Bird’s Eye View of the City of Lawrence Kansas 1869

Stunning postwar lithographed view of Lawrence, Kansas.

This marvelous bird’s eye view of Lawrence, Kansas shows the growing frontier town just fifteen years after it was first founded by settlers of the New England Emigrant Aid Company in 1854. The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act that same year prompted abolitionists to move to the territory in droves, leading Lawrence to become the Free Soil capital and home to many victims of ‘Bleeding Kansas’ and Civil War violence.

The image, oriented with north at the top, captures in detail a city of about 6,000 just a few years after the dust had settled. Clusters of homes and farms are situated on orderly streets, with a downtown district about two blocks long. Fields of hay, windmills, and well-dressed hikers seen in the foreground all reflect, on some level, prosperity and industry. The railroad had arrived in 1864, though it doesn’t yet appear to be able to cross the Kansas River.

On the opposite bank, North Lawrence is a small suburb, home to the Union Pacific Railroad Depot and Bismarck Shop. These are two of sixteen structures (9 public buildings and 7 churches) that are numbered and labeled in the lower margin. Nearby can also be seen vignettes of the public school and Kansas State University (KU), established just a few years prior to printing.

The image was designed and published by Albert Ruger in 1869. With over 250 known lithographs, Ruger (1828 – 1899) was a prolific artist who is best known for his depictions of Midwestern cities in the first decade after the Civil War. He was one of a number of American viewmakers who intimately captured the nation’s urban growth during the second half of the 19th century.

Sources: Library of Congress; Reps 1100.