What are teens to do?

Being a Kansas City, KS Native, one of the most frequent complaints that I hear from people is that there isn’t anything to do in Kansas City. In a way I find this statement to be true for  teenagers. In the inner city of Kansas City, KS there is only one Boy’s and Girl’s Club while many of the surrounding areas like Jackson County,Mo, having several brand new multi-million dollar Boy’s and Girls Clubs. For this weeks blog I decided to research what teens did in the Early 1900’s in Wyandotte County. By searching on the Kansas State Historical website, I found and article about Carnival Park. http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/KSCOLL/lochist/views/views6.htm . Carnival Park was located between 14th and 15th Streets in Kansas City,KS. This area is now occupied by Bishop Ward High School’s footbal field. Acorrding to the article the park opened in 1907, however it was only in operation for about 4 years. The closing of the park for some reason is a mystery. Only rumors have been noted. The park was known to have been a place for young adults to hangout. It was filled with several attractions including restraunts and rides. One rumor of the park closing was that it lacked the sell of alcohol.

although I agree with many of the residents of Wyandotte County, I believe it is up to the city to provide more positive attractions for young adults in the area. By giving youth some positive to do they will be less likely to get into trouble.

Intergration

            Inspired by my previous blog, I chose to write a blog about Sumner High School in Kansas City, KS. In order to find some facts about Sumner I visited the Kansas City Kansas Public School District website. On that website I found an excerpt titled The legacy: Sumner High school written by Johanna Sundblom. The excerpt was originally published in a book titled A History of Black Education in Kansas City, Kansas, Readin’, ‘Riting, ‘Rithmetic by William W. Boone.   Currently known as Sumner Academy Arts and Sciences, Sumner was once an all African American School. Integration laws passed due to the Brown vs. Board Court case in 1954 caused Sumner to close its doors in the spring of 1978. In the fall of 1978 Sumner re-opened as Sumner academy Arts and Sciences. In the excerpt by Johanna Sundblom,  Sundblom provides a brief history of Sumner High School. Sundblom mentioned that Sumner Originally opened in 1906 and other additions were added in 1924. Sundblom also mentioned how not only did students take pride in Sumner, but the community did as well as evidenced by much of Sumner’s funding being provided by the community.

 

The reason I had such an interest in finding out some history of Sumner High school is because many of my older relatives including my grandmother attended Sumner High prior to it becoming an Academy. As a child I always heard my relatives telling stories of some of the good times they had as Sumner Spartans. Not only did the name of Sumner change, but the colors changed from Black and Orange to Blue and White. The mascot also changed as well, from the Spartans to the Sabers.

Middle Schools in Kansas

 It is always interesting to find out information about your hometown. For this weeks blog I decided to write about an article that I found on the Kansas City Public School District website. The exact web address of the article ishttp://www.kckps.k12.ks.us/disthistory/pdf%20files/juniorhighs-kansascity-1928.pdf. The article is titled The Junior High Schools of Kansas City, Kansas by R.L. Lyman. This article originally featured in the School Review, Vol. XXXVI, No.3 printed March 1928.

In this article Lyman focused mainly on middle schools with in the Kansas City, KS Wyandotte County area. Lyman included facts stating some of the factors that affect middle schools in this area. Some of the factors Lyman mentioned were the meat packing industry as well as other job opportunities. The part of the article that I really found interesting is the section about Northwest and Northeast Junior High Schools. Northwest was built in 1924 and is still in use today, while Northeast was built at the same timed but closed in 1977 due to desegregation laws. The two buildings followed the  same architectural design and cost about the same to build. The Schools are only located about 3 miles apart, however Northwest was built for white students and Northeast was built for students of color. One thing I found interesting was that Northeast didn’t close until 1977, when Brown vs. Board occurred in 1954.

Other interesting facts that Lyman brought up in the article was the idea of grouping students by ability and the concept of preparing students for life after high school. As a student in the Elementary Education program at the University of Kansas, I have become familiar with the concept of ability grouping. As I read this article I noticed that the reasoning behind ability grouping is still the same in 2008 as it was in 1928. The idea is basically to simply cater to the learning needs of each student. The Concept of preparing student for life after high school has been an on-going situation. Some people belief that the purpose of the public school district is prepare students to become overall good citizens while others believe that public schools should prepare students for college. From what I observed by reading this article, schools in 1928 were geared more towards preparing students to become overall good citizens or for trade schools. I believe this to be true as evidenced by electives classes such as home decorating and sewing being offered. Such electives are rarely seen in the Kansas City, KS Public school District  today because of education reform acts such as “First Things First” or “No Child left behind”.

Overall I really enjoyed reading this article and learning more information about my hometown.

WPA in Wyandotte County

There’s nothing better than finding out history about your hometown. For this week’s blog I decided to find out about the History of Wyandotte County Lake.  In high school American History, I found out that Wyandotte County Lake was apart of the 1930’s workmen’s relief act. In order to find some history about Wyandotte County Lake I visited the Kansas City, KS public library site and there I came to the following web address http://www.kckpl.lib.ks.us/wyco/parks/damhist.html. Here at this site I was able to find a host of information about the History of Wyandotte County Lake.

Wyandotte County Lake was apart of the New Deal Act proposed by President Roosevelt.  The construction of the lake was a way for residents to seek employment while providing a method of water conservation for Wyandotte County. Construction on the lake started in 1936 and it wasn’t fully complete until 1943.While on the website I was able to view an excerpt from a speech by Wyandotte County Parks Ranger Timothy H. Johnson. The title of this excerpt is The Building of The Lake The Early Years. By reading this I was able to get an idea of what pioneers of Wyandotte County Lake had in mind as far as the planning, constructing and use of the lake. In particular I found it to be very interesting on how much the workers were paid for a 69 hour work week. Their weekly salary doesn’t even compare to what modern days workers make in just one day of work.

Also at the Kansas Public Library website I was able to view a chronological timeline of the construction of Wyandotte County Lake. This was interesting because as with most plans everything does not  always go as planned. The time period in which the lake was being constructed workers were faced with several set backs such as the damn collapsing prior to the completion of the lake as well as worker strikes.

Wyandotte Highschool Kansas City,KS

I have always had a slight interest in the history of Wyandotte High School. As a student in the Kansas City,KS Public School District I simply enjoyed taking trips to Wyandotte High School. The building  for some reason always seemed to amaze me, as it was unlike any of the other Schools in the district.  Its size and beauty  are enough to capture anyones’ attention.  The current Building is located at the corner of 25th Armstrong in Kansas City, KS. The front of the building contains to massive towers giving the school a very distinctive look. The interrior of the  building captures a Mayan Indian theme. The current building was built  from 1934-37.

While visiting the Kansas City, KS Public School Website http://www.kckps.org. I Stumbled upon A documentary of Wyandotte High School named A History of Wyandotte High School  by Marjorie  Salle. Salle was a English teacher at Wyandotte High School in 1961-1962 and 1975-1995. Salle Documentary can be found at http://www.kckps.org/disthistory/pdf%20files/wy_hs_history_msallee.pdf . Salle’s Documentary is 42 pages of rich Wyandotte High School History. Salle  reflects back from 1886 when the school first opened to the early 1990’s. In this Documentary salle mentions and clarifies many of the myths that I had heard about as a child as well as a host of interesting facts. An example of this is when Salle mentions that four men fell to their death while building the ceiling of the auditorium and that in memory of these men there are four figures represented in tile mosaics in the auditorium. Other facts that I found interesting was how the ethnicity of the school has changed and how it only took 2 and a half years to build. The current building in which Wyandotte is located was built from 1934 to 1937. This was during the Great Depression on the 1930’s. Salle Mentions that the school contains almost four million bricks and it took 32,000 barrels of concrete to build its structure.  I also found it interesting that in 1962-1963 the demographic make up of the school was 18% Black, 10% Spanish American, 64% Caucasian, and 8% other. According to KCKPS.Org, Wyandotte  High School is currently 51.13% Black, 8.6 % White, 37% Hispanic and 2.9% other. This was quite a change in demographics.

Salle also mentioned  many of the School’s traditions that are still in full affect today. Traditions including students and staff wearing school colors on Fridays as well as The school’s over all strong school spirit. Other facts about Wyandotte are that it became National  Register of Historic places in 1986 and Kansas City, KS Historic Landmark in 1985.

Salle, Marjorie. ” A History of Wyandotte High School”. Kansas City, KS Public School District,http://www.kckps.org/disthistory/pdf%20files/wy_hs_history_msallee.pdf ( accessed June 25th,2008)

The Quindaro Ruins

 Quindaro, a town of the 1850’s was located on the most northern point of  what is now known as 27th street in  Kansas City, KS. Being a Kansas City, KS native, I had know idea of the history of the Quindaro Townsite. As an Elementary student I had always heard that it was a part of the Underground Railroad and that many slaves traveled through this area in order to reach freedom prior to the Civil War.

                           **” It was created to serve as a port-of-entry for the abolitionist forces of Kansas, linking

                                 it to the fight against slavery. It thrived as a key point in the abolitionist trade and

                                 transport network only as long as the free-state  status of Kansas was in question”

As a KU Student and Kansas City, Native I found it interesting that much of the research on the Quindaro Townsite was done by KU students and staff. The Article The Educational Value of Quindaro Townsite in the 21st Century was written by Dr.Micheal M. Swann who is currently the Associate Dean of the University of Kansas School of Architecture & Urban Design. This Article bring up the fact that Many Kansas City Natives are not aware of the history of the Quindaro Townsite because much of its History is Oral History. Not much of the townsite is left just the base of some stures as well as a few pieces of structures.

** Swann, Micheal,” The Educational Value of Quindaro Townsite in the 21st Century” National Park service, http://crm.cr.nps.gov/archive/21-4/21-4-11.pdf ( accessed June 18th,2008)

 

 

                                  

 

 

 

The Indian removal Act of 1830

The Indian Removal act was passed by congress in 1830. The purpose of the act was to force Indians to move to reservations with in the Kansas and Oklahoma area. While on these reservation the U.S. Government would somehow try to ” Civilize” the Indians by teaching them the European way of life. Andrew Jackson the U.S. president at the time was very well a supporter of the Indian removal act, as he put much effort into seeing that it was carried out.  At the time the U.S. Government did feel very positively toward Indians as evidenced by the Government not considering them to be civilized. Pierre Menard’s letter to William Clark http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/208236  allows readers to get a quick glance of what the removal process was like for Indians.  The letter also represents how the Indians feel about the Act as evidenced by  the letter including a quote from an Indian”if our white brethren had not compelled us to move from our native land, our horses would not have been stolen, and we cannot travel with our wives and small children without horses.”
  At the time the U.S. Government held the belief that the white race was superior to any other race, therfore the Government believed that white settles should have the right to claim U.S. land. I belive the idea of white settlers having the right to own land was very well a decision made by the U.S. Government.

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