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110 N 5th
Atchison, KS 66002 |
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| Fax: 913-367-3117 |
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Over 300 years ago, the area around present-day Atchison was home to the Kansa Indians. Their abandoned village was noted by Lewis & Clark when they explored the area on July 4, 1804 and celebrated the first Independence Day in the American West.
Fifty years after Lewis & Clark’s visit, the Kansas Territory was opened and Atchison became one of its first settlements. On July 20, 1854, men from Platte City, Missouri, crossed the Missouri River and staked out a townsite they named for David Rice Atchison, a noted Missouri senator.
When the boom days of overland trade faded in the 1860s, Atchison leaders set their sights on making the city a railroad hub. With $150,000 from Atchison investors as the financial basis, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad was founded in Atchison. After a delay caused by the Civil War, railroads continued to expand in Atchison. By 1872, when the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad arrived, eight different railroad lines terminated within Atchison and four connected on the Missouri side.
For more on the history of Atchison, click here. |
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