OTTAWA – Franklin County’s early pioneers often tended to be a bit on the shady side. Franklin County Historical Society’s executive director Deborah Barker will talk about one of the shadiest – Centropolis founder Perry Fuller. After he left Franklin County, Fuller, a close friend of Pres. Andrew Johnson, lived a life of wealth, graft and corruption. Her presentation will be part of the 75th Anniversary History Symposium 8:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturday at the city commission chamber at Ottawa City Hall,. The event, partially sponsored by the Kansas Humanities Council, is free and open to the public. Vickie Sandell Stangl, political science instructor at Wichita State, will present “Etta Semple: Sister Out of Christ, Kansas Freethinker and New Thought Healer.” Semple, who was both notorious among Ottawa’s establishment and revered by Ottawa’s poor, started the city’s first hospital. Local historian Louis Reed will focus on 1937 as a date memorable not only for the founding of the Franklin County Historical Society but also a year of struggle with drought, heat, unemployment and the Depression. John Nichols, an FCHS board member, will share his knowledge of the Indians who lived in both Miami and Franklin Counties between the 1830s and 1850s—the confederated tribes of the Miami, Peoria, Wea, Kaskaskia and Piankeshaw. FCHS staff will display the FCHS Historical Portal, www.franklincokhistory.org.
Friday, April 27, 10 p.m.
