Date

Event

1851

Momentum builds to take the Kansas land from the Native Americans that they had been promised "permanently."

September 17, 1851

Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes negotiate with the United States for land in western Kansas (the current state of Colorado).

1852

Flour milling got its start in Kansas by Mattitins Splitlog in Kansas City.

Congress begins the process of creating the Kansas Territory.

1853

The Wyandot Indians attempt to establish a Territorial government in their section of Indian Territory and elect delegates. However, Congress fails to recognize the act or the delegates.

May 17, 1853

Camp Center is built by Major Ogden on the Kansas River near the Republican River to protect both the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. It is quickly re-named Fort Riley and becomes the new supply depot for the Army in present-day Riley County.

Summer, 1853

George W. Manypenny, U.S. commissioner of Indian affairs, is directed by Congress to negotiate treaties with the Kaw and Neosho Indians to resede to the U.S. Government all but a fraction of the land that, a quarter-century before, had been assigned them "forever." Manypenny was reluctant to do so.

1854

Fort Atkinson was abandoned due to the poor condition of the sod buildings.

Swiss immigrants first arrived and settled in present-day Potawatomie, Nemaha, and Allen Counties.

The Swan Creek and Black River bands of the Chippewa tribe inhabit 8,320 acres in Franklin County.

Nearly all the tribes in the eastern part of the Territory cede the greater part of their lands prior to the passage of the Kansas territorial act and are eventually moved south to the future state of Oklahoma.

The First regular newspaper in Kansas: Kansas Weekly Herald is published in Leavenworth.

Fort Atkinson was abandoned due to the poor conditions of the sod buildings.

Kansas is home to five Indian Nations as well as 20 tribes the U.S. Government relocated to the area.

March

Manhattan is founded by Isaac T. Goodnow.

Clarina Nichols arrives to urge Kansas state constitution, when written, to give women equal rights.

March 15, 1854

Otoe and Missouri Indians cede to the United States all their lands west of the Mississippi, except a small strip on the Big Blue River.

March 30, 1854

Lands owned by the Kaskaskia, Peoria, Piankeshaw and Wea Tribes are ceded to the United States.

May

The towns of Leavenworth, Atchison and Lawrence are laid out and organized.

May 6, 1854

Delaware tribe cede all their lands to the United States, except a reservation defined in the treaty.

May 6 & 10, 1854

Shawnee tribe cedes 6,100,000 acres, reserving only 200,000 acres for homes.

May 17, 1854

Iowa tribe cedes their lands, retaining only a small reservation.

May 18, 1854

Lands ceded by the Sac and Fox.

Kickapoos cede their lands, except 150,000 acres in the western part of the Territory.

May 30, 1854

The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed and signed by President Franklin Pierce, and Kansas Territory was organized and opened up for settlement. Its boundary included eastern Colorado, west to the Continental Divide. The purpose of the Kansas-Nebraska Act was to open the country to transcontinental railways. The Kansas-Nebraska Act, responsible for causing the label "Bleeding Kansas." The incorporation of popular sovereignty made the territory's residents responsible for the question of slavery in their own backyard. The proximity of Kansas to slave-owning Missouri and the lack of any natural border between the two regions prompted an influx of Pro-slavery individuals into the new territory when it opened up for settlement.

Summer, 1854

Eli Thayer of Worcester, Massachusetts, founds the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society to promote the settlement of anti-slavery groups in Kansas with the ultimate objective of making it a free state. This company helped to found Lawrence, Kansas, which was named for Amos A. Lawrence, a promoter of the Emigrant Aid Society.  

June 10, 1854

Missourians hold a meeting at Salt Creek Valley, a trading post three miles west of Fort Leavenworth, at which a "Squatter's Claim Association" is organized.

June 30, 1854

Andrew H. Reeder was appointed the first territorial governor of Kansas by President Franklin Pierce.

July 28, 1854

The first members of the New England Emigrant Aid Society arrive in Kansas to help her become a “Free-State.”

August

The Masons organize first lodge in Kansas, the Grove Lodge, at Wyandotte (now Kansas City, Kansas.)

August 1, 1854

Twenty-nine northern emigrants mostly from Massachusetts and Vermont are the first to arrive in Lawrence, Kansas. A second party of 200 men, women and children arrive in September.

October

The First Congregational Church in Kansas is founded in Lawrence.

November 29, 1854

First election held in Kansas. Pro-slavery Missourians flooded the state to vote, where armed pro-slavery advocates intimidated voters and stuffed ballot boxes. Andrew H. Reeder was elected as the first territorial governor of Kansas.

December, 1854

Topeka was founded by five anti-slavery activists, among them Cyrus K. Holiday.

1855

The Valley Falls Mill was built by Isaac Cody, father of Buffalo Bill Cody.

Violence begins to break out between pro-slavery and abolitionist factions.

Kansas population is estimated at 8,601.

February, 1855

Five sons of John Brown settle near Osawatomie.

March 30, 1855

Territorial Legislature election held, where again pro-slavery Missourians flooded the state. After winning the territorial legislature, the proslavery officials ousted all Free-State members, secured the removal of Governer Reeder, adopted proslavery statutes. and began to hold their sessions in Lecompton, Kansas about 12 miles from Lawrence.

June, 1855

A Free State Convention is held at Lawrence which declares: "In reply to threats of war... our answer is: 'We are ready.'"

July, 1855

The first territorial Capitol of Kansas was built of native stone at Pawnee on the Fort Riley reservation.

The "Bogus Legislature" meets at Pawnee and pro-slavery members gain control and adjourn to Shawnee Mission.

The expelled Free State legislators meet at Lawrence.

Governor Reeder declares the Shawnee Mission Legislature illegal.

Shawnee Mission Legislature asks President Pierce to remove Governor Reeder.

President Pierce removes Governor Reeder.

July 16, 1855

The pro-slavery capital was moved to the Shawnee Methodist Mission in present-day Fairway, Kansas.

October, 1855

In retaliation of the illegal first territorial legislature, the abolitionists set up a rival government at Topeka.

October 7, 1855

Abolitionist John Brown arrives in the Osawatomie, Kansas area to join his 5 sons who had become engaged in the fight of the Free-State cause. He stays in the log cabin home of the Reverend Samuel and Florella Adair, his half-sister.

November 11, 1855

A Free-State constitution was framed in Topeka; however, it did not receive serious consideration in Congress.

December 1, 1855

A small army of Missourians, acting under the command of "Sheriff" Jones, laid siege to Lawrence in the opening stages of what would later become known as "The Wakarusa War." The intervention of the new governor, Wilson Shannon, kept the proslavery men from attacking Lawrence.

1856

The proslavery territorial capitol was “officially” moved to Lecompton, a town only 12 miles from Lawrence.

Cholera raged at Fort Riley.

April, 1856

A three-man federal congressional investigating committee arrived in Lecompton to look into the Kansas troubles. The majority report of the committee found the elections to be fraudulent, stating that the free state government represented the will of the majority. However, the federal government refused to follow its recommendations and continued to recognize the proslavery legislature as the legitimate government of Kansas.

May 21, 1856

The Sacking of Lawrence - A motley group of some 700 armed pro-slavery enthusiasts raided Lawrence, the stronghold of the abolitionist movement. They destroyed the Free State Hotel (now the Eldridge Hotel), smashed the presses of two Lawrence newspapers, and killed one man.

May 22, 1856

After making a fiery speech called "The Crime Against Kansas" in the United States Congress, Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner was beaten unconscious by Preston Brooks, a congressman from South Carolina.

May 24, 1856

In retaliation for the Lawrence raid, a band led by the abolitionist crusader John Brown murdered five innocent pro-slavery men in the Pottawatomie Massacre.

June 2, 1856

Battle of Black Jack - Anti-slavery forces, led by the noted abolitionist John Brown, attacked the encampment of Henry C. Pate near Baldwin City, Kansas.

June 4-5, 1856

Battle of Franklin, near Lawrence.

July 4, 1856

Under direct orders from President Franklin Pierce, Edwin Vose Sumner leads 200 infantrymen into Topeka, Kansas, unlimbers his artillery and informs the freestaters they may not hold a convention.

August, 1856

The town of Osawatomie is attacked by 400 pro-slavery Missourians. John Brown, along with forty other men defended the town, but in the end, all but four homes at the settlement were burned by the invaders and John Brown's son Frederick was killed. Four wagon loads of dead and wounded were brought into Booneville, Missouri when the invading army returned.

August 16, 1856 

Battle of Fort Titus

August 30, 1856

Battle of Osawatomie - John Brown leads a raid on proslavery sympathizers in a small Kansas settlement on the Pottawatomie Creek. It is the first battle over slavery in the U.S. Five men are killed. The division in the Kansas territory over slavery leads to much violence in "Bleeding Kansas"

September 16, 1856

Battle of Hickory Point

1857

Former Ohio schoolteacher, William Clarke Quantrill, moves to Kansas. He hones his violent nature by living with thieves, murders and brigands, and commits several brutal murders.

A group of German Immigrants settled in Allen County, founding Humboldt and Iola, and in Wabaunsee County, where they founded Alma. Germans were eventually located in all counties and had large settlements in Kansas City, Leavenworth, Seneca, and Topeka.  

The Hays House, said to be the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi River, was founded by Seth M. Hays at Council Grove.

The Last Chance Store, built in 1857 at Council Grove, was the last chance for those headed to Santa Fe to stock up on supplies.

Olathe was founded on the old Santa Fe Trail.

Timothy and Sylvia Hersey establish Abilene as a small dugout, log cabin hamlet and stagecoach stop along the banks of Mud Creek.

Emporia was founded.

April 3, 1857

A third constitutional convention was convened at Leavenworth by Free-State men and approved by the people at an election held May 18, 1858. However, this constitution also failed with the U.S. government.

November 7, 1857

Men in favor of slavery meet in Lecompton to hammer out a constitution, a necessary prerequisite for statehood. The group’s views are not representative of the populace in Kansas, and the words of the Lecompton Constitution caused additional bloodshed and compound the growing frustration leading to the Civil War.

1858

Captain Nathaniel Lyon takes command of a detachment of soldiers at Fort Scott to restore law and order during the chaos of "Bleeding Kansas."

Despite the dubious validity of the Lecompton constitution, President James Buchanan recommended that Congress accept it and approve statehood for the territory. Instead, Congress returned it for another territorial vote, moving the nation closer to war.

May

The Republican Party was formally organized at Osawatomie.

May 19, 1858

Massacre of Marais des Cygnes - The Marais Des Cygnes River at Pleasanton in Linn County is the site of a famous confrontation between pro slavery and abolitionist forces. The five victims of the massacre were immortalized as martyrs in the cause for freedom. 

December 11, 1858

Poles for the telegraph were up as far as Leavenworth, Jefferson City, and Kansas City.

1859

The Kansas legislature appoints a commission to validate claims from property holders whose property was destroyed in battles between Free-State and pro-slavery advocates. The $450,001.70 bill includes 78 buildings burned, 368 horses killed, and $37,349.61 worth of crops lost. But not one dollar will ever be paid.

April, 1859

A stage line begins operating between Leavenworth and the gold fields near Denver.

May, 1859

John Brown was hanged at Charles Town, Virginia for his crimes.

July, 1859

The fourth and last constitutional convention assembled at Wyandotte, now part of Kansas City. This time, free state advocates were solidly in control, and the document they drafted barred slavery and fixed the present boundaries of the state. It was accepted by a vote of the people in October, and in December a provisional state government was elected.

October 22, 1859

"Camp on Pawnee Fork" and Camp Alert, as Fort Larned was first known, was established as a military post to protect travelers and commerce and mail on the Santa Fe Trail from Indians. It also provided a more centralized point for the distribution of annuities, as provided by treaty, to the Indians.

November 30, 1859

President Abraham Lincoln said, "No other territory has ever had such a history" in his first speech in Elwood.

December, 1859

Abraham Lincoln travels to Kansas to give his first campaign speech for the presidency and to help Republican candidates vie successfully in the upcoming election.

1859-1860

During the winter W. H. Russell, of the firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell, completed plans for the two thousand mile Pony Express between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, California.

1860

Beginnings of the oil industry in Kansas date from 1860 although large scale development was delayed because of a lock of commercial market.

Irish, some from big cities in the U.S., were located in large numbers near Chapman (Dickinson County), near Seneca (Nemaha County), and in Pottawatomie County, and at Boston (Chautauqua County).

Pony Express operation begins in St. Joseph, Missouri, which travels through northeast Kansas to Sacramento, California It operated less than a year and a half (1860-1862).

Mennonite Brethren split from what is now the General Conference Mennonite Church (Bethel College variety) back in Russia.There were strong feelings over the split carried over into America. As a result, many small towns in Kansas have both varieties of churches, and two different colleges were founded, Bethel and Tabor.

February 23, 1860

The legislature passed a bill over the governor's veto abolishing slavery in Kansas.

March 20, 1860

Iron for the railroad arrived in Kansas and tracks began to be laid for the Elwood & Marysville Railroad,  five miles from Elwood to Wathena. This was the first railroad iron laid down in Kansas.