Steve Jansen
photo by: Photo courtesy Watkins Community Museum of History
A map of Lawrence in 1859, which was drawn while some buildings depicted were still bein planned but ultimately were never constructed.
It has always seemed ironic, yet fitting, to me that our city and our county have the names that they do. Lawrence was known as the first place in Kansas founded by anti-slavery advocates and was named after Amos A. Lawrence. Douglas County was named for a U.S. senator, Stephen A. Douglas, who supported letting states choose if they would have slaves.
In 1854, controversy over the Fugitive Slave Act and a runaway slave named Anthony Burns galvanized the people of Boston as they saw Burns in chains being marched down to the Boston harbor to be shipped back.