Hidden History of Kansas

by Adrian Zink

Overview

Kansas' storied past is filled with fascinating firsts, humorous coincidences and intriguing characters. A man who had survived a murderous proslavery massacre in 1858 hanged his would-be executioner five years later. A wealthy Frenchman utilized his utopian ideals to create an award-winning silk-producing commune in Franklin County. A young boy's amputated arm led to the rise of Sprint Corporation. The first victim of the doomed Donner Party met her end in Kansas. In 1947, a housewife in Johnson County, indignant at the poor condition of the local school for black children, sparked school desegregation nationwide. Author and historian Adrian Zink digs deep into the Sunflower State's history to reveal these hidden and overlooked stories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439663660
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	11/06/2017
Series:	Hidden History
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	229,510
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Adrian Zink is a native Kansan who has worked in the history profession for over fifteen years at a variety of museums, universities, archives and historic sites. Born and raised in Larned, he holds bachelor of arts degrees in history and political science from the University of Kansas, a master's of library science from the University of Maryland and a master's in history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He currently works at the National Archives-Kansas City. He has previously worked at the Kansas Historical Society, UW-Milwaukee Archives, the National Press Club Library and Archives in Washington, D.C., and at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum. Adrian and his wife, Toni, have two children and live in Overland Park, Kansas. This is his first book.

Table of Contents

Preface 9

1 Ancient Lands, Ancient Peoples and First Contact with Westerners

Glaciers of Ancient Kansas 11

Ice Age Peoples, Mammoths and Camels 13

Lewis and Clark 14

Ghost Town with a Hidden Memorial 16

The Saint Who Came to Kansas 17

Indian Burial Ground Tourist Attraction 19

2 Bleeding Kansas and Civil War

The Man Who Hanged His Would-Be Executioner 23

The Escape of Slave Ann Clark 27

First Kansas Colored Infantry: America's First Black Troops 31

The General Who Was Captured by a Private 33

Jim Lane Is Lucky There's a Cornfield Nearby 36

3 Wild West

Custer's Court-Martial 39

Wyatt Earp Comes to Wichita 42

Donner Party's First Victim 45

Skeletons from a Massacre 48

A Russian Grand Duke Visits 51

4 Science

Apollo 13 Comes to Kansas 54

George Washington Carver, Homesteader 57

The World's Smallest Impact Crater 61

The Sternberg Fossil-Hunting Dynasty 64

Hollywood in a Salt Mine 69

5 Wild Events

Sixteen Truckloads of Dirt on a Family's Yard 73

Knute Rockne's Plane Crash 80

Tarring and Feathering-Over Agriculture 85

The Dam that Displaced Four Towns 89

The Man Who Shot John Wilkes Booth 92

Tornadoes in Kansas 94

6 Crime

Kansas Women Give Carrie Nation a Few Whacks 96

The Dalton Gang Inspires the Eagles 98

Ronnie and Clyde Take a Toll on Kansas 100

7 Industry and Business

The First Pony Express Rider 104

Utopians Making Silk 106

The Battle of Kansas HO

Sprint Corporation and a Boy's Amputated Arm 112

First Patented Helicopter 114

Big Brutus 119

8 U.S. Presidents and One VP

Abraham Lincoln Drops by Practices an Important Speech 123

Wilson Has a Stroke 126

JFK Relegated to a High School Cafeteria 128

Ambrose Heckles Nixon 130

The Antiwar Mother of America's Greatest General 134

From Kansas Territory Indian Reservation to Vice President 136

9 Civil Rights and Societal Progress

Langston Hughes and Harper's Ferry 139

William Allen White Versus the KKK 145

The Kansas Housewife Who Sparked School Desegregation 147

First Woman Elected to Mayor in the Umted States

10 Quirky Stories 151

Blizzard of 1886 153

Route 66 155

The Flyswattcr 157

Denver…Kansas? 159

Dust Bowl Railroad 162

Ernest Hemingway and A Farewell to Arms 162

Amelia Earhart's First Flight 163

Take Your Time, Fellas 164

Good Timing, Volga Germans 165

11 Spouts

Naismith, the Losing Coach 168

John Wooden Works the Concrete at KU 170

The Town Named After a World Series Winner 172

Kansas' Lone Kentucky Derby-Winning Horse 174

Polo…but Played with Cars? What Could Possibly Go Wrong 175

Bibliography 179

Index 187

About the Author 192