Lawrence
Lawrence,
city, seat (1855) of Douglas county, eastern Kansas, U.S., on the Kansas (Kaw)
River. It was founded in 1854 by antislavery radicals who had come to Kansas
under the auspices of the New England Emigrant Aid Company to outvote proslavery
settlers and thus make Kansas a nonslave state. The town was named for Amos A.
Lawrence, a New England textile manufacturer. It was a noted station on the
Underground Railroad by which slaves escaped into free territory. As a Jayhawker
(Abolitionist) headquarters, the town was sacked
in 1856 by proslavery militia under a former Democratic senator from Missouri,
David Rice Atchison, and in 1863 by the Confederate guerrilla William Clarke
Quantrill, who massacred more than 150 citizens. In 1866 the University of
Kansas was opened there, and in 1884 Haskell Institute (now Haskell Indian
Junior College) was established for American Indians. Baker University (1858) is
in Baldwin City, 13 miles (21 km) south. Lawrence has some small factories, but
it is essentially a college town. Inc. 1858. Pop. (1992 est.) city, 66,810;
Lawrence MSA, 83,293.
Manhattan
city, Pottawatomie and Riley counties
and seat of Riley county, northeastern Kansas, U.S., where the Big Blue and
Kansas (Kaw) rivers meet, there dammed to form Tuttle Creek Lake, on the
northern edge of the rolling Flint Hills. The village was founded in 1855 when
the settlements of Poleska and Canton were consolidated as Boston, only to be
renamed Manhattan the next year by mutual agreement between the Boston
Association of Kansas and a party of colonists from Cincinnati, Ohio. The
"Beecher Bible and Rifle" Church (1862) received its name from the
proslavery and antislavery tumult, when rifles for the Abolitionist
congregation arrived in crates marked "Bibles." Chiefly an educational
centre, Manhattan is the home of Kansas State
University (one of the first land-grant colleges in the United States,
founded in 1863) and Manhattan Christian College (1927). It is a trading and
processing centre for the surrounding agricultural area. Fort Riley (1852),
headquarters of the 1st Infantry Division, is 8 miles (13 km) southwest. Inc.
1857. Pop. (1990) 37,712.
Osawatomie
city, Miami county, eastern Kansas, U.S.
It lies along the Marais des Cygnes River at the mouth of Pottawatomie Creek.
Settled in 1854 with support of the New England Emigrant Aid Company, Osawatomie
was the headquarters for John Brown's militant
Free State operations in the Kansas Territory and was a station on the
Underground Railroad (for escaped slaves). In retaliation for Brown's slaying of
five proslavery settlers at Pottawatomie Creek, his stronghold was invaded on
Aug. 30, 1856, by Missourians. Brown and 40 of his Abolitionist
followers fled, and the town was ransacked and burned. The John Brown Memorial
Park commemorates this skirmish and Brown's career. The name Osawatomie combines
the names of the Osage and Potawatomi Indians. The city is on a division point
of the Missouri Pacific Railroad and has railroad shops. It is near oil and gas
fields and is a trading centre for an agricultural region. Osawatomie State
(mental) Hospital was established in 1863. Inc. city, 1882. Pop. (1992 est.)
4,563.
Salem
city, Columbiana county, northeastern
Ohio, U.S., 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Youngstown. It was settled in 1801 by
Quakers from Salem, N.J., and was laid out in 1806. Before the American Civil
War it was a station on the Underground Railroad for runaway slaves, and it was
also headquarters of the Western Anti-Slavery Society, which published the Anti-Slavery
Bugle. (see also Index: abolitionism)
Waukesha
city, seat (1847) of Waukesha County,
southeastern Wisconsin, U.S., on the Fox River, immediately west of Milwaukee.
Settled in 1834 as Prairieville, it was renamed Waukesha (Potawatomi for
"By the Little Fox"). A station on the Underground Railroad for
runaway slaves, it was an Abolitionist centre
before the Civil War, publishing the anti-slavery American Freeman. From 1870 to 1915 it was a health resort known for
its mud baths and mineral springs. Limestone quarrying and diversified
industries, including machine shops and foundries and food processing, are
economic mainstays. It is the seat of Carroll College (1846) and of a University
of Wisconsin centre (1966). Inc. village, 1852; city, 1896. Pop. (1990) 56,958.
Worcester
city, seat (1731) of Worcester county,
central Massachusetts, U.S., on the Blackstone River, midway between Boston and
Springfield. A major commercial and industrial centre and the state's second
largest city, it is the hub of an urbanized area composed of a number of towns
(townships) including Holden, Shrewsbury, Boylston, Millbury, Auburn, and
Leicester. The original settlement (1673) was disbanded during King Philip's
(Indian) War (1675-76) against the colonists, and permanent settlement was not
realized until 1713. The community was incorporated as a town in 1722 and named
for Worcester, Eng.
Textile manufacturing began in 1789, and
the first corduroy cloth in the United States was produced there. Early economic
development was hindered by a lack of waterpower, but, with the advent of steam
power and the opening (1828) of the Blackstone Canal linking the community to
Providence, R.I., a period of expansion and industrialization began; the
building of railway connections further stimulated the city's growth. Modern
industries are highly diversified and include the production of primary and
fabricated metals, textiles, clothing, paper, leather, electrical machinery,
stone, clay products, glass, and precision instruments. State hospitals located
there also contribute to the economy.
The city was an early centre of Abolitionist
sentiment and became an important stop on the Underground
Railroad, a route for escaped slaves. The Free-Soil Party in
Massachusetts, which opposed the extension of slavery, evolved out of a meeting
held in Worcester (1848). The city, a noted educational and cultural centre, is
the seat of the College of the Holy Cross (1843; the oldest New England Catholic
college), Worcester Polytechnic Institute (1865), the Worcester State College
(1874), Clark University (1887), Assumption College (1904), and Becker College:
Worcester Campus (1887). Other institutions include the Worcester Art Museum,
New England Science Center, the Worcester Historical Society Museum, and the
John Woodman Higgins Armory Museum (with a notable collection of medieval
armour). The annual Worcester Music Festival (begun in 1858) is the oldest such
festival in the United States. Lake Quinsigamond and the Quinsigamond State Park
are nearby. Inc. city, 1848. Pop. (1993 est.) city, 163,932; Worcester MSA,
470,774.
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