Lawrence, Kansas
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Lawrence is a river city in Douglas County, Kansas, 41 miles (66 km) west by south of Kansas City, along both banks of the Kaw River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 80,098. Lawrence is the county seat of Douglas County, and is the home of the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University.
History
- Further information: Bleeding Kansas, Sacking of Lawrence and Lawrence Massacre
In the Bleeding Kansas era, Lawrence was a center of anti-slavery sentiment. On May 21, 1856, a pro-slavery posse led by Sheriff Samuel J. Jones burned the Free-State Hotel, destroyed the equipment of two anti-slavery newspapers, and looted several other businesses; no loss of life was recorded. Abolitionist John Brown's nearby Pottawatomie massacre is believed to be a reaction to this event. On August 21, 1863, during the American Civil War, Confederate guerrillas led by William Quantrill burned most of the houses and commercial buildings in Lawrence and killed 150 to 200 of the men they found in Lawrence. Of historical importance is KU's Pioneer Cemetery, perhaps best known for being the final resting place of Thomas Barber, as well as Elmer McCollum, KU alumnus who is credited with discovering Vitamin A.
The University of Kansas was founded in Lawrence in 1865 by the citizens of Lawrence under a charter granted by the Kansas Legislature, with the donation of 40 acres (160,000 m²) of land on Mount Oread by former Kansas Governor Charles Robinson and his wife, Sara, and a small monetary gift from Amos Adams Lawrence. As a college town, Lawrence is known for its liberal philosophy and distinctive culture.
Lawrence also holds the distinction of having been the site of operation for the state's first railroad in 1871 and the city where the state's first telephone was installed in 1877. In 1989, when the Free State Brewing Co. opened in Lawrence, it was the first legal brewery in Kansas in more than 100 years. The restaurant is in a renovated inter-urban trolley station in downtown Lawrence.
In the early 1980s Lawrence grabbed national, and later, world attention because of the television movie The Day After. The TV movie first appeared on ABC, but was later shown in movie theaters around the world. The movie depicted what would happen to average Americans, particularly those living in Lawrence and surrounding communities, if the United States was destroyed in a nuclear war. The movie was filmed in Lawrence with help from many people in the community.
Geography
Lawrence is located at (38.959902, -95.253199)[Geographic references#1GR1].This is about 25 miles (40 km) west of Kansas City, and about 20 miles (30 km) east of Topeka.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 74.3 km² (28.7 mi²). 72.8 km² (28.1 mi²) of it is land and 1.5 km² (0.6 mi²) is water, including Potter Lake on the KU campus. The total area is 2.06% water.
Google Earth, software that allows the user to "fly" over the surface of the earth, mapped with high-quality satellite photography and accurate topographical data, has a default position when started up that is centered exactly on the town of Lawrence (specifically, on an apartment building lying between Compton Square and Regency Place). This may be verified by running the software and zooming in from the default start position without rotating the virtual globe at all. This location was set by Brian McClendon, a 1986 graduate of the University of Kansas and now a director of engineering at Google.[link]
Demographics
As of the census[Geographic references#2GR2] of 2000, there were 80,098 people, 31,388 households, and 15,725 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,100.2/km² (2,849.4/mi²). There were 32,761 housing units at an average density of 450.0/km² (1,165.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 83.80% White, 5.09% African American, 2.93% Native American, 3.78% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.36% from other races, and 2.97% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.65% of the population.
There were 31,388 households out of which 25.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 38.0% were married couples living together, 8.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 49.9% were non-families. 30.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 5.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.30 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the city the population was spread out with 18.6% under the age of 18, 30.7% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 15.1% from 45 to 64, and 7.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 25 years. For every 100 females there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $34,669, and the median income for a family was $51,545. Males had a median income of $33,481 versus $27,436 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,378. About 7.3% of families and 18.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.6% of those under age 18 and 7.7% of those age 65 or over.
Politics and culture
While Kansas may be one of the most heavily Republican states in America, Lawrence is reliably Democratic. Douglas County, where Lawrence is located, was one of only two counties in Kansas to vote for the Democratic candidate in the last presidential election. Douglas County has supported the Democratic candidate the past four presidential elections. Douglas County was the only county in the state to reject the amendment to the Kansas Constitution prohibiting both gay marriage and civil unions in April, 2005.Lawrence also features the customary staples of college-town liberalism, such as an anarchist bookstore, two microbreweries, a half dozen locally-owned coffeehouses, and a law protecting gay people from discrimination. The city is known for a thriving music and art scene; The New York Times called Lawrence "the most vital music scene between Chicago and Denver" in a travel column on February 25, 2005, and Rolling Stone named Lawrence one of the "best lil' college towns" in the country in their August 11, 2005 issue. They had previously named the local commercial radio station, KLZR 105.9 FM, as one of a top ten "Stations that Didn't Suck" in 1998. The station, which was independently owned at that time, was soon after sold to the Zimmer Radio Group on Sept 1, 1998, and the format changed to Top 40. It has since softened its image again, and since mid 2005 is a Hot AC format station.
Lawrence's culture isn't just political activism and the arts; the town is famous for the University of Kansas's athletic teams as well. The highly-ranked Kansas Jayhawks basketball team becomes the town's obsession during the winter, and the football team has qualified for a bowl game two out of the past three seasons.
Education
Universities
The University of Kansas is the largest public university in the state with a total enrollment of under 30,000 including the Medical Center. It has over 170 fields of study—many nationally ranked—and nationally known Kansas Jayhawks athletics programs.Haskell Indian Nations University offers free tuition to members of registered Native American tribes with an average enrollment of more than 1000 students representing all 50 states and 150 tribes. Haskell is the home of the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame and the Haskell Cultural Center.
K-12 schools
The [Lawrence Public Schools] USD 497 includes two public high schools: Lawrence High School and Lawrence Free State High School. The athletic teams of the former are nicknamed the "Chesty Lions", and those of the latter are the "Firebirds". Private high schools include Bishop Seabury Academy, which is affiliated with the Episcopal Church, and the non-denominational Veritas Christian School. The two elementary schools with that highest scores on the yearly state assessments are Deerfield Elementary School and Quail Run elementary school.Sites of interest
Downtown Lawrence, in particular Massachusetts Street, has a lively atmosphere and is filled with restaurants, galleries, shops, and music venues.The University of Kansas campus is home to many museums, including the KU Natural History Museum [link] and the Spencer Museum of Art [link]. The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics houses various artifacts from the life of the former Kansas Senator. Another possible site of interest is the Lawrence Art Center. It has daytime activities, organized plays and acts, and an art gallery filled with artwork created by the townspeople. Artwork, theater, and other related activities are some of the biggest parts of Lawrence.
Clinton Lake is located approximately three miles (5 km) southwest of Lawrence and has areas for boating, swimming, fishing, and camping.
There are a variety of mountain biking venues, including the trails at Clinton Lake, and the [river trails] by the Kansas River.
Trivia
- Poet, author, and counterculture figure William S. Burroughs moved to Lawrence in 1983 and died there at age 83, from complications following a heart attack, on August 2, 1997.
- Lawrence was destroyed by a Soviet nuclear bomb, along with Kansas City, Missouri in the 1983 TV movie The Day After.
- One of the main filming locations for Carnival of Souls, a horror cult film released in 1962.
- A scene from Where pigeons go to die, a movie directed by Michael Landon, was shot in the 1300 block of Massachusetts St..
- There are three separate tunnel systems underneath Massachusetts Street, as well as an extensive steam-tunnel network underneath the University of Kansas, which includes tunnels designed as nuclear attack shelters.
- The inventor of basketball, James Naismith, was the first basketball coach at the University of Kansas and was the only KU coach with a losing record.
- In the television show Supernatural, the main characters were born in Lawrence; several scenes from the pilot (and one whole episode) were set in Lawrence.
- Lawrence's Mount Oread is named after a hill in Boston where many of the city's first settlers were from.
- The center of Google Earth's default view is Lawrence, Kansas, probably because one of its staff members studied at the University of Kansas, and it is near the center of the contiguous United States
Sister cities
Lawrence has three sister cities:- Eutin, Germany
- Hiratsuka, Japan
- El Papaturro, El Salvador
Notable natives and residents
- Lydia Hull, actress
- Hugh Beaumont, actor
- Erin Brockovich, environmental activist
- William S. Burroughs, author
- Paul Endacott, Hall of Fame basketball player
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher, author
- James Gunn, author
- Herk Harvey, actor, motion picture director, producer, and writer
- Ralph Houk, New York Yankees manager
- Langston Hughes, poet and author
- Bill James, baseball author
- Kij Johnson, author
- Brian McClendon, VP of Engineering for Keyhole, the software that became [[w:Google Earth|Google Earth]]
- Matthew Nyquist, creater and co-host of the Internet radio show The Game Show
- Sara Paretsky, author
- Maurice Prather, motion picture and still photographer and film director
- Matthew Pryor, musician (The Get Up Kids)
- Jim Thorpe, athlete
- Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of the planet Pluto
- Roger Shimomura, artist
- Patty Jenkins, film writer/director (Monster (movie))
- James Naismith, inventor of basketball
- Steve Jeltz, former professional baseball player
See also
- Kaw River - Natural crossing point for westward wagon trains on the Oregon Trail
- California Road - Cutoff on the Oregon Trail to Lawrence, Kansas from Westport
External links
General
- [Lawrence, Kansas Directory]
- [City of Lawrence]
- [Lawrence Visitors Bureau]
- [Clinton Lake]
- [University of Kansas]
- [Lawrence Journal-World] (Lawrence's daily newspaper)
- [6 News Lawrence] (Lawrence's local television station)
- [Lawrence.com] (music, nightlife, events calendar)
- [Lawrence Chamber of Commerce]
- [Downtown Lawrence]
- [City of Lawrence, Kansas Community Networks]
- [Lawrence Kansas Anarchist]
- [University of Kansas College Radio KJHK]
History
- [Sheriff Jones]
- [Battle of Lawrence] Self Guided Tour
- [Lawrence Massacre]
- [1st Edition 1863 Report on Quantrill's Lawrence Kansas Massacre]
- [This Is America?: The Sixties in Lawrence, Kansas]
Maps
References
- ["Lawrence is the center of the world for more than Jayhawk fans"] by Kristen Jarboe, The University Daily Kansan, January, 26, 2006, retrieved May 3, 2006
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