This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
First Regular Passe Shaped Kansas City’s Rise to Boom Town
Colorful look at how the December 19 1864 start of regular passenger service from Kansas City to Lawrence triggered a westward railroad boom. It traces Lawrence and Denver milestones, frontier towns like Ellsworth and Hays City, Buffalo Bill era lawlessness, and Kansas City’s rapid growth to become Missouri’s second city by 1870.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Missouri
Floyd C. Shoemaker
Kansas City
Leavenworth
Oregon Bond
Buffalo Bill
Wild Bill Hickok
Calamity Jane
Lewis and Clark
Lisa and
Ashley
John C. Fremont
Santa Fe
Calfornia
Thomas Hart Benton
Lawrence
Kansas
Kansas Pacific
Denver
Denver Pacific Railroad
Cheyenne
Union Pacific
Ocean
Antonio Miguel Otero
New Mexico
Ellsworth
Hays City
Wild Bil Hickok
Otero
Burlington
Missouri River