Hide Article Text (OCR)
beal links city to Civil War s startBy RICHARD BRACK J-W Staff WriterThe city seal that Lawrence city commissioners are considering changing dates back nearly 135 years to the days when proslavery forces sacked Lawrence and threatened the lives of its “Free Staters.”According to a newspaper clipping in the collection of the Elizabeth M. Watkins Community Museum, the seal was conceived “just after” the sack of Lawrence in May 1856.“This is the best dating that we have ever had of the phoenix rising from the ashes,” said Steve Jansen, director of the Watkins Community Museum. “That’spushing it farther back than we had ever suspected.”The seal is important, he said,because it recalls Lawrence’s role as the “symbolic birthplace of the Civil War.”The seal has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks as local preservationists and others concerned about Lawrence’s pre-Civil War history voiced their displeasure at the prospect of losing the symbol. Their concern forced commissioners to put on hold their idea to sponsor a contest to modernize the seal.LONE PROBLEM discovered in the ensuing discussions was that no one was certain when or where the symbol originated.According to the newspaper article, which contains the recollections of a witness to the 1856 conflagration, the seal depicts the phoenix rising fromthe burning Free State Hotel, one of the prime targets of proslavery forces in their raid.The article states, “I came down to Lawrence to view the ruins of the hotel, (and) Mr. William Hutchinson, with four other men, were appointed to procure a seal for the city. . . I immediately answered, ‘Make it the ruins of the Free State Hotel, surmounted by a Phoenix.’ This device was afterward adopted as a permanent seal for the city ofLawrence.”Jansen speculated the seal may have become official when Lawrence was incorporated in 1858.AS IT NOW appears on cityvehicles, the seal bears the motto “From ashes to immortality” and the date 1863, the year ofQuantrill’s Raid, when Lawrence again was sacked and more than 100 people killed.On vehicles, the size of the seal makes it easier to interpret. At their meeting last week, city commissioners said they only considered a smaller version of the seal as it appears on city letterhead.One commissioner said the letterhead version resembled an “ink smear.”Jansen said he was glad the issue had been raised because it would lead to better education of residents about Lawrence’s colorful history.“People forget... that the war in Kansas was a kind of national symbol and a testing ground forthe Civil War,” Jansen said. “ItSee Seal, page 7A
Newspaper Details
Lawrence Journal World
Lawrence, Kansas, US
Wed, Jan 30, 1991
Page 48
Full Page
Clipped by
Lawrence P.
KS, USA 09 Dec 2022
Other Publications Near Lawrence, Kansas
Lawrence Journal World
Journal World
Lawrence Daily Gazette
Lawrence Daily Journal World
Lawrence Chieftain
