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'The Athens of Kansas' Home of William Allen White and Emporia State University |
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Population: 26,469 |
County Seat of Lyon County |
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Emporia was founded February 20, 1857 by businessmen from Lawrence. A newspaperman, Preston B. Plumb, was one of five men who began Emporia in what was then Breckenridge County. William Allen White began his 49-year reign as editor in 1895 when he purchased the Emporia Gazette. |
| Kansas State Normal School (now Emporia State University) was founded in 1863 and opened its doors to students in 1865. ESU has a student population of around 6,000 students and employs about 250 full-time faculty members. The university provides a swirl of activity and energy in the Emporia community. |
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The sunken garden at ESU, looking south down Commercial Street.
| AIN'T THAT EMPORIA It's the way the stoplights on Sixth Avenue glow at dusk, the luminous row of red and green that steals attention from the creamy blue sky. That's Emporia. To me, anyway. That is home. A thousand things can turn a town into a hometown. (Click here to read entire column.) |
Prairie Passage On a corner of the Lyon County Fairgrounds are eight pylons depicting historic figures in this area. Alahe is an Indian name, meaning "people of the east wind." Preston B. Plumb was a founder of Emporia and a Kansas legislator; Nathanial Lyon, a Civil War General for whom Lyon County was named; and William Allen White, long-time editor of The Emporia Gazette. These 5-9 ton carved stones are 10-15' high and are Cottonwood limestone from Bayer Stone Quarry in Chase County. |
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Content Copyright 2004 by Cheryl Unruh
Text by Cheryl Unruh | Web Design: Dave Leiker
Photography by Cheryl Unruh & Dave Leiker