Prairie City is a

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in southeast

Douglas County, Kansas Douglas County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Lawrence. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 118,785, making it the fifth-most populous county in Kansas. The county ...

, United States, near present-day Baldwin City.

History

Prairie City was founded in 1855 by James Lane, William Graham, Louis (Lewis) Green, and Salmon Prouty after a dispute between Graham and Henry Barricklow of nearby Palmyra. A post office opened in 1856, with John Winton serving as postmaster. The Heber Institute was started by the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1856 but never opened. The building became Prairie City School District No. 1.Litteer, Loren K. ''A Self-Guided Tour of Baldwin City's Historical Sites'', 1997 The first printing press in Kansas was used in Prairie City by Prouty to publish ''The Freeman's Champion'', which ran for 40 weeks.Butell, George H. ''Where Was Prairie City'', 1972 (KSHS Collection) Prouty bought the press in 1857 from the Ottawa Baptist Mission in Franklin County. Prouty would leave Prairie City in 1868 and move to

Topeka Topeka ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeaste ...

, where he would found the Topeka ''Journal'' which would later merge to become the Topeka ''Capital-Journal'' Prairie City was incorporated on February 4, 1859 and at one time had three general stores and three hotels. Prairie City was the rendezvous point for

John Brown John Brown most often refers to: *John Brown (abolitionist) (1800–1859), American who led an anti-slavery raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 John Brown or Johnny Brown may also refer to: Academia * John Brown (educator) (1763–1842), Ir ...

and his men the night before initiating the

Battle of Black Jack The Battle of Black Jack took place on June 2, 1856, when antislavery forces, led by the noted abolitionist John Brown, attacked the encampment of Henry C. Pate near Baldwin City, Kansas. The battle is cited as one incident of "Bleeding Kan ...

. When the ''Leavenworth, Lawrence and Fort Gibson'' railroad laid tracks through the area, there was a depot at Baldwin and another, two miles southwest at Prairie City. Thinking that was impractical, a new depot was built between the two towns and was named "Media". The Prairie City post office, opened in 1856, was moved to Media in 1878, and was finally closed in 1903. The Media library was used as a tool shed in the Prairie City Cemetery for years until being razed in 2012. On March 24, 1883, Douglas County commissioners had certain streets and alleys vacated. Today, little remains to mark the city except a few houses, a cemetery and the ruins of an old Catholic church. The

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 in rail transport, 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had ...

from Baldwin passes by a sign pointing out where the depot, newspaper, post office and store were once located.

History

References

Further reading