It seemed as if the whole world was collapsing during the Border Wars. They all came for the same purpose – for cheap land and a better life – but that didn’t mean that they weren’t divided by issues that would eventually tear the country apart. So many settlers of Kansas Territory came to simply forge a better life.
When Dr. Simeon Bishop Bell set up shop in the hamlet of Aubry in current-day Johnson County, Kan., he did it with the intention of making a better life for himself and his family. Regardless, the political tensions were so violent that he wouldn’t come out unscathed.
Dr. Simeon Bell was a country doctor, but just a few decades later, this man would drastically shift the trajectory of healthcare for generations to come. He single-handedly founded the Eleanor Taylor Bell Hospital that would morph into today’s KU Medical Center…