Tomorrow is Kansas Day and today we will highlight some famous people in Kansas history from Anderson County.
First, Arthur Capper, born in Garnett in 1865. Starting as a reporter, he built the Capper Publishing Company, that included several newspapers and two radio stations. He also created the Capper Foundation for Crippled Children and later served as Kansas Governor for two terms and the U. S. Senate for five terms. Some say he was responsible for the creation of 4-H.
Edgar Lee Masters, a well known writer, best known for the Spoon River Anthology, released in 1927, was born in Garnett in 1868. He wrote 53 volumes of poetry, plays, novels and biographies, including those of Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, and Walt Whitman.
Valintin Gerth, one of the first two settlers in Anderson County. The Gerth Cabin, located in Greeley, has historic significance. The cabin was involved with the underground railroad movement to free slaves. Eleven slaves, freed at Vernon County, Missouri in December of 1858 by John Brown and his men, were known to have been hidden in the Greeley area and are linked to the Gerth Cabin.
