Prior to the commencement of the Civil War in 1861, the vicinity around Kansas City was a hotbed of activity due to pro-slavery and anti-slavery sentiments igniting along the Missouri-Kansas border.
The beginning of what would become known as Bleeding Kansas was generated by white settlement starting in 1854 in what was once Indian Territory. Most early settlers opted to lay their roots close to Missouri in Johnson County, named after Methodist minister and politician Rev. Thomas Johnson (1802-1865).
These early settlers also opted to create towns to generate business activities. Now the county seat of Johnson County, Kan., Olathe has an interesting and surprising early history that hosted a plethora of colorful characters, indicative of the unsteady early beginnings of statehood.
Before White Settlement
The lands comprising what would become the state of Kansas were the native lands of the Kansas, Pawnee and Osage tribes…