A History Lover’s Guide to Lawrence, Kansas

Explore and Learn LFK

Lawrence was founded in 1854 by the New England Emigrant Aid Company, and it has a bevy of historical locations for visitors. Downtown’s infamous Mass Street was nearly destroyed twice by warmongering guerrillas like William Quantrill. It was central to the era of John Brown and Bleeding Kansas and the site of the Wakarusa War. From famous beat writer William Burroughs to poet Langston Hughes, vaudeville actor George ＂Nash＂ Walker and basketball inventor James Naismith, the city has been home to a great slice of American historical figures and events. Uncover some familiar landmarks as well as some hidden gems as Tristan Smith, with the help of the Watkins Community Museum, takes readers through Lawrence’s unique landscape.

Tristan Smith is an independent historian living in Houston, Texas. He has worked for museums and nonprofits in Kansas, Missouri and Texas for more than twenty years in marketing, curatorial, education, volunteer, management and administrative capacities. He is the author of Houston Fire Department (Images of America series, Arcadia Publishing, 2015), A History Lover’s Guide to Houston (The History Press, 2020), Historic Cemeteries of Houston and Galveston (The History Press, 2023), A History Lover’s Guide to Galveston (The History Press, 2024) and the forthcoming Treasures of Texas: National Historic Landmarks of the Lone Star State (Schiffer Publishing, 2025).