The History of our Public Schools
Wyandotte County, Kansas

Native American Links

The Wyandots called themselves uncles to the Delawares.  They finally talked their nephews into selling thirty-six sections of land lying between the two rivers and extending as far west as Muncie.  Three other sections were given as a present.  The Delawares had not made use of this part of their holdings, so no one had to give up a home to the Wyandots.

Some people say that the chiefs had planned to lay out a village of one-acre lots with the farms on the outskirts.  You know how that was done in Europe in feudal times.  This plan was not carried out.  Families staked their boundaries by planting four small trees, one on each corner.  This way of marking caused farms to be laid out in a very uneven pattern.  Later the streets of the city had jogs in them when somebody's farm stood in their path.

Families who could afford it began to build log houses on their land.  The poorer people moved to higher ground and spent the winter in whatever shelter they could provide for themselves.  Fortunately the winter of 1843-1844 was mild.