Olathe is located just minutes from Kansas City, and is itself a city of about 100,000.
"Olathe" is the Shawnee Indian word
for "beautiful." The township was established in 1857, and later became a stop
along the Santa Fe Trail.
Travelers on the Santa Fe Trail depended primarily on the occasional farmer who
perhaps stocked extra supplies, or was known as a stopping point along the trail
where mail could be posted and received. The Mahaffie
Farmstead and Stagecoach Stop is one such site, and is the last remaining
stagecoach stop on the Santa Fe Trail that is open to the public.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the farm complex includes a
home with two-foot-thick native limestone walls, an icehouse, and a barn built using
wooden pegs. There is also a blacksmith shop and gift shop, and it is the site for
many special events and festivals.
In 1858 a group of Lawrence businessmen, envisioning a rail line from Kansas to
the Gulf of Mexico, organized the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Fort Gibson Railroad
Company. The war between the states delayed progress of their venture, but in 1864,
authorization was given to build a railroad from Leavenworth to the southern border
of Kansas.
Suffering a variety of setbacks, changes of ownership, and name changes, the rail
project moved slowly. In 1871, the route reached Coffeyville -- a total
distance of some 144 miles.
In 1878 the company was sold under foreclosure, and the new owners changed the name
to the Leavenworth, Lawrence & Galveston Railroad Company. The following year, the
name was changed once again to the Kansas City, Lawrence & Southern Railroad
Company. The prospering Santa Fe Railroad took control of the line in 1880, but it
continued to operate under its own name. During the 1880s, it consolidated with
other railroad companies under the name of the Southern Kansas Railroad Company.
One interesting place to visit in our area is the Ernie Miller Nature Center and Park,
which features over 100 acres of tall grass
prairie, woodlands, streams, and upland meadows. There are paved hiking trails, an
education center, a gift shop, and an outdoor amphitheater. Some species of the grasses
on the prairie once grew up to eight feet in height.
The Kansas State School for the Deaf was founded in 1861 in Baldwin, Kansas, and
relocated to Olathe in 1866. The school now serves about 165 local students and 300
statewide. The William Marra Museum exhibits photographic works of students who
attended the school. For researchers, the museum offers filed archives.
Integral to the lives of the hearing impaired is deaf sign language, adapted to
many languages over the world. The striking painting by Juel Petterson on our
home page depicts the sentiment, "God Bless America," in deaf sign.
And then, of course, there's one of our very favorite places --
Ensor Farmsite and Museum!
We hope you will someday visit us in Olathe...and by the way, the original cowboy
boot is from Olathe...and so are we!
