
The intent was to develop a profitable and safe port of
entry into Kansas for free-state settlers, as the
established river ports such as Atchison and Leavenworth
were largely in pro-slavery hands.
The new town was named in honor of Nancy Brown
Guthrie, whose Wyandot name was Seh Quindaro. Her name,
which the Quindaro Chindowan stated was popular and
common among Wyandot women, actually meant "Bundle of
Sticks," but the town's backers interpreted it to mean
"Strength through Union" - not really a great leap, as
most Wyandot names were referential rather than literal.
Nancy Brown Guthrie's husband, Abelard Guthrie, was
a white man who had been appointed registrar of the U.S.
Land Office in Upper Sandusky, Ohio, at the time of the
Wyandots' removal to Kansas. He had followed Nancy to
Kansas, married her over her father's objections, and
been adopted into the Wyandot tribe. He was
vice-president of the new town company and its principal
promoter. The men who had first come to Kansas in 1854
as representatives of the New England Emigrant Aid
Company included Dr. Charles Robinson, the founder of
Lawrence, who was treasurer of the town company (and
later became the first governor of the State of Kansas),
and S. N. Simpson, also of Lawrence, who was company
secretary. Robinson's connections in the East provided
the initial financial backing for the Quindaro venture.
The president of the town company was a Wyandot,
Joel Walker. Like other members of his prominent family,
he was pro-slavery in his sympathies (and may in fact
have been a slave owner), but Wyandot unity was
considered to be an important factor in the town's
hoped-for success. Apparently such business alliances
between the two otherwise bitterly opposed factions were
not uncommon in territorial Kansas. This was
particularly the case once the free-state forces began to
gain the upper hand in 1857 and '58, but the Quindaro
partnership may be one of the earliest examples. Walker
was also one of seven partners in the Wyandott City
Company, formed in December, 1856 to plat and develop the
neighboring town of Wyandott. He was thus intimately
involved in the efforts of two rival enterprises. The plat of the proposed townsite was surveyed in
December, 1856, by Owen A. Bassett, and covered the area
from the present 17th Street west to 42nd Street and from
Parkview Avenue north to the Missouri River. The plat
included Quindaro Park, making it the first park in what
is now Wyandotte County and one of the oldest in the
state. The Missouri River was then somewhat to the west
of its present position, exposing a long rock ledge which
formed a natural levee for steamboat landings (where the
Missouri Pacific right-of-way is today), and this was
apparently a major factor in choosing the town's
location. It may in fact have been the only advantage of
the location, as the remainder of the original
townsite was quite steep and rough.
Despite the roughness of the terrain, the town was
laid out on a grid, with the longer dimension of the
blocks running north and south. The principal
north-south street in the town was Kanzas Avenue (the
present 27th Street), while the other north-south streets
were lettered from west to east, A through Y, with Kanzas
taking the place of the letter Q. Beginning at the
river, the east-west streets were numbered, with 8th
Street being the present Sewell Avenue and with 10th
Street, the present Parkview Avenue, marking the southern
edge of the original plat. Two additional streets, Levee
and Main, ran diagonally across the top of the plat from
the northwest to the southeast, adjacent to and
paralleling the river.
The plat of Quindaro was filed with the Leavenworth
County Register of Deeds in Delaware City on February 15,
1857, but by then the sale of lots and the construction
of buildings was already well under way. The business
center of the new town was at the intersection of Kanzas
and Main, and stretched both east and west along Main and
Levee as well as south on Kanzas nearly to 6th Street.
Attempts to cut Kanzas through the bluff to the top of
the hill were never finished, and the end of the cut may
still be seen just north of the present north end of
27th. The flanking north-south streets, P and R, both
apparently continued through but were primarily
residential in nature. R Street (the present 26th) still
provided access from the hill top to the river as
recently as the 1930s. Other development occurred in the
valley of Quindaro Creek that led back from the
riverfront, along stretches of M, N, and O Streets.
There was some development further east as well, but most
of the platted area of the town was never developed for
anything but farmland.
One of the first buildings to be completed was
Colby and Parker's four story Quindaro House hotel at 1-5
Kanzas Avenue (Feature No. 1). Later accounts state
that it was of stone, but some early records and the
archaeological evidence suggest that it was wood frame.
As with most hotels of the period, the first floor was
occupied by commercial enterprises such as Johnson and
Veale, Merchants. Behind the Quindaro House to the west
was a small brick structure that may have housed the
office of the town company (Feature No. 76). Across the
street to the east at 2 Kanzas Avenue was the more modest
Wyandott House hotel, originally owned and operated by
Ebenezer O. Zane (Feature No. 6). The 32-year-old Zane
was a member of a large and well-known Wyandot Indian
family, and was one of the original property owners in
the Quindaro area. Abutting the Wyandott House on the south, at 4
Kanzas Avenue, was one of the largest commercial
buildings in town, erected by Jacob Henry (Feature No.
3N). The structure was three stories in height, with
stone side walls, a brick and cast iron front, and a
metal roof. The footings indicate that there was a row
of interior columns as well, which may also have been of
iron. The first floor was a mercantile store, and
offices occupied the second, while a public meeting hall
was on the third. A smaller, adjoining store building at
6 Kanzas Avenue was built by Otis Webb, proprietor of the
steam ferry that ran between Parkville and Quindaro
(Feature No. 3S). It may have housed a grocery.
South of the Quindaro House, across Fifth Street at
7 Kanzas Avenue, was the J. B. Upson Building (Feature
No. 62). This housed the office of the Chindowan,
Quindaro's weekly newspaper edited by J. M. Walden. The
first issue was published on May 13, 1857. For the first
three months of the paper's existence a woman,
Mrs. Clarinda I. H. Nichols, served as associate editor
and reporter before resigning over editorial
differences. An abolitionist and pioneering feminist,
Mrs. Nichols gained fame for her role in the drafting of
the Kansas state constitution in 1859, and in later years
left a written account of her days in Quindaro. The
Ranzchoff Building, perhaps the largest mercantile store
in the town, adjoined the Chindowan office on the south,
at 9-11 Kanzas (Feature No. 7).
Additional development lay further south on Kanzas
Avenue, halfway up the hill. On the west side of the
street, at 21 Kanzas, was a frame building erected by
Hiram Hill which apparently contained a boarding house
(Feature No. 11). Another large residential structure
(which may also have housed a business) stood at 39
Kanzas (Feature No. 9). Across the street was a
substantial row of commercial buildings at 34, 36, 38 and
40 Kanzas Avenue (Feature Nos. 8, 53, 54, 63). A
drugstore operated by H. P. Downs occupied 34, while 38
housed a variety store and the office of Dr. J. B.
Welborn, another prominent figure in the early history of
Wyandotte County.
At 17 R Street, on the crest of the hill to the
east of the row of commercial buildings on Kanzas, there
was a sizeable residence (Feature No. 5). The house was
subsequently rebuilt and expanded in the late 1870s or
early 1880s, and was photographed at about that time,
perched above a cultivated hillside. It remained
standing and occupied as recently as 40 years ago.
Given its somewhat isolated location, construction
of roads out of Quindaro began almost immediately.
Beginning at the south end of Kanzas Avenue, one led
southeast to Wyandott and eventually became the present
Quindaro Boulevard. A second led, naturally enough, to
Lawrence, and was completed by mid-May, 1857. "Robinson,
Walker and Co.'s Daily Passenger and Express Line"
charged $3.00 for the dusty, six hour trip between the
two towns. (In this instance, the Robinson in question
was Alfred Robinson, a long-time resident of the Quindaro
area.)
A third road led south from Quindaro to cross the
Kansas River near the present 38th Street and Kaw Drive,
and served to link the town to the roads and trails
crossing the Shawnee Reserve. Initially, Quindaro
entered into negotiations with the Wyandott City Company
for the establishment of a joint ferry across the river.
After the negotiations failed, Quindaro established its
own ferry on March 30, 1857. The Wyandott City Company
then graded the Southern Road to link Wyandott to
Shawneetown, and established its own free ferry a mile
and 1/2 downstream from Quindaro's. Wyandott's ferry was
replaced by the Southern Bridge in 1858 (the first bridge
across the Kaw), and within six months of the bridge's
completion, Quindaro's competing ferry was out of
business.
Quindaro initially had two church buildings, the
Rev. Sylvester Dana Storrs' stone Congregational Church
on the southwest corner of Kanzas and 8th (27th and
Sewell), dedicated on January 27, 1858, and a brick
Methodist Episcopal Church on the east side of O Street
between 8th and 9th, dedicated on April 25, 1858, with
the Rev. Ephraim Nute of Lawrence as pastor. The
congregation of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church was
organized by the Rev. Octavius Perinchief in 1857, but
apparently never had a building of its own. The town's
better-known Presbyterian minister, the Rev. Eben
Blachly, was actually the founder and pastor of what
became the First Presbyterian Church in the neighboring
town of Wyandott, some four or four and one-half miles
away.
Quindaro also had two saloons, but they were closed
by a Vigilance Committee on June 17th, 1857. Abolition,
women's rights, and temperance were all "progressive"
issues in the mid-Nineteenth Century, so it is not
surprising to find them joined in Quindaro. Initially
the temperance movement prohibited only hard liquor,
however, not beer, and consequently Quindaro boasted a
small brewery. Built and operated by Henry Steiner and
Jacob Zehntner, the Quindaro Brewery was located at 45
N Street in the valley near the west side of Quindaro
Creek (Feature No. 34). The brewery operation was
apparently in several out- buildings, while the stone and
brick main building had living quarters on the second
floor and a tap room below, with a vaulted beer cellar
dug back into the hillside behind. The tap room may have
been the site of one of the Vigilance Committee's raids,
where the whiskey bottles were duly smashed but the beer
barrels left unharmed.
Other Quindaro enterprises included a post office,
which opened June 12, 1857, with Charles S. Parker as
postmaster; a large capacity, steam powered saw and grist
mill, initially owned by the town company and located
near where the present 18th Street ends at the Missouri
River, which began operation in October, 1857; and Otis
Webb's steam ferry that connected Quindaro to Parkville,
Missouri. The OTIS WEBB, a 100' sidewheeler of 100 tons
burden and 26" draft, had been built in Wellsville, Ohio
for Webb, Dr. Charles Robinson, Fielding Johnson and
George W. Veale in the summer of 1857. It went into
service in February, 1858, supplementing its ferry runs
with occasional trips to Wyandott and Leavenworth.
An even better known steamboat which ran out of
Quindaro was The LIGHTFOOT of Quindaro. Built in Kansas
by Thaddeus Hyatt of New York, the LIGHTFOOT was a 100'
sternwheeler of 75 tons burden and only 18" draft, and
was intended to run up the Kansas River. It made its
first (and most sources say only) trip up the Kaw from
Wyandott to Lawrence on April 14, 1857, before being put
into less difficult service on the Missouri.
The most common building material in Quindaro was
native limestone, quarried from several different
locations on the bluffs above the business district. One
such quarry was operated by Frederick Klaus, who
maintained a stoneyard at his residence at 13 O Street.
A brick kiln was established by Jacob Henry on three
acres of land on the riverfront east of Y (17th) Street
in November of 1857, lessening the need for shipping
brick in. (The first brick house had been built by Henry
Steiner & Co. on P Street in August.) Several carpenters
also advertised their services in the Chindowan,
including John S. McCorkle, S. H. Marchant, and C. H. Carpenter. The latter was
later listed with a partner, S. F. Otis, as "Architects
and Builders."
There were schools in Quindaro for both white and
black children, initially organized at a public meeting
in April, 1857, and supported by public subscription,
although their pre-Civil War locations have not been
determined. When it came to self government, however,
Quindaro was a bit shaky. An initial attempt to organize
a town government was rejected at a town meeting held on
July 7, 1857, on the grounds that it was premature, and
in any case the Vigilance Committee was deemed sufficient
for the time being. On February 9, 1858, the Kansas
Territorial Legislature approved Quindaro's
incorporation, but the legal description was faulty and
the charter was rejected by the voters. An
unincorporated town government was subsequently
organized, and Alfred Gray elected mayor.
As the town rapidly grew, town lots were selling
for $150 to $1500. The population soon passed 600, and
some estimates have placed it as high as 1200 before
decline set in. One of the new settlers was reportedly
William Tecumseh Sherman, who may have briefly practiced
law in Quindaro. There is absolutely no evidence,
however, that Abraham Lincoln visited Quindaro on his
1859 trip to Kansas. It has also generally been held
that John Brown was never in the town, but Mary Killiam,
who with her husband George acquired the Quindaro House
in March, 1859, later claimed that he had been among
their guests prior to his final return to the East and
martyrdom.
Through 1857 and into 1858, growth in Quindaro
continued. On September 8, 1857, Joel Walker suddenly
died at the age of 44, leaving his estate in the hands of
his wife Mary Ann and his nephew Isaiah Walker. Abelard
Guthrie subsequently replaced Walker as president of the
Quindaro Town Company, and would continue in that
position until the company's demise. On June 1, 1858,
Guthrie, Robinson, Otis Webb, and Joseph Lyman
optimistically filed the plat of the First Addition to
Quindaro with the Leavenworth County Register of Deeds.
This added two rows of twenty blocks each to the original
plat south of 10th Street (Parkview Avenue), extending
the platted area down to 12th Street (Brown Avenue),
which also corresponded to the location of the road which
ran west to Leavenworth. This extension of the town
southward to the Leavenworth Road unknowingly presaged an
eventual shift in the center of the community.
For almost two years the town boomed, attracting
national attention. As the only free-state river port,
it was also rumored to be involved in Underground
Railroad operations in Kansas. Slaves escaping from
Missouri were reportedly brought across the river in
small boats and by secret runs of the Parkville-Quindaro
ferry. Such activities were of course denied by the
editor of the Chindowan - aiding an escaped slave
violated the federal Fugitive Slave Law, and under the
pro-slavery Kansas Territorial Statutes was a hanging
offense - but Mrs. Nichols and Benjamin Mudge later
recounted three such instances. (Angry Missourians must
have believed the stories, because after the start of the
Civil War they sank the steam ferry in September of
1861.) The escapees reportedly hid during the day
outside the developed portion of the town, in shallow
caves in the wooded bluffs or in farmers' barns, and were
then conducted by night on a route leading to Nebraska by
way of Lawrence, Oskaloosa, and Holton.
On January 29, 1859, Wyandott County was formed out
of portions of Leavenworth and Johnson Counties, and the
towns of Wyandott and Quindaro were both incorporated by
the Territorial Legislature as cities of the third
class. In the elections subsequently held on February
22, Alfred Gray was again elected mayor (and was to be
the only mayor Quindaro ever had). The incorporated area
of Quindaro included not only the area of the town's two
original plats, but was extended as far south as the
present Parallel Parkway, taking in the two acres of the
Wyandot Indians' Methodist Episcopal Church ground at the
northeast corner of 38th and Parallel that had become
Quindaro's municipal cemetery. (Alfred Gray and Abelard
Guthrie both had homes in this unplatted portion of
Quindaro.)
Despite incorporation, Quindaro was beginning a
decline almost as rapid as its growth. The rough
topography was proving to be a major barrier to continued
development, a nation-wide business depression dried up
investment capital, and the triumph of free-state forces
in Kansas ended much of Quindaro's basic reason for
existence. As if to confirm Quindaro's decline, on
November 1, 1859, Wyandott County voters chose Wyandott
over Quindaro as the new county seat.
Compounding the town's difficulties, Guthrie and
Robinson had quarreled, each accusing the other of shoddy
business practices. In 1859, Guthrie filed suit against
his various partners in the Quindaro venture, claiming
that the town company's funds had been mishandled. The
situation grew even worse when S. N. Simpson was horse-
whipped by Guthrie for reportedly "seducing and ruining"
Guthrie's "deaf, dumb and feeble-minded" sister-in-law,
Margaret Brown. Yet another blow came on December 3,
1860, when the Quindaro sawmill burned. Several thousand
board feet of lumber were destroyed, along with all the
tools and machinery, and the loss to the owners was
uninsured.
Guthrie's suit against Robinson was finally
resolved in Robinson's favor on January 1, 1861, the
judge protesting Guthrie's uncooperative attitude.
Having invested everything in the Quindaro venture,
Abelard Guthrie reportedly went bankrupt. He and his
family continued to live in Quindaro, however, in their
house near the present 30th and Kimball surrounded by a
sizeable farm. He began pursuing his wife's claim to his
mother-in-law's 200 acre Shawnee Allotment in the hope of
recouping his fortunes, often to the point of obsession,
and reportedly even attempted to switch his tribal
membership from Wyandot to Shawnee. This and other
dealings led to his estrangement from many in the tribe,
particularly those Wyandots who had elected to become
citizens under the Treaty of 1855, and Guthrie was
dismissed from his position as attorney for the tribe.
By the time the Civil War broke out in April, 1861,
Quindaro's population had shrunk to less than 700.
Before the month was out, Quindaro businessman George W.
Veale had received a colonel's commission in the Kansas
Militia from Governor Robinson and raised a company of
volunteers. Eventually, much of the town's male
population enlisted in the Union army, and moved their
families to the greater safety of Wyandott or else
returned them to the East. The Kansas Tribune, successor
to the Chindowan, ceased publication in June of 1861 and
was moved by its owners to Olathe, Kansas, where it was
renamed the Olathe Mirror. Even the town's pride and
joy, an eight pounder cannon nicknamed "Lazarus," was
given up to the war effort when it was donated to Col.
William Weer of the U.S. Army on July 20.
With the main part of the town largely deserted, on
January 20, 1862, the Ninth Kansas Volunteer Infantry
under Col. A. C. Davis was stationed in Quindaro to
supposedly protect the town from bushwhackers and border
raiders. Instead, the troops reportedly quartered their
horses in vacant buildings, pulled down houses for
firewood, and generally devastated the community. This
brought expressions of outrage from the people of
Wyandott and those like Benjamin F. Mudge who still lived
in the Quindaro area. (Mudge suspected Col. Davis of
being pro-slavery in his sympathies; the good colonel
eventually fled Kansas for Missouri with a "Committee of
Safety" from Wyandott hot on his heels.) The troops were
finally removed from the town on March 12, but only after
the state legislature had repealed Quindaro's
incorporation on March 6, 1862.
Even with the outbreak of the war, the Wyandot
Indians' involve-ment with the Quindaro area had not yet
ended. Among the Wyandots, the Treaty of 1855 had led to
a split between the heavily assimilated majority who
became U.S. citizens and a sizeable minority who wished
to adhere to traditional tribal ways. In the latter
1850s, many of the traditionalists had moved to Indian
Territory, settling on the Seneca Reserve there. Most of
these "Indian Party" Wyandots were nevertheless pro-Union
in their sympathies, and were forced by Confederate
threats to return to Wyandott County following the
outbreak of the war.
On December 22, 1862, a group of the traditionalist
refugees met at Abelard Guthrie's house in Quindaro and
organized their own Wyandot tribal council, with the
highly respected Tauromee as Head Chief. Guthrie was
voted power-of-attorney, and for the next eight years the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs was bombarded with a
constant stream of letters from Quindaro, some on behalf
of the Indian Party council, some pursuing Guthrie's own
political and financial interests, but most mixing the
two together.
Throughout the war years, and immediately following
the war, the Quindaro area's black population grew as
escaped slaves and freedmen, many from Platte County,
Missouri, settled the partially abandoned townsite,
particularly in the valley of Quindaro Creek. These
families farmed their own land, or else worked for the
white farmers still in the Quindaro area. Among the
original settlers who remained behind in Quindaro was the
Rev. Eben Blachly. As early as 1862, he and his wife
Jane began offering schooling to the children of escaped
slaves. On February 23, 1865, Rev. Blachly's school was
formally organized as Freedman's University, papers of
incorporation filed, and a board of trustees subsequently
named. The school was placed under the governance of
the Kansas Synod of the Presbyterian Church in January,
1867. The following month, the state legislature
relinquished to Freedman's University all the state's
interest in taxes on the lots of the Quindaro townsite.
According to oral tradition, the school may have
originally been located in Steiner and Zehntner's
Quindaro Brewery building, although by 1870 it apparently
occupied at least part of the former commercial property
at 34-40 Kanzas Avenue. In addition to the state's
support, Rev. Blachly and other property owners in the
area donated a substantial amount of land to the school
and purchased additional tracts at tax sales beginning in
the late 1860s, until the property encompassed much of
the heart of the original town.
Contrary to some reports, the transition from the
white frontier town to the black refugee settlement was
gradual rather than discon-tinuous or abrupt, and was
never total. While the former business section of
Quindaro near the riverfront was largely abandoned, many
individuals and institutions associated with Quindaro
remained, as the center of activity in the diminished
town shifted south to the area of Kanzas Avenue's
intersection with the Leavenworth Road.
In addition to Rev. Blachly and his wife, those who
remained in the area included the Guthries, Alfred Gray
and his brother, R. M. Gray, Alfred Robinson, Judge
Sortor, Dr. J. B. Welborn, and Charles Morasch. Benjamin
F. Mudge - attorney, scientist and educator - came to
Quindaro in the summer of 1861 (after the town's presumed
desertion) to teach school, and resided there throughout
the war, only to move to Manhattan in December, 1865,
where he became a professor of natural history at the new
Kansas State Agricultural College as well as state
geologist. Even during the war years, the population of
the area remained high enough that a Fourth of July
celebration held in Quindaro Park in 1863 was duly
reported in a Wyandott newspaper.
In 1866, Alfred Gray, Alfred Robinson, David
Pearson, Francis A. Kessler Sr., and Francis A. Kessler
Jr. re-established the Parkville-Quindaro ferry, although
it is not known how long it remained in operation. The
Quindaro Post Office never closed but was moved to the
corner of Kanzas and 12th (27th and Brown), where it
continued to serve the area for many years. Following
the establishment of a state-wide system of public
schools in 1867, both of the Quindaro schools received
new buildings in 1868. The school for white children,
District 4, was erected at the northeast corner of P and
11th (28th and Farrow) on six lots purchased the previous
October from Alfred and Julia Robinson. The site still
serves as part of the property of the present Quindaro
Elementary School. The school for black children,
District 17, was built next to the Quindaro
Congregational Church at Kanzas and 8th. The church
itself finally moved to a new location on Leavenworth
Road in 1869, and the old building was eventually
acquired by Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church. The Quindaro
Methodist Episcopal Church also remained in the area, by
1900 being located at 27th and Russell, less than four
blocks south of its first location.
It should be noted that Heisler and McGee's 1870
map of Wyandotte County included a Quindaro business
directory along with those of White Church, Pomeroy, and
other small towns. Several of the businesses listed,
including that of Alfred Gray, were agricultural in
nature, but others were more substantial. W. J.
Heaffaker had a dry goods and variety store, Cyrus Taylor
was a wagon maker, and D. R. Emmons & Co. operated a dry
goods and grocery store. (Dallas Emmons was an in-law of
the Zane family and an adopted Wyandot.) The map also
indicated a chair factory near the northwest corner of M
and 8th Streets, together with the District 4
schoolhouse, the Methodist and Congregational churches,
and Freedman's University.
Abelard Guthrie's long involvement with Quindaro
finally came to an end in the early 1870s. In 1867 the
government had concluded a treaty (witnessed and partly
drafted by Guthrie) which officially re-established the
Wyandot Tribe in Indian Territory, and recognized the
Indian Party council as the only legal Wyandot tribal
council. The traditionalist chief, Tauromee, died in
Wyandotte in January, 1870, and his youthful successor,
John Kayrahoo, was widely regarded as Guthrie's puppet.
A petition denouncing Guthrie and Kayrahoo was signed by
a large number of both citizen and Indian Party Wyandots
in both Kansas and Indian Territory, but by the summer of
1871 the Kayrahoo council had moved from Quindaro to the
new Wyandot Reserve in Indian Territory. Abelard Guthrie
died in Washington, D.C., on January 13, 1873, at the age
of 58, while still vainly pursuing his wife's claim to a
Shawnee Allotment.
On January 6, 1872, a school for teachers called
the Colored Normal School of Quindaro was established by
the Kansas State Legislature to function as part of
Freedman's University, and $2000 was appropriated for its
operation. At the time, the university had an enrollment
of eighty-three and Charles Langston was president of the
school, assisted by two teachers, Eben and Jane Blachly.
But the following year, in addition to the death of
Guthrie, two major blows were struck against the town-
site's revitalization. Following an appropriation of
$1100 to pay the school's debts, state funding was
withdrawn due to widespread agricultural losses, and the
Wyandotte County Commissioners vacated much of Quindaro's
original plat with the exceptions of Quindaro Park and a
handful of streets. With the death of Rev. Blachly on
July 21, 1877, the school was in danger of closing.
In 1879, the school's trustees took out a mortgage
on part of the property in an attempt to keep it open.
That same year, the Kansas Fever Exodus brought a large
influx of African-American families into Wyandotte County
and renewed interest in Freedman's University, but by
1880 the trustees were considering selling the school's
assets to Park College in Parkville, Missouri. Finally,
largely through the efforts of Corrvine Patterson, in
1881 the school was taken over by the African Methodist
Episcopal Church, chartered as a vocational/college
preparatory institute, and renamed Western University.
In 1891, the existing university building was
replaced by a new structure named Ward Hall near 29th and
Sewell, where Primrose Villa now stands. In 1896, a
young A.M.E. minister named William T. Vernon took over
the presidency of the still-struggling school. He
succeeded in getting state funding restored in 1899, with
the resulting construction of Stanley Hall at 27th and
Sewell to house the newly-formed State Industrial
Department.
In 1901 an annex was built to the north of Stanley
Hall, and in the following year two stock barns were
constructed. A power plant and reservoir were added in
1904, and in 1905 work was begun on the girls' trades
building. Within another two years, a boys' trades
building was constructed; and by the close of the decade
a four story girls' dormitory named after Bishop Abraham
Grant had also been built at the north end of 27th
Street. Enrollments at the college grew by a
commensurate amount - from twelve in 1895 to over 200 in
1906. The curriculum at Western University
reflected Vernon's educational philosophy of training the
"head, heart, and hand for the home." Although the State
Industrial Department was an important feature in the
development of the school during this period, the course
offerings were diversified and included a strong emphasis
on theology, the classics, and music. Western provided
teacher training and college preparatory classes in
addition to basic instruction in such vocations as
printing, drafting, carpentry, tailoring, and business.
Agriculture was also stressed, and a portion of the food
consumed by faculty and students was raised on campus.
National recruiting efforts were the life blood of
the school. Western University attracted students from
throughout the United States, and a majority of those who
attended were boarders. One of Western's strongest
promotional assets was its music department. The
department was begun in 1902 by R. G. Jackson, who was a
recent graduate of the music department at the University
of Kansas. In 1907, Professor Jackson founded the
Jackson Jubilee Singers - a musical troupe similar to the
Fisk Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. Such noteworthy
musicians as Etta Moten and Eva Jessye at one time
performed with the Jackson group. The group traveled
across the country, giving concerts and publicizing
Western University.
Reverend (later Bishop) Vernon, the guiding force
behind Western's growth and consolidation, gained a
national reputation for his accomplishments at the
school. He traveled extensively, lecturing and
conferring with other black educators. In 1906,
President Roosevelt appointed him Registrar of the
U. S. Treasury, which at that time was the highest
position in government to be attained by an African-
American. Upon receipt of the appointment, Reverend
Vernon took a leave of absence from Western. In 1910, he
was reappointed to the Treasury post by President Taft,
at which time he stepped down from the presidency of
Western and was replaced by Dr. H. T. Kealing.
The famous statue of John Brown was erected on the
campus of Western University in 1911. The statue was the
first monument in the United States to be raised to the
controversial figure. In view of the political climate
of the time, it was a project that was both courageous
and defiant; "Jim Crow" laws were being passed in many
states, violence against blacks was on the rise, and in
1910 Kansas City, Kansas had elected an avowed
segregationist, James E. "Cap" Porter, as mayor.
The effort to build the monument was begun in
1909. The major sponsor of the drive was Bishop Abraham
Grant of the A.M.E. Church, who was assisted by
Dr. S. H. Thompson and I. F. Bradley, two prominent
figures in the African-American community in Kansas City,
Kansas. A sum of $2,000 was raised in what was labeled
"the washerwoman's contribution." The money also came
from packinghouse workers, teachers, and businessmen.
People of all races and from many different parts of the
country donated money toward the establishment of the
memorial. When the funding goal had been reached, an
Italian sculptor was commissioned to carve the life-sized
marble replica. The artist rendered the bearded figure
of John Brown erect on a tall base, clothed in a great
coat with a facsimile of the Emancipation Proclamation
rolled up in his right hand. The inscription on the base
of the statue reads, "Erected to the memory of John Brown
by a grateful people."
The statue was placed in front of Ward Hall and
unveiled at commencement exercises for the class of 1911
on June 8 of that year. Bishop Grant was not present to
view the completion of this project, as he had died the
previous winter. The master of ceremonies was
J. P. King, a teacher at the recently segregated Sumner
High School (later to be principal of Northeast Junior
High School and president of Western University). Three
thousand people gathered on the grounds in front of the
statue. A significant proportion of those in the crowd
were white, and the dedication ceremony was regarded as
a strong gesture of unity. Among the dignitaries present
was the aging John P. St. John, who had been governor of
Kansas at the time of the Exodus. He became nationally
known for his efforts to find practical and just
solutions for the problems of the Exodusters and, in his
time, was nearly as controversial as John Brown had been.
Western continued to prosper through the 1920s, but
like many small schools it was severely hurt by the Great
Depression. The problems were compounded when the A.M.E.
Church withdrew its support for the school in 1933
following a dispute with the state over the naming of a
new superintendent for the State Industrial Department.
The state insisted on appointing former Bishop Vernon to
the post, while the church, which had defrocked the
Bishop in 1928 in a doctrinal dispute, was equally
insistent that the superintendency and the presidency of
Western University should continue to be held by a single
individual named by the church.
Enrollments and contributions declined, and the
establishment of the draft, followed by World War II, was
the final blow. The class of 1943 had only 13 graduates,
and the school was forced to close its doors in 1944.
Legal dissolution came in 1948, once it was apparent that
no post-war revival was at hand. Western University
Association, a holding entity of the A.M.E. Church, still
retains title to much of the Rev. Blachly's property.
Following Western's demise, the segregated Douglass
Hospital occupied the remodeled Grant Hall in 1945.
Douglass was established in 1898, when hospital care was
generally closed to African-Americans, and its nursing
school had been affiliated with Western since 1915. One
by one, the buildings on the Western campus were
demolished, to be replaced by institutions that were
affiliated with Douglass - Primrose Villa elderly housing
and Bryant-Butler-Kitchen nursing home. But Douglass
itself was closed in 1978, an ironic victim of
integration. Grant Hall, the last remaining Western
building on top of the hill, was subsequently demolished
in the summer of 1980.
As Western University declined, so did the
surrounding area. In the 1930s, parts of the ruins at
5th and Kanzas were still visible, a number of
residential structures from the original development of
Quindaro were still being lived in (including the
Quindaro Brewery building), the residential neighborhood
east and south of Western was still thriving, and
children from Vernon Elementary School sometimes ventured
on picnics and field trips down R Street to the
riverfront. Twenty years later, with Western closed, the
area had become a somewhat isolated backwater as Kansas
City, Kansas expanded to the west. The buildings of
Western became derelict and were eventually demolished to
make way for newer structures. The ruins disappeared
under silt and underbrush, and their extent and location
was forgotten. Of the original residences, only the
Brown/Blachly house remained intact. The others were
abandoned to scavengers and the elements, and R Street
north of the Brown/Blachly house gradually became
impassible.
In the late 1960s, I-635 highway cut a wide swath
through the area, taking a corner of Quindaro Park and
converting the eastern portions of the townsite into a
dumping area for excess fill material. According to
residents, a two story, stone house still stood near 6th
and T Streets, only to disappear with the highway
construction. No historic studies or attempts at salvage
archaeology were made by the state, as Quindaro's
significance had largely been forgotten and somehow
everyone "knew" that the now vanished Quindaro ruins had
been in the valley of Quindaro Creek, a half mile to the
west. Apparently no one consulted the older residents of
the area.
The highway only served to isolate the area still
further, setting the stage for the approval of Browning-
Ferris' proposed landfill by a lame duck City Commission
in 1983. Only as something of an afterthought, Browning-
Ferris was required to do an archaeological survey of the
landfill area prior to beginning construction. The
results surprised everyone, except perhaps for some
elderly residents of the city who had probably known all
along what lay buried at the foot of North 27th Street,
but were never asked. DESCRIPTIONS OF SIGNIFICANT SITES AND STRUCTURES
A. Within the property designated as Western
University Lands:
Quindaro Townsite
1856-1862
Much of the developed portion of Quindaro lay
within the area that was to be filled by the
proposed Browning-Ferris landfill. Ruins were
still visible in the early 1950s. The recent arch-
aeological survey has disclosed more extensive
remains than had previously been known to exist,
particularly along Kanzas Avenue/ 27th Street,
which functioned as Quindaro's main business
street. The other substantially built-up area
would appear to have been along Main and Levee
Streets paralleling the Missouri River, where
commercial buildings were mixed with several large
warehouses. That area has been heavily disturbed
over the years, first by the construction of the
Missouri Pacific Railroad and later by the
pipelines feeding into the Fairfax Industrial
District, but recent investigations tied to the
construction of a new Board of Public Utilities
pipeline have disclosed the remains of several
large commercial structures east of Kanzas Avenue.
At the present time the property is split largely
between two owners, with the A.M.E. Church
retaining title to the area west of the centerline
of 27th Street, while the property east of the
centerline now belongs to the City of Kansas City,
Kansas.
Quindaro African-American Cemetery
c. 1865
Sited half-way up the bluff on the west side
of the valley of Quindaro Creek, this was the
cemetery of the African-American community that
began forming in the Quindaro area during the Civil
War. The first burials were presumably in the mid
to late 1860s. Still in use and still maintained,
this may be the oldest African-American cemetery in
the state of Kansas. The cemetery has apparently
never had a separate legal existence, but remains
part of what was once the Freedman's University
property. It should not be confused (although it
often is) with the Quindaro Cemetery at 38th Street
and Parallel Parkway.
Pumphouse or waterworks (Feature No. 22)
c. 1857/c. 1885
This has been claimed to be the first public
waterworks in Kansas. A large spring half way up
the Quindaro Creek valley on the east side of the
creek emptied into a reservoir created by a low
dam. Water was then conveyed through tiles
following the channel of the creek to cisterns or
reservoirs along the way. The Quindaro House
reportedly depended on this water supply. The old
reservoir may still be seen. A brick structure
was built over the adjoining cistern in about 1885,
and an engine installed to pump water up the hill
to Western University. This remained the school's
principal source of water until about 1910.
Quindaro Brewery (Feature No. 34)
(originally 45 N Street)
Henry Steiner, builder
1857
The exact site of the first building housing
Rev. Blachly's school remains to be determined.
The ruin in the valley identified as Steiner and
Zehntner's Quindaro Brewery may have housed the
school, but an 1870 Wyandotte County map locates
the school in the group of commercial buildings on
the east side of Kanzas Avenue, a block and
one-half north of Rev. Blachly's house. The
brewery building was remodeled as a residence in
the early 1900s and was still occupied in the
1930s. A substantial portion of the building's
front wall remained standing until quite recently.
Its vaulted cellar, common to small breweries of
the period, continues to fuel speculation about
tunnels, in a misunderstanding of what the
Underground Railroad actually was.
Western University
27th Street and Sewell Avenue (originally Kanzas
Avenue and 8th Street)
Various architects
1891-1948
All of the buildings of Western University
have been demolished, the last in 1980. The only
remaining physical artifacts are a few cornerstones
and the John Brown statue. In 1958, Ward Hall, the
oldest of Western's buildings, was torn down to
make way for Primrose Villa, an elderly housing
project. (This property is now in private hands as
a result of a tax sale.) As the statue stood in
the way of the new construction, it was proposed to
move it to the north end of the new building. This
generated a great deal of opposition, and
consequently the statue was instead placed between
Primrose Villa and Sewell Avenue. The move was
botched, resulting in serious damage to the statue:
the nose and one coat tail were broken off, and
reportedly the head was broken off in its entirety,
although that damage is not now visible.
The statue was again moved in the spring of
1978, to the northwest corner of 27th and Sewell,
where it became the focus of a memorial plaza
dedicated to the memory of Western University and
the town of Quindaro. Architects for the new
memorial were Buchanan Architects and Associates,
and the work was initiated and funded through the
historic preservation component of the Kansas City,
Kansas Community Development Program. The mover
was required to post a bond of $75,000, a measure
of the value that the community still places on its
most famous memorial.
B. Within the corporate limits of Quindaro:
Brown/Blachly Residence
3464 North 26th Street (originally 83 R Street)
Builder unknown
Circa 1850
By oral tradition, this house was built by
the Brown family, Michigan Wyandot relatives of
Nancy Brown Guthrie. If so, it may be the oldest
remaining structure in Wyandotte County. The house
is a severe, two-story rectangle with a centered
entry and a low pitched, hipped roof. The stone
walls are 18 to 24 inches thick, and the floor
joists consist of rough-hewn logs, lending
credibility to the belief that construction
predates that of the town of Quindaro. In the
years of Quindaro's development it was the home of
Fielding Johnson, a businessman who also served as
Delaware Indian Agent in the early 1860s.
Rev. Blachly purchased the house from Johnson's
son-in-law and business partner, George W. Veale,
in 1868, and it was there that he died in an
upstairs bedroom in 1877. The house has been added
to, and the walls stuccoed over, but the original
structure remains substantially intact.
Quindaro Cemetery
38th Street and Parallel Parkway
1852
This property was given to the Methodist
Episcopal Church by Lucy B. Armstrong in 1850 or
1851 to serve as the site of a new mission church,
following the split in the Wyandot congregation
over the issue of slavery. The first burial in the
cemetery was that of Eliza S. Witten, wife of the
Methodist missionary, on January 3, 1852. With the
Treaty of 1855, two acres were set aside in the
Wyandot Allotments for the church and cemetery.
The church itself was burned on April 8, 1856, in
the general turmoil that swept Kansas over the
slavery issue (an event which may have contributed
to Quindaro's founding). It was not rebuilt on
this site, but the property subsequently became the
municipal cemetery for Quindaro. Rev. Blachly is
buried here, along with other notable citizens of
both Quindaro and Wyandott such as Lucy B.
Armstrong and Vincent J. Lane. When the Huron
Indian Cemetery was threatened with sale and
removal in the early 1900s, it was proposed that
the graves be moved to this location.
Quindaro Park
32nd Street to 34th Street and Sewell Avenue to
Parkview Avenue (originally L Street to I Street
and 8th Street to 10th Street)
1857
This park was part of the original plat of
Quindaro, and there is some indication in
contemporary accounts that it was actually so
used. When Quindaro's incorporation was revoked in
1862, it became the property of Quindaro Township.
J. J. Squires, a Kansas City, Missouri banker,
attempted to claim the property as his but the
Township's title was upheld in federal court. The
area was annexed by Kansas City, Kansas on December
1, 1923, and the park was deeded over to the City
by the Township on February 8, 1924. In the late
1960s, the southeast corner was taken for the
construction of I-635. This is the oldest park in
the county.
Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church
3421 North 29th Street
Architect/builder unknown
1914
Allen Chapel is the oldest African-American
church in the Quindaro area. It was founded in
1869, with the Rev. Skylar Washington of Wyandott
as pastor. The original church was of logs and
stood on the northeast corner of J and 8th Streets,
near the present 33rd and Sewell. The church was
eventually able to acquire the stone building that
had housed the Quindaro Congregational Church at
27th and Sewell. A tornado destroyed that
structure, and the congregation began meeting in
the adjacent stone school house. A new frame
church was built on the Congregational Church site
in 1893, followed by a larger building on the same
site in 1910. Disaster then struck in the form of
a fire in 1911 or 1912. The present building,
built two blocks to the west in 1914, is thus the
sixth to house the congregation. Many members of
the present church can trace their descent to the
ex-slaves who originally settled the area and
founded Allen Chapel in the 1860s.
Bishop William T. Vernon Residence
2715 Sewell Avenue
Architect/builder unknown
1918
W. B. Kennedy Residence
2725 Sewell Avenue
Architect/builder unknown
1911
Dr. H. T. Kealing Residence
2805 Sewell Avenue
Architect/builder unknown
1916 (demolished 1995)
Bob Ransom Residence
2821 Sewell Avenue
Architect/builder unknown
1922
These four residences, all built in the early
years of this century, originally housed faculty
and students of Western University, and faced the
campus to the north across Sewell. The home of
Bishop Vernon is surprisingly modest, given the
range of his accomplishments. The largest, and
architecturally the most interesting, is that of
Bishop Vernon's successor at Western, Dr. Kealing,
with its bell-cast gable and extensive veranda.
Unfortunately, the Kealing residence seriously
deteriorated in recent years, to the point where
its demolition was ordered by the Chief Building
Inspector in 1994. The other three structures
would appear to be basically sound but in need of
maintenance, with few, if any, alterations.
Vernon Elementary School
2700 Sewell Avenue
Joseph W. Radotinsky, Architect
1935-36
This property was originally the site of the
Quindaro Congregational Church. The Colored School
of Quindaro, with its own school district (No. 17)
and an all-black school board, was subsequently
built adjoining the church. The original stone
school was replaced by a four-room brick structure
sometime after the turn of the century, later
renamed in honor of Bishop Vernon. The school lay
outside the city limits of Kansas City, Kansas and
eventually became part of the Washington School
District. The present building was built by the
W.P.A. in 1936 as a segregated school for black
students, and features an interesting piece of Art
Deco bas relief sculpture over the main entry.
Following the annexation of 1967 and the
consolidation of Washington District with Kansas
City, Kansas District 500, use of the school was
discontinued and its pupils transferred to Quindaro
Elementary School two blocks to the south (which is
itself descended from the all-white Quindaro
School). It now houses a neighborhood center.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
At the request of neighborhood residents intent on
fighting the Browning-Ferris landfill, the Quindaro and
Western University Historic District was approved by the
City Council on March 1, 1984. That approval was for all
the historic district applied for by the petitioners,
except for those portions for which a special permit for
a landfill had already been granted to Browning-Ferris
Industries. Thus, of the above noted sites and
structures, the following have been included in the
historic district as approved: the portion of the
Quindaro townsite east of 27th Street (Kanzas Avenue)
that was previously owned by Freedman's University, the
site of Western University including the John Brown
statue, the Brown/Blachly house, Quindaro Park, and the
school, houses and church along the south side of Sewell
Avenue between 27th and 29th. In addition, although not
part of the district, the Quindaro African-American
Cemetery was given a surveyed boundary and was supposed
to remain undisturbed by the landfill operation.
It should be noted that the local historic
designation of the A.M.E. Church property west of 27th
that was leased to Browning-Ferris was never denied.
Instead it was put on indefinite hold, and with the
landfill permit now voided could presumably be brought
back before the City Council for reconsideration.
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Unpublished thesis, no place, 1971.
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