Kansas Time Line - A Chronology of Events in Kansas

Kansas Timeline - Page 2

Zebulon Montgomery Pike was one of the first to explore Kansas

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Date	Event
April 30, 1800	A treaty was concluded at Paris by which the province of "Louisiana" was ceded to the United States.
April 30, 1803	Louisiana Purchase - The United States concluded a "deal" when it signed an agreement to purchase the entire Louisiana Territory from France. This transaction ended the trading era for Kansas and brought forth the exploration of a new American settlement.
1804	The Lewis and Clark Expedition begins.
June-July, 1804	Lewis and Clark make camp at several points in the Leavenworth area on the Kansas side of the Missouri River.
July 4, 1804	At present-day Atchison, Lewis and Clark celebrated what was probably the first Independence Day in Kansas by firing a swivel gun. Later they named Independence Creek and closed the day with another cannon blast.
July 15, 1806	Lieutenant Zebulon Pike of the U.S. Army leaves St. Louis, Missouri. He will soon cross Kansas on an exploring expedition during which he met with the Indians and signed treaties with them as the representative of the new "White Father." He continued westward on this journey to discover the mountain that is now called Pike's Peak. He labels Kansas “the Great American Desert" on his maps.
September 26, 1806	The first American flag is raised in Kansas by a Pawnee Indian Chief.
1811	George C. Sibley, government trader, works among Osage Indians.
1812	Missouri Fur Company dissolves and is succeeded by the American Fur Company, which concentrates in Kansas.
1819	Stephen H. Long's of the topographical engineers leads a party to explore portions of Kansas. The Western Engineer was the first steamer to enter the Kansas River.
1820’s	The Kansas area is set aside as Indian territory by the U.S. government and closed to settlement by whites. A band of as many as 1,500 Pawnee live in 40-50 earth lodges in the spring and in the fall, in the large fortified village of Kitkehahki. During the winter and summer, they travel through western Kansas, living in tipis and replenishing their meat supply through successful buffalo hunts.
1820	Two Presbyterians missions are established for the Osage Indians: the Union on the Neosho River and the Harmony on Marais des Cygnes River.
1821	William Becknell, a Missouri trader, was the first to follow the route that later became known as the Santa Fe Trail. After a brief period as part of Missouri Territory, Kansas returned to unorganized status.
1822	William Becknell used wagons instead of pack mules or horses to haul trade goods over the Santa Fe Trail. Because Becknell found a good mode of transportation and a passable wagon route, he is credited as the Father of the Santa Fe Trail.
1823	The boundary between Missouri and Kansas is definitely fixed.
June, 1825	Treaties were negotiated between the federal government and the Kanza and Osage tribes for a cession of Kanza-Osage land onto which eastern Indians could be moved. A right-of-way for the Santa Fe Trail was also granted with Osage Indians at Council Grove.
November 7, 1825	Missouri Shawnee Indians were the first Native Americans removed to the territory by treaty.
1827	The government sends Daniel Morgan Boone to teach agriculture to Indians; Boone locates on land in what is now Jefferson County.
May 8, 1827	Fort Leavenworth, first known as Cantonment Leavenworth, was established by Colonel Henry Leavenworth on the Kansas side of the Missouri River as an army post to protect the western frontier and travelers on the Santa Fe Trail.
August 22, 1827	The first white child born in Kansas was Napoleon Boone, son of Daniel Morgan Boone, at an Indian agency.
1829	William L. Sublette'ss pack-train, heading westward by way of Independence, Missouri, for the first time traveled out the Santa Fe Trail some distance before turning northwest toward the Kansas River. This would become the established Oregon-California Trail route. The Delaware Indians are moved to Kansas.
1830	William L. Sublette took the first wagons along the Oregon Trail to the Rocky Mountains.
May, 1830	The Indian Removal Bill of 1830 uprooted the Kickapoo, Shawnee, Delaware, Potawatomie, Wyandot, Ottawa, Chippewa, Iowa, Miami and Sac and Fox tribes from their homes in the southeast United States, forcing them to move west of the Mississippi River
September, 1830	The Shawnee Methodist Mission is opened, which includes a school, by the Reverend Thomas Johnson and his wife in Turner area of present-day Kansas City, Kansas.
1830's	The Pawnee are pushed farther north by other Plains Indians. The Kitkehahki village is abandoned as 11,000 more Native Americans from several other states are moved to Kansas.
1831	The first ferry in Kansas established by Moses Grinter.
July, 1831	Isaac McCoy was instrumental in founding the Shawnee Baptist Mission opened by Johnston Lykins a few miles southwest of the mouth of the Kansas River in what is now Johnson County.
August 30, 1831	The Ottawa Indians cede land to the United States and move to a small reservation on the Kansas River and its branches.
1832	Kickapoo, Potawatomie, Kaskaskia, Peoria, Wea and Piankeshaw Indian reservations are established in Kansas.
October 24, 1832	The U.S. government moved the Kickapoo to a reservation in Kansas.
October 29, 1832	The Piankeshaw and Wea Indians agreed to occupy land in Kansas.
1833	Jotham Meeker came to the Shawnee Baptist Mission, bringing with him the first printing press to be set up on Kansas soil.
September 21, 1833	Treaty made with the United States and the Otoe tribe, ceding their country south of the Little Nemaha River.
1834	Bent's Fort, a fur trading post is established on the upper Arkansas River in present-day Colorado, thus, opening the Bent's Fort branch of the Santa Fe Trail.
1835	The Kanza, or Kaw tribe are counted in the Kansas Census and numbered 1,606.
1836	The Sac and Fox, and Iowa Indians are moved to Kansas.
1837	Ottawa Baptist Mission (now Ottawa University) is founded by Reverend Jotham Meeker. Surveying begins for the Fort Leavenworth-Fort Gibson Military Road. It will link the forts on the "Permanent Indian Frontier."
February 11, 1837	United States agrees to convey to the Potawatomie an area on the Osage River, southwest of the Missouri River.
1839	The Shawnee Methodist Mission was relocated on a 2,000+ acre grant in present-day Fairway, Kansas.
1840	Miami Indians are moved to Kansas. Joseph and Ahcan Pappan (pah-pan) establish a ferry across the Kaw (now known as Kansas) River where Topeka now stands.
1841	The Bidwell-Bartleson party is the first emigrant wagon train bound for the Pacific. They leave Independence, Missouri via "Sublette's Trace," which develops into the Oregon-California Trail.
1842	The treaty between the United States and the Wyandot moved the tribe to the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers on land that was shared with the Delaware until 1843.
May 30, 1842	Fort Scott was established at the Marmaton Crossing of the Fort Leavenworth-Fort Gibson military road in present-day southeast Kansas.
June, 1842	Lieutenant John C. Fremont, with Kit Carson as guide, explores the Kansas and Platte Rivers.
1843	Wyandot Indians settle on a reservation in eastern Kansas, and establish city of Wyandot (Kansas City, Kansas.) The first group of Oregon emigrants, a population of 900, sets out from Elm Grove. Larger groups will pass through Kansas in 1844 and 1845.
1844	The first free school was established by the Wyandot Indians. First move to organize Kansas into a Territory is made at Uniontown by Missourians.
1846	Crossing points above St. Joseph, Missouri, such as Iowa Point and Elizabethtown, are first used by Pacific-bound emigrants. The Mexican-American War begins; General Stephen W. Kearney marches from Fort Leavenworth to California. During the war with Mexico, Fort Leavenworth is the chief outfitting post for the army of the West.
Spring, 1846	The Kanza (Kaw) Indians signed a treaty with the government, ceding their reservation land along the Kansas River near Topeka of 2 million acres in exchange for a new but smaller reservation located along the upper valley of the Neosho River, in what is now Morris County.
1847	The Potawatomie are moved again, to an area containing 576,000 acres, being the eastern part of the lands ceded to the United States by the Kansa tribe in 1846. Fort Mann is constructed to provide protection along the Santa Fe Trail. It will soon be abandoned.
April, 1847	A reservation 20 miles square was established what present-day Morris County near Council Grove. The Kanza Indians were relocated from their reservation near Topeka to the new reservation, where they would remain until 1873.
1849-1850	The Kaw Mission at Council Grove was built by the Methodist Episcopal Church to serve as a school. The school was closed in 1854 and later became the first school for the settlers' children.
1850	Euro-Americans squatting on Native American land in Kansas begin pushing for the region to be opened for settlement. Coal is found near present site of Pittsburg and dug by settlers for their own use.
August 8, 1850	Fort Atkinson (also called Fort Sod) was established about two miles west of present-day Dodge City on the left side of the Arkansas River.

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