Lawrence

Sister cities

• Missolonghi
• Eutin

History

The Kaw people, also known as the Kansa, settled the region including what is now Lawrence in the late 17th or early 18th century. A series of treaties with the U.S. government compelled the Kaw to relinquish the land to the Shawnee and their Indian Reservation, established in 1830. The Kansas Territory was established in May 1854. During this period, the Oregon Trail ran parallel to the Kansas River, roughly through the area where Lawrence is now. A hill in the area, then known as Hogback Ridge and now known as Mount Oread, which sits on the water divide separating the Kansas and Wakarusa River, was used as a landmark and outlook by those on the trail. While the territory was technically closed to settlement until 1854, there were a few "squatter settlements" in the area, especially just north of the Kansas River. Lawrence was founded "strictly for political reasons" having to do with slavery, which was heavily debated in the United States in the early to mid-1800s. Northern Democrats, led by Senators Lewis Cass of Michigan and Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, promoted "popular sovereignty" as a middle position on the slavery issue. Its proponents argued it was more democratic, as it allowed the citizens of newly organized territories (and not Washington, D.C. politicians) to have a direct say as to the legality of slavery in their own lands.) Douglas eventually made popular sovereignty the backbone of his Kansas–Nebraska Actlegislation that effectively repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and created the territories of Kansas and Nebraskawhich passed Congress in 1854. The Christian abolitionist and Protestant minister Richard Cordley later noted that after the bill became law, "there was a feeling of despondency all over the north" because its passage "opened…

Geography

Lawrence is located approximately east of Topeka, and west of Kansas City, Kansas. Though Lawrence has a designated elevation of 866 feet (264 m), The city lies on the southern edge of the Dissected Till Plains, bordering the Osage Plains to the south. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which, is land and is water, and is split between Wakarusa Township and Grant Township with small portions in Lecompton, Kanwaka and Clinton Townships. Lawrence is between the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers. Several major creeks flow through Lawrence. Burroughs Creek in East Lawrence (named after the writer William S. Burroughs, who retired in East Lawrence) and Baldwin Creek in northwestern Lawrence empty into the Kansas River. Yankee Tank Creek in southwest Lawrence and an unnamed creek that flows through central Lawrence converge with the Wakarusa River south of the city. Yankee Tank Creek is dammed to form Lake Alvamar, which was originally called Yankee Tank Lake. The Wakarusa River was dammed to form Clinton Lake. Potter Lake is on the University of Kansas Campus and Mary's Lake is in southeastern Lawrence within Prairie Park. The Haskell-Baker Wetlands, maintained by Haskell University and Baker University, is an extensive open space in the southern part of the city that features wetlands, native plants, hiking and biking trails, and interpretative signage about the prairie and wetland ecosystems. Lawrence has 54 parks which include community and neighborhood parks, trails, cemeteries and nature preserves. A new, multi-use trail system called the Lawrence Loop ("the Loop") encircles the city and, when fully completed, will create a 22-mile paved recreational trail, a green transportation network, and multiple opportunities for…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,559
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  14,024
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  13,776
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,611
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,239
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,167
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  10,871
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  10,823