Art Tougeau Parade in Downtown Lawrence Kansas

The Founding of Lawrence: The Arms Race

The town of Lawrence was founded on August 1, 1854, by settlers sent by the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company. They were the first of 1,000 settlers sent to populate Kansas Territory with abolitionists. The Company was funded by a group of Boston abolitionists spurred to action by the new…

Read More

It wasn’t called Bleeding Kansas for nothing

Everyday we hear about civil wars and conflicts in different parts of the world that can seem far removed from our everyday lives. But there was a time when Kansas was at the center of a bitter and oftentimes brutal struggle between abolitionists and pro-slavery supporters. It wasn’t called…

Read More

Explore Lawrence Block-by-Block

eXplore Lawrence is thrilled to announce the launch of Lawrence: Block-by-Block, a project that reveals the then and now of the buildings we dine, shop, and dance in. The Block-by-block project began in the spring of 2017 in a journalism class at the University of Kansas. All research was…

Read More

Historic Trails of Douglas County

[metaslider id=5664] As a child, I remember driving Kansas back roads at night with my grandparents. It was a black ocean of grass and a sky awash with stars. As I looked out my window, I would imagine what it must have felt like for the people who traveled it before, in covered wagons lurching and…

Read More