Twin Mound 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 western

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. It was named for two natural mounds that rise gently from the landscape.

History

Henry Hiatt was born in

Dublin, Indiana Dublin is a town in Jackson Township, Wayne County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 679 at the 2020 census. History Dublin was laid out and platted in 1830. It is named after the city of Dublin in Ireland. A post office has been ...

, in 1816. In 1856, Hiatt, his wife and five children moved to

Kansas Territory The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Slave and ...

, settling in Bloomington. Shortly after his arrival, Hiatt and two other men operated a saw mill, but within a year Hiatt decided to move on and transported his family seven miles southwest. The two nearly identical mounds inspired Hiatt, for he settled in the area and founded his own community, Twin Mounds. Hiatt gave no explanation as to why he left Bloomington, but Hiatt resented the power of organized church in American society, preferring

Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...

' version of the Golden Rule and possibly objected to the regulations the Bloomington Town Company was imposing on the residents. Hiatt was, to a large degree, an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

. Hiatt died in 1900 and was buried in a homemade coffin in Twin Mound Cemetery, a cemetery he started in 1858 when his first wife died. Eventually the ''s'' was dropped from the town name. The small farming community was growing steadily and Hiatt had big plans for the town. He began talking up the Twin Mounds Harmonic College which would teach science, facts and laws; not sect, doctrine, nature or creed. The college would also be open to all races, creeds and sexes. The reason Hiatt failed in this venture may possibly have been due to Hiatt's lack of experience and going up against stronger opposition, who wanted a university in

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

. The Twin Mound post office, opened in 1858, was discontinued in 1903. The townsite remains a small farming community. All that remains is the one-room schoolhouse, the cemetery and the two mounds.

History

References

Further reading