CyberCivics

Labette County

• County Seat: Oswego
• County Code: LB
• Established: February 26, 1867
• Organized: March 10, 1867
• Region in Kansas: Southeast

Origin of Name: The Big and Little Labette Creeks, named after French explorer and trader Pierre La Baette, who traveled in the area and lived among the Osage Indians until the mid 1800s.

Did you know?

• Labette County was known for the "Bloody Benders," a family who ran a rough little roadside inn where individuals could stop to get a meal and rest. The only trouble was, the "rest" would be eternal. They would seat the traveler at a table in front of a curtain partition and one of the Benders would bludgeon them in the head with a hammer or an ax, rob them, push them into a hole in the floor and later bury them in an orchard. This would become known as one of America's first mass-murder burial grounds. The story and the implements used to kill their victims are at a museum in nearby Cherryvale in Montgomery County.
• Oswego was built on the site of an Osage Indian village called No tse Wa spe, which means "heart stays."
• The town of Chetopa was named after the Osage Indian chieftain Tzi-Topah.
• Parsons holds its annual Katy Days Festival every Memorial Day weekend. The festival is a celebration of Parsons' town history and its railroad heritage.
• The Oakwood Cemetery in Parson has two Antietam Circles built by Civil War veterans in 1887 and 1889. The circles are named after the Battle of Antietam, one of the bloodiest battles during the Civil War, in honor of the soldiers who lost their lives.

Notable Residents:

William Coffin Coleman, Bill Guthridge

Lane County

• County Seat: Dighton
• County Code: LE
• Established: March 20, 1873
• Organized: June 3, 1886
• Region in Kansas: West Central

Origin of Name: James H. Lane, a leader of the Jayhawker abolitionist movement and one of the first U.S. senators from Kansas.

Did you know?

• Dighton is the only incorporated town in Lane County.
• On May 23, 1928, the Fleagle Gang arrived in Dighton after robbing the First National Bank of Lamar, Colorado. Needing medical attention, they kidnapped local doctor W.W. Weinenger, and later shot him and dumped his body into a ravine outside of Scott City.
• The popular 19th century folk song "Lane County Bachelor," by an unknown author, describes the harsh conditions that many homesteaders faced. The song goes:
  
  Frank Baker's the name and a bachelor I am,
  I'm keeping old batch on an elegant plan.
  You'll find me out west in the county of Lane,
  I'm starving to death on a government claim.
  
  My house is built of the natural soil,
  The walls are erected according to Hoyle.
  The roof has no pitch but is level and plain,
  And I always get wet when it rains.
  
  Hurrah for Lane County, the land of the free,
  The home of the grasshopper, bedbug and flea.
  I'll sing loud its praises and tell of its fame,
  While starving to death on a government claim.

Leavenworth County

• County Seat: Leavenworth
• County Code: LV
• Established: August 25, 1855
• Organized: September 17, 1855
• Region in Kansas: Northeast

Origin of Name: Fort Leavenworth, the most important military post in the West, which was named after Colonel Henry H. Leavenworth of the United States Army.

Did you know?

• Leavenworth County was one of the 33 original Kansas Territory counties created by the first act to establish counties passed by the first Territorial Legislature of 1855.
• Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active military post west of Washington, D.C. The fort was originally established in 1827 to protect the transfer of goods along the Santa Fe Trail.
• The Frontier Army Museum at Fort Leavenworth collects and preserves articats that tell the story of the Frontier Army from 1804 to 1916, and Fort Leavenworth from 1827 to the present through the use of its collection of historical artifacts.
• The United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth (a federal prison) and the United States Disciplinary Barracks (the U.S. military's only maximum-security prison) are located on the grounds of Fort Leavenworth.
• Leavenworth was the first incorporated city in Kansas, with its founding in 1854.
• The Lansing Correctional Facility is Kansas' largest and oldest correctional facility.
• Fort de Cavagnial (pronounced cav-an-yaw) was the first permanent European settlement and fort within the borders of present-day Kansas. Built in 1744, the fort was named for its founder, Francois-Pierre Rigaud, baron de Cavagnial, marquis de Vaudreuil, French governor of Louisiana. The fort served as a fur trade center for the Kansa Indians and other tribes and operated until 1764, shortly after the vast Louisiana Territory, including Kansas, was ceded to Spain by France. The exact location of Fort de Cavagnial is presently unknown.
• The town of Tonganoxie was named after the last lineal Delaware Indian chief of the same name.
• In 1866 the U.S. government authorized the formation of four African-American regiments. The 10th Cavalry was formed at Fort Leavenworth and became known as the "Buffalo Soldiers."
• In 1881 General William Tecumseh Sherman established the School of Application for Cavalry and Infantry at Fort Leavenworth. Many famous officers graduated from this school, including Generals Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar N. Bradley and George S. Patton, Jr. In 1946 the school changed its name to the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.
• Lansing is home to Mount Muncie Cemetery, which includes the graves of several well-known persons: Thomas Carney, Kansas’ second governor; Fred Harvey, creator of the Harvey House restaurant chain; D.R. Anthony, the brother of Susan B. Anthony; Walter Cronkite’s mother, Helen Lena Fritsche Cronkite; and Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, who were convicted and executed for the Holcomb murders of the Herbert Clutter family, which was the basis for Truman Capote’s book, In Cold Blood.

Notable Residents:

David J. Brewer, Buffalo Bill Cody, Melissa Etheridge, Fred Harvey, Joseph Henderson, Wild Bill Hickok, Wayne Simien

Lincoln County

• County Seat: Lincoln
• County Code: LC
• Established: February 26, 1867
• Organized: October 4, 1870
• Region in Kansas: North Central

Origin of Name: Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States and author of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Did you know?

• Donald K. Ross, born and raised in Beverly, was the first Medal of Honor recipient during World War II for his actions during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
• Lincoln County is known as the Post Rock Capital of Kansas for its use of local limestone in building construction.
• The town of Lincoln is actually named Lincoln Center by its incorporation in 1879 and is still referred to as such in the U.S. census. However, both the city government and local chamber of commerce refer to the city as Lincoln, and it appears as such on state maps and signs.
• Lincoln holds a Lincoln Reenactment Celebration each year in February to celebrate Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The event includes a Lincoln look-alike contest, reenactments of events from Lincoln's life and reenactments of other notable 19th century events.

Notable Residents:

Martin Johnson, Donald K. Ross