Disclosure: Unmistakably Lawrence sponsored this post. However, all opinions and photographs are my own.
Having lived at one time in my life in Lawrence, Kansas, I returned for a visit to study the town’s history and to experience the events surrounding Civil War on the Border. The experience helped me to better understand how significant figures in the state’s history impacted the town during a time referred to as Bleeding Kansas. Prior to the Civil War, feuds between pro-slavery Missourians and anti-slavery Kansans raged erupting in Lawrence in 1863. Confederate leader William Quantrill led a band of 400 men on horseback to attack the men and teenage boys. They burned homes and businesses to the ground. Some totals report that over 150 people were killed. Those who escaped death hid in cornfields or underground. Their accounts of that day tell the story.
Today, Lawrence is a thriving town having rebuilt itself on more than one occasion from conflict. The college town is home to the University of Kansas. Downtown businesses include eclectic eateries, breweries, boutique shopping, taverns, and bars. But many of the town’s original buildings remain as a testament to the town’s will to survive, including The Eldridge Hotel.
