Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence is a river city in
Douglas County,
Kansas, 41 miles (66 km) west by south of
Kansas City, along both banks of the
Kaw River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 80,098. Lawrence is the
county seat of
Douglas County, and is the home of the
University of Kansas and
Haskell Indian Nations University.
Lawrence was founded in 1854 for the
New England Emigrant Aid Company, by
Charles Robinson, who later served as governor of Kansas, and named after
Amos Adams Lawrence, a prominent politician and abolitionist and the son of famed philanthropist
Amos Lawrence.
In the
Bleeding Kansas era, Lawrence was a center of anti-
slavery sentiment. On
May 21,
1856, a pro-
slavery posse led by Sheriff Samuel J. Jones burned the Free-State Hotel, destroyed the equipment of two anti-
slavery newspapers, and looted several other businesses; no loss of life was recorded. Abolitionist
John Brown's nearby
Pottawatomie massacre is believed to be a reaction to this event. On
August 21,
1863, during the
American Civil War,
Confederate guerrillas led by
William Quantrill burned most of the houses and commercial buildings in Lawrence and killed 150 to 200 of the men they found in Lawrence. Of historical importance is KU's
Pioneer Cemetery, perhaps best known for being the final resting place of
Thomas Barber, as well as
Elmer McCollum, KU alumnus who is credited with discovering
Vitamin A.
The
University of Kansas was founded in Lawrence in 1865 by the citizens of Lawrence under a charter granted by the
Kansas Legislature, with the donation of 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land on Mount Oread by former
Kansas Governor Charles Robinson and his wife, Sara, and a small monetary gift from
Amos Adams Lawrence. As a college town, Lawrence is known for its liberal philosophy and distinctive culture.
Lawrence also holds the distinction of having been the site of operation for the state's first
railroad in 1871 and the city where the state's first
telephone was installed in 1877. In 1989, when the Free State Brewing Co. opened in Lawrence, it was the first legal brewery in Kansas in more than 100 years. The restaurant is in a renovated inter-urban trolley station in downtown Lawrence. The city also contains the state's only
hydro-electric plant.
In the early
1980s Lawrence grabbed national, and later, world attention because of the
television movie The Day After. The TV movie first appeared on
ABC, but was later shown in movie theaters around the world. The movie depicted what would happen to average Americans, particularly those living in Lawrence and surrounding communities, if the United States was destroyed in a
nuclear war. The movie was filmed in Lawrence with help from many people in the community.
Lawrence is located at (38.959902, -95.253199).
This is about 25 miles (40 km) west of
Kansas City, and about 20 miles (30 km) east of
Topeka.
According to the
United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 74.3
km² (28.7
mi²). 72.8 km² (28.1 mi²) of it is land and 1.5 km² (0.6 mi²) is water, including Potter Lake on the KU campus. The total area is 2.06% water.
Google Earth, software that allows the user to "fly" over the surface of the earth, mapped with high-quality satellite photography and accurate topographical data, has a default position when started up that is centered exactly on the town of Lawrence (specifically, on an apartment building lying between Compton Square and Regency Place). This may be verified by running the software and zooming in from the default start position without rotating the virtual globe at all. This location was set by Brian McClendon, a 1986 graduate of the
University of Kansas and now a director of engineering at
Google.[
1]
of 2000, there were 80,098 people, 31,388 households, and 15,725 families residing in the city. The
population density was 1,100.2/km² (2,849.4/mi²). There were 32,761 housing units at an average density of 450.0/km² (1,165.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.80%
White, 5.09%
African American, 2.93%
Native American, 3.78%
Asian, 0.07%
Pacific Islander, 1.36% from
other races, and 2.97% from two or more races.
Hispanic or
Latino of any race were 3.65% of the population.
There were 31,388 households out of which 25.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.0% were
married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.9% were non-families. 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the city the population was spread out with 18.6% under the age of 18, 30.7% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 15.1% from 45 to 64, and 7.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $34,669, and the median income for a family was $51,545. Males had a median income of $33,481 versus $27,436 for females. The
per capita income for the city was $19,378. About 7.3% of families and 18.9% of the population were below the
poverty line, including 10.6% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.
While
Kansas may be one of the most heavily
Republican states in America, Lawrence is reliably
Democratic. Douglas County, where Lawrence is located, was one of only two counties in Kansas whose majority voted for
John Kerry in the
2004 presidential Election. Douglas County has supported the Democratic candidate the past four presidential elections. Douglas County was the only county in the state to reject the amendment to the Kansas Constitution prohibiting both
gay marriage and
civil unions in April, 2005.
Lawrence also features the customary staples of college-town liberalism, such as an
anarchist bookstore, two
microbreweries, a half dozen locally-owned coffeehouses, and a law protecting gay people from discrimination. The city is known for a thriving music and art scene;
The New York Times called Lawrence "the most vital music scene between Chicago and Denver" in a travel column on February 25, 2005, and
Rolling Stone named Lawrence one of the "best lil' college towns" in the country in their August 11, 2005 issue.
Lawrence's culture isn't just political activism and the arts; the town is famous for the University of Kansas's athletic teams as well. The highly-ranked
Kansas Jayhawks basketball team becomes the town's obsession during the winter, and the football team has qualified for a bowl game two out of the past three seasons.
Universities
The
University of Kansas is the largest public
university in the state with a total enrollment of under 30,000 including the Medical Center. It has over 170 fields of studyâ€"many nationally rankedâ€"and nationally known
Kansas Jayhawks athletics programs.
Haskell Indian Nations University offers free tuition to members of registered Native American tribes with an average enrollment of more than 1000 students representing all 50 states and 150 tribes. Haskell is the home of the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame and the Haskell Cultural Center.
K-12 schools
The
Lawrence Public Schools USD 497 includes two public high schools: Lawrence High School and Lawrence Free State High School. The athletic teams of the former are nicknamed the "Chesty Lions", and those of the latter are the "Firebirds". Both schools are 6A, and Lawrence High School leads the State of Kansas in most state championships won, with 101 championships. Private high schools include Bishop Seabury Academy, which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church, and the non-denominational
Veritas Christian School. The two elementary schools with the highest scores on the yearly state assessments are Deerfield Elementary School and Quail Run elementary school.
Downtown Lawrence, in particular Massachusetts Street, has a lively atmosphere and is filled with restaurants, galleries, shops, and music venues.
The University of Kansas campus is home to many museums, including the
KU Natural History Museum [
2] and the
Spencer Museum of Art [
3]. The
Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics houses various artifacts from the life of the former Kansas Senator. Another possible site of interest is the Lawrence Arts Center. It has daytime activities, organized plays and acts, and an art gallery filled with artwork created by the townspeople. Artwork, theater, and other related activities are some of the biggest parts of Lawrence.
Clinton Lake is located approximately three miles (5 km) southwest of Lawrence and has areas for boating, swimming, fishing, and camping.
There are a variety of mountain biking venues, including the trails at Clinton Lake, and the
river trails by the
Kansas River.
*Poet, author, and counterculture figure
William S. Burroughs moved to Lawrence in 1983 and died there at age 83, from complications following a heart attack, on August 2, 1997.
*Lawrence was destroyed by a Soviet
nuclear bomb, along with
Kansas City, Missouri in the 1983 TV movie
The Day After.
*From
1947 until
1981, Lawrence was the location of the
Centron Corporation, one of the major industrial and educational film production companies in the
United States at the time. The studio was founded by two
University of Kansas graduates and employed University students and faculty as advisors and actors. Also, many talented local/area filmmakers were given their first chances to make movies with Centron, and some stayed for decades. Others went on to successful careers in
Hollywood. One of these local residents,
Herk Harvey, was employed by Centron as a director for 35 years and in the middle of his tenure there he made a full-length theatrical film,
Carnival of Souls, a
horror cult film shot mostly in Lawrence and released in
1962.
*A scene from
Where pigeons go to die, a movie directed by
Michael Landon, was shot in the 1300 block of Massachusetts St..
*There are three separate tunnel systems underneath Massachusetts Street, as well as an extensive steam-tunnel network underneath the
University of Kansas, which includes tunnels designed as nuclear attack shelters.
*The inventor of basketball,
James Naismith, was the first basketball coach at the
University of Kansas and was the only KU coach with a losing record.
*In the television show
Supernatural, the main characters were born in Lawrence; several scenes from the pilot (and one whole episode) were set in Lawrence.
*Lawrence's Mount Oread is named after a hill in
Boston where many of the city's first settlers were from.
*The center of
Google Earth's default view is Lawrence, Kansas, probably because one of its staff members studied at the
University of Kansas, and it is near the center of the contiguous
United States*Just outside the City of Lawrence is Stull Cemetery. The church that stood next to it was torn down after being abandoned for many years. This cemetery is considered a "Gateway to Hell"
Sister cities
Lawrence has two
sister cities:
*
Eutin,
Germany*
Hiratsuka,
JapanNotable natives and residents
*
Phog Allen, basketball coach
*
The Appleseed Cast Band
*
William H. Avery, politician
*
Thomas Barber, pioneer
*
Hugh Beaumont, actor
*
Erin Brockovich, environmental activist
*
George Brown, politician
*
William S. Burroughs, author
*
Wilt Chamberlain, Hall of Fame basketball player
*
Paul Endacott, Hall of Fame basketball player
*
Dorothy Canfield Fisher, author
*
George Docking, politician
*
Robert Docking, politician
*
Bob Dole, politician
*
Thomas Frank, author
*
James Gunn, author
*
Donald J. Hall, Sr., businessman
*
Herk Harvey, actor, motion picture director, producer, and writer
*
Ralph Houk, New York Yankees manager
*
Langston Hughes, poet and author
*
Jane Dee Hull, politician
*
Lydia Hull, actress
*
Bill James, baseball author
*
Patty Jenkins, film writer/director (
Monster (movie))
*
Don Johnson, actor
*
Kij Johnson, author
*
Nancy Landon Kassebaum, politician
*
Kenton Keith, diplomat
*
Phill Kline, politician
*
Alf Landon, politician
*
Stanley Lombardo, professor, translator
*
Deane Waldo Malott, university president
*
Danny Manning, professional basketball player
*
Mates of State, rock band
*
David McClain, university president
*
Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering for Keyhole, the software that became
Google Earth*
Elmer McCollum, scientist
*
Chuck Mead, musician and songwriter (
BR-549)
*
Charles D. Michener, scientist
*
Paul Mirecki, educator
*
Dennis Moore, politician
*
Franklin David Murphy, university president
*
James Naismith, inventor of basketball
*
Matthew Nyquist, creator and co-host of the
Internet radio show
The Game Show*
Sara Paretsky, author
*
Mandy Patinkin, actor
*
William Cyrus Pollard, historian
*
Maurice Prather, motion picture and still photographer and film director
*
Matthew Pryor, musician (
The Get Up Kids)
*
Jim Ryun, athlete, politician
*
Kathleen Sebelius, politician
*
Kliph Scurlock, drummer of
The Flaming Lips*
Roger Shimomura, artist
*
Vernon L. Smith, Nobel Prize winning economist
*
Deanell Reece Tacha, jurist
*
Jim Thorpe, athlete
*
Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of the planet Pluto
* Steve Jeltz, former professional baseball player
*
Mimi Thebo, author
*
Roy Williams, basketball coach
*
Kevin Wilmott, filmmaker
*
Shaw Wilson,musician and songwriter (
BR-549)
*
Kaw River - Natural crossing point for westward wagon trains on the
Oregon Trail*
California Road - Cutoff on the Oregon Trail to Lawrence, Kansas from Westport
General
*
Lawrence, Kansas Directory*
City of Lawrence*
Lawrence Visitors Bureau*
Clinton Lake*
University of Kansas*
Lawrence Journal-World (Lawrence's daily newspaper)
*
6 News Lawrence (Lawrence's local television station)*
Lawrence.com (music, nightlife, events calendar)
*
Lawrence Chamber of Commerce*
Downtown Lawrence*
City of Lawrence, Kansas Community Networks*
Lawrence Kansas Anarchist*
University of Kansas College Radio KJHKHistory
*
Sheriff Jones*
Battle of Lawrence Self Guided Tour
*
Lawrence Massacre*
1st Edition 1863 Report on Quantrill's Lawrence Kansas Massacre*
This Is America?: The Sixties in Lawrence, KansasMaps
References
*
"Lawrence is the center of the world for more than Jayhawk fans" by Kristen Jarboe, The University Daily Kansan, January, 26, 2006, retrieved May 3, 2006
