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Humboldt, Kansas

Humboldt, Kansas

Humboldt, Kansas, is the birthplace of Walter P. Johnson, "The Big Train," baseball pioneer and one of the original five Hall of Fame inductees along with Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb. George Sweatt of the Kansas City Monarchs Baseball Hall of Fame was also a native of Humboldt. He was the first Black athlete to letter at Pittsburg State University.

In the fall of 1856, B. M. Blanton, a Methodist missionary making a trip through southern Kansas, became impressed with the level valley of lands on both the east and west banks of the Neosho River as an ideal town site. After returning to Lawrence,he told his brother, Napoleon Bonaparte Blanton and J.A. Coffey to induce German members of the New England Immigrant Society, organized in Hartford, Connecticut, to leave Lawrence and help them establish a Free State town on the site in 1857. Later, the Humboldt Town Company was organized and the town named in honor of Baron Alexander Von Humboldt, the German philosopher, geographer, and scientist. In 1861, the U.S. Land Office was moved to Humboldt from Ft. Scott, and Humboldt became more prosperous than most of the Kansas towns as visitors flooded in to register their lands. There was also a large trade with the Indian tribes to the south and west. In September of 1861, after Civil War had broken out and the men were gone to fight, the unprotected town was robbed by a band of Missouri guerillas then burned by Confederate troops in Oct.

Humboldt did rebuild and, after the war, progressed rapidly, especially with the arrival of both the M.K.& T. and the L.L.& G. Railroads.

Attractions and Upcoming Events

Confederate Soldier Marker

This stone marker memorializes the site where a Confederate soldier was shot during the burning of Humboldt in October 1861. This is just one of 12 sites in Humboldt's Civil War Tour. Free brochures, with map, for this self-guided tour can be obtained 24 hours a day at Johnson's General Store on 9

Humboldt, KS Tours


Riverside School

Riverside School, located in the Museum complex, is the replica of a one room country school complete with furnishings. It also houses a large collection from Lewis howland of iron toys. There are many pictures and albums, and an abundance of genealogy sources:

Humboldt, KS Historic Schoolhouses

Humboldt Historical Museum

The first Museum building was built more than a century ago in 1867. There are presently five buildings of historic and collectable items open to the public. Building No. 1

Humboldt, KS Museums

Civil War Memorial

This monument bears a marble collage of 12 Civil War sites in Humboldt depicting events during the Oct. 1861 Burning of Humboldt by Confederate troops and revealing possible hiding places of fugitive slaves found in Humboldt during the Sept. 1861

Humboldt, KS Memorials

Things to do near Humboldt, KS

GAR Monument

The "Soldiers" Monument was erected in Neodesha Cemetery in 1908 under the auspices of Humphrey post 145, of the Grand Army o...

Little White Churches

Oldest in the area, these charming clapboard structures were built in 1879 (now Calvary Chapel), and in 1880 (United Methodis...