Leavenworth Kansas and Lansing Kansas: History

The Land where Leavenworth and Fort Leavenworth are located today was originally inhabited by the Kansa, Osage and Delaware Indians and today many of our streets are named after these and other local Indian tribes.

The camera looks east on Delaware from the corner of Fifth Street, about 1870. The photograph was take by E.E. Henry, an early Leavenworth photographer whose studio was in 300 block of Delaware.

In 1827, Colonel Henry Leavenworth founded Fort Leavenworth on the bluffs of the Missouri River. For the next several decades Fort Leavenworth played an important role in keeping the peace among the various Indian tribes and the increasing number of settlers heading west. By the 1840's, travel to Oregon and California had begun and thousands of wagons passed through Fort Leavenworth on the way to the Santa Fe and Oregon Trail.

In 1854, the City of Leavenworth was founded as the very first city of Kansas. Leavenworth became nationally known as the 'jumping off point' for the opening of the West. Buffalo Bill Cody spent part of his youth here and later worked in the area as a Pony Express rider and Army scout. Cody's parents are buried in Leavenworth.

In 1858, the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth settled here. In 1864, the Sisters opened St. John's Hospital and in 1923 founded Saint Mary College.

In 1863, the legislature passed an act to erect the Kansas Stat Penitentiary on a site which is now located within the city of Lansing. The contract to build the prison was let in 1863 and work started in 1864. However, because of money difficulties connected with the Civil War, work stopped in 1864 and did not resume again until 1866. The building was first occupied in 1868.

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