A Separate Society: Olathe's African-American Community, 1870-1920
Going to Free Kansas
In the years following the Civil War, thousands of blacks fled the South. The collapse of Reconstruction policies, the continued threat of violence (especially lynching), a rigid segregation system, crop failures and the lack of educational opportunities were enough reasons for many to chance the journey to unfamiliar frontiers. Many chose Kansas as their destination. The state’s connection to freedom made it attractive to many African-Americans. “To make Kansas a Free State, blood flowed freely during the 1850s,” noted Nell Irvin Painter, author of Exodusters: Black Migration to Kansas after Reconstruction. “It was the quintessential Free State, the land of John Brown, and a free state in which a colored man can enjoy his freedom.” Kansas was promoted as the “Promised Land,” the place where blacks could find civil equality, economic stability and racial tolerance. Between 1870 and 1881, in a movement known as the “Great Exodus,” more than 50,000 men, women and children journeyed by riverboat and rail to Kansas. One of the most well known and documented black settlements is Nicodemus located in northwest Kansas.
Prior to the “Great Exodus” many blacks had already established small communities in several Kansas towns and cities. By 1870 the state’s black population had grown to 16,250. Many of these new residents came from the border states of Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee. Over 5,900 of these new residents came from Missouri. Other states contributing to the exodus included Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas. Many African-Americans who settled in the rural areas took advantage of the Homestead Law and farmed. Others moved to the larger urban areas located in the eastern portion of the state, such as Topeka, Lawrence and Leavenworth, where they found employment with the railroads or became craftsmen, laborers and small business owners.
The Other Side of the Tracks
As the black population increased throughout Kansas, most blacks clustered together and created their own neighborhoods, which were typically located in the less attractive parts of town either near the railroad tracks and or away from the town center. According to Randall Bennett Woods, author of A Black Odyssey, residential segregation existed in Kansas towns where the black population exceeded 7% of the total population. For example, thousands of black exodusters settled in Quindaro, which is now part of Kansas City, Kansas. Established prior to the Civil War, Quindaro was originally a haven for runaway slaves. Topeka had several black neighborhoods, including Tennesseetown, located at the west-end of Topeka, and Mudtown, located in the southeast portion of the city.
By 1880 over 900 African-Americans had settled in Johnson County. Some families and small groups of blacks settled in the rural areas of the county, but the largest community of African-Americans lived in Olathe. The 1880 Federal Census lists more than 200 blacks and mulattos living in the city of Olathe and in the surrounding area. Olathe was the largest city in Johnson County and the seat of county government. It was home to many businesses such as livery stables, grain and feed stores, lumberyards, harness shops, general stores, restaurants and hotels. Olathe’s black community was located in the northwest quadrant of the town just on the north side of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroad tracks. It was here that they also located their educational and religious institutions.
Economic Opportunities
Census records and Olathe City directories indicate that most of the African-American community found employment in the service sector. For example, many women served as domestics for white families, cleaning house, cooking, and doing laundry. Many men held positions as porters and cooks in hotels and restaurants; others drove teams of horses for the city’s three lumberyards. Some residents served as laborers for small businesses.
A few blacks owned and operated their own businesses that served the growing Olathe community. Andrew Jackson “Andy” Williams began a barbering tradition that would last over 85 years. A former slave from Polk County, Missouri, Williams came to Olathe in 1865 and found a job shucking corn for a local farmer. He later went to Kansas City where he learned the barbering profession. He set up a one-chair shop in Olathe in 1866 and eventually moved his business to Weaver’s Hotel. By 1872 Williams was able to borrow enough money to open a five-chair barbershop at 108 North Cherry. Other black owned businesses included the Ferby Barbershop owned by Moses Ferby. His shop was also located on North Cherry in downtown Olathe. Frederick “Shorty” Douglass, a former slave from Missouri, started work at the Olathe Pantatorium where he earned a living as a dry-cleaner and clothes presser. Douglass later had his own shop.
Separate by Law
In general, most Kansans believed in and promoted education for the state’s African-American population. They saw education as the tool to fight ignorance and poverty. The real issue placed before the communities, the school boards and the State Court was whether or not to allow “mixed education,” the combining of black and white children in the same schools. The 1859 Wyandotte constitution stipulated a separate education for whites and blacks. Between 1881 and 1916 the Kansas State Supreme Court heard and ruled on several cases dealing with the issue of segregated education. Perhaps the most important case to affect small Kansas towns was the 1881 case of The Board of Education of the City of Ottawa vs. Elijah Tinnon. The Court ruled that only first class cities in Kansas (those with a total population of 15,000 or more) were allowed to establish separate schools for the blacks. Separate schools were illegal in all other towns. Despite this ruling, many Kansas communities had established the practice of segregated education by the turn of the century.
As early as 1865 the idea of a separate school for blacks in Johnson County was discussed at a Gardner public school meeting. The school directors for Gardner were “instructed to have a separate school provided for the colored children should any apply for admittance to free [public] schools.” In 1877 the Olathe Mirror criticized the Kansas Legislature for its attempt to integrate the two races in the classroom: “The silliest act ever perpetrated by a Kansas Legislature was the attempted mixing of white and colored school children in the same building. It smacked more of demagogism than the interests of the colored citizens and would be productive of great harm if practically carried out.”
A school board and superintendent directed the Olathe City Schools. By 1898 Olathe had two elementary schools to serve the white community: Washington and Central. One school, the Lincoln School, provided the basic grade school education for Olathe’s African-American community. Originally located at Mulberry and Chestnut Streets in the black neighborhood, the Lincoln School was named after the “great emancipator” Abraham Lincoln.
Little is known about the early beginnings of Olathe’s black grade school because school records were destroyed in a fire. The 1874 Johnson County Atlas notes a “colored school” on the corner of Prairie and Chestnut Streets. An 1877 Olathe Mirror article makes reference to the formation of a separate school for Olathe’s African-American community: “The school board of this city, with the assent of colored citizens, very wisely organized a separate school, with F.H. Mabson, a well qualified colored man, in charge.”
The Best School Building in the State
Over the years the Lincoln School deteriorated. In 1915, Principal Powers G. Porter noted the physical condition of the school: “all we had was a two-room frame building. The toilet was outdoors and we had to pack the water over.” In 1917 the Parent-Teachers Association of Lincoln School approached the Olathe School Board about building a new grade school. The school’s plight made the front page of the Olathe Register that year. The paper reported that the “building has been standing for thirty years and has long out-lived its usefulness. It is antiquated, and is rapidly falling to pieces. The walls are cracked and settling, the plaster is rotten and giving away, and the roof leaks badly.” The building also lacked modern conveniences: it had no indoor plumbing and was heated with a coal stove.
Several weeks before the April 1917 election, various articles appeared in the newspaper in support of a $15,000 bond issue to build a new school. One article in particular noted that those who supported the Lincoln bond issue might avoid a difficult dilemma. If left without proper educational facilities, African-Americans could demand that their children be allowed to attend the white grade schools. The writer noted: “It should be remembered at this time that whenever the colored people have demanded to be admitted with the whites in Kansas cities, the law has upheld their demand. Those favoring the present bond issue believe that the best interests of all concerned will be served by retaining the present division of the two races of children in their schoolwork and believe that a new modern school building will serve to avoid reopening a question that would not be easy of solution and might be distasteful to a majority of citizens.”
On election day, parents stood outside the City Hall distributing pamphlets in support of a new school for the black community. Their efforts proved successful and Olathe residents approved $15,000 in bonds to build a new school. A local newspaper noted that the school board could save money by reusing some of the fixtures from the old Lincoln School and using the same architectural plans as the white school. The February 18, 1918 issue of the Olathe Mirror covered the dedication of the new school: “What is claimed to be the best school building in the state for its size is the Lincoln School Building.” The reporter noted that it was a “handsome brick structure of the very latest design and no expense was spared in equipping it with the latest known to building science.” Besides classrooms, the building included an assembly room, a gymnasium, a domestic science room and a manual training room. Over 400 people attended the dedication.
Separate By Choice
Schools and churches have traditionally been the defining institutions in a community, and the African-American community was no different. The history of separate black congregations dates back to the late 18th century. In 1787 black members of the St. George’s Methodist Church in Philadelphia were “pulled from their knees during worship in a gallery they did not know was closed to black Christians.” These actions and “the inconsistencies between the teachings and expressions of faith” prompted black members to form their own separate congregation within the Methodist church.
Two denominations provided spiritual direction for Olathe’s African-American community. The 1874 Johnson County Atlas shows the location of a Methodist church adjacent to the “colored school.” A second church was later built on the north side of Santa Fe near Walnut Street. This building’s corner stone reads: “St. Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal Church erected May 13, 1879.” In the November 3, 1881 issue of the Olathe Mirror the congregation made a plea to the city’s residents for funds to finish the new structure: “The African M.E. church of this city is struggling hard for an existence and is moving forward today, it is believed with brighter prospects than ever. But this church worship[s] in an unfinished building, and in order to make themselves comfortable their house must be plastered. Will not this community aid them? They are worthy of assistance and, the people of Olathe could not do a nobler deed than to place the amount necessary to finish this church in the hands of its members.” This small frame structure with its six arched windows served many years as a place of worship for Olathe’s black community.
The other denomination to serve Olathe’s African-American worshippers was the Baptist Church. Second Baptist Church is recognized as one of the oldest churches in the state of Kansas. A partial history tells of its founding in March 1880, with the purchase of the church property for $35.00. Second Baptist was located on the southwest corner of Kansas Avenue and Spruce. The current structure, built in 1882, originally faced to the north. In 1896 the building was repositioned to face the east.
The Community Today
Almost 110 years later, Olathe’s African-American community remains a small yet vital part of the city. In 1990 the total population of Olathe was 63,352; the black population was 1,912 or 3% of the total.
The physical evidence of segregation in Olathe has all but been erased. During the 1960s and the 1970s the federal government’s urban renewal program altered the physical landscape of the black neighborhood. Many homes, some 80 and 90 years old, were demolished and replaced with single and split level residences with indoor plumbing. Other public improvements included sidewalks and paved streets. One resident noted that “urban renewal saved the black community from becoming a ghetto.” Many families stayed in the neighborhood; others who could not afford a mortgage on a new home left.
Four years after the 1954 ruling in Brown vs. the Topeka Board of Education, the Lincoln School was abandoned. It had served the educational needs of Olathe’s black community for more than 40 years. An editorial in the Olathe Daily News noted that the school “was an abhorrent reminder of an error we and the nation had committed.” Today the Second Baptist Church and St. Paul’s A.M.D. Church continue to serve the worshippers. Members still attend Second Baptist at its original location. St. Paul’s built a new structure on Spruce; the 1879 church building on Santa Fe now serves as a children’s daycare facility.
--ALBUM vol. 12, no. 1(winter 1999)