This exhibit has been extended! On view July 8 - September 27, 2022 in partnership with the Leavenworth County Historical Society.

Step back in time and explore Leavenworth, the first city of Kansas, built on the edge of a new and exciting western frontier in 1854 when the Kansas Territory opened for settlement. With the arrival of steamboats and railroads, the population of the infant town exploded, becoming a launchpad of western expansion and an innovative, bustling American industry destination on the Missouri River.

On loan from the Leavenworth County Historical Society, this exhibit of historical photographs from the post-Civil War era reveals a notable segment of American history in surprising detail and reframes the rich legacy of Leavenworth in a new light.

On loan from the Leavenworth County Historical Society, this exhibit of historical photographs from the post-Civil War era reveals a notable segment of American history in surprising detail and reframes the rich legacy of Leavenworth, Kansas in a new light. Visitors will discover photograph images of life on the edge of the western frontier, shortly after the Kansas Territory opened for settlement. 

Photographs revealing early Leavenworth history, include a passenger-packed steamboat, the city’s first electric street railway, and the pontoon bridge that crossed the Missouri River. Leavenworth’s rapid growth and significance in the era is remarkably revealed. For example, the show includes a family portrait of President Ulysses S. Grant on a visit to Leavenworth after leading the Union Army to victory in the Civil War.

“The Leavenworth County Historical Society holds a one-of-a-kind collection of images from the first century of Leavenworth. Considered by experts to be among the top historical photograph collections in the United States due to its size and place in time, the collection features over 30,000 negatives from the Everhard Glass Plate Negative Collection,” stated Mary Ann Sachse Brown, LCHS President. “A capital campaign was recently launched to ensure these National treasures will survive the next 100 years and become an aid to the ongoing study of remarkable events in history for Leavenworth.”

Leavenworth County Historical Society collection.

Leavenworth Centennial 1854-1954 Program, June 1954

The West: An American Experience, David R. Phillips, Chicago, Ill, 1973