Manhattan, Kansas

Manhattan is a town located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. The town is located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 44,831. Manhattan is the county seat of Riley County. A small part of the town extends into Pottawatomie County.

History

Manhattan was settled in April 1855 by the abolitionist Isaac Goodnow http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/cgiwrap/imlskto/index.php?SCREEN=bio_sketches/goodnow_isaac/ and other New England settlers travelling to Kansas Territory under the auspices of the New England Emigrant Aid Company. It was originally named Boston. The new town incorporated two other small settlements already in the area, named Canton and Polistra. In June 1855 the steamboat Hartford, carrying 75 settlers from Ohio ran aground in the Kansas River near the settlement. The Hartford passengers accepted an invitation to join the new town, but insisted that it be renamed Manhattan, which was done on June 29, 1855. Manhattan was incorporated on May 30, 1857.

Related Topics:
1855 - Isaac Goodnow - Kansas Territory - New England Emigrant Aid Company - Boston - Ohio - Kansas River - 1857

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Early Manhattan settlers were harrassed by Native Americans and the town itself was threatened by pro-slavery Southerners, but the proximity of Fort Riley protected the settlement from the major violence visited upon other Free State towns during the "Bleeding Kansas" era. Manhattan soon became an abolitionist stronghold, railroad hub, and center of education.

Related Topics:
Native Americans - Slavery - Fort Riley - Bleeding Kansas

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In 1861, when the State of Kansas entered the Union, Goodnow, who had been a teacher in Rhode Island, began lobbying the legislature to establish a university in Manhattan. As an inducement, the Manhattanites offered to the state the physical plant of the private Blue Mont Central College, which began operating in Manhattan in 1860. The culmination of these efforts came on February 16, 1863, when the Kansas legislature established Kansas State University in Manhattan.

Related Topics:
1861 - Kansas - Rhode Island - 1860 - 1863 - Kansas State University

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