Members of the National Park Service have begun a reconnaissance survey in Osawatomie to determine if the community’s historic sites should be designated as a National Park. Representatives of the National Park Service visited Osawatomie recently and spoke with local leaders, including Grady Atwater, who is the Site Administrator of the John Brown Museum State Historic Site. U.S. Representative Sharice Davids, U. S. Senator Jerry Moran and Senator Roger Marshal joined the meeting. They stated the importance of Osawatomie as a historic site and a National Park would ensure people can properly understand the national significance of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, Bleeding Kansas and Osawatomie’s role in the lead up to the raid on Harpers Ferry and the Civil War.
Osawatomie has seven sites on the National Register of Historic Places. A key attraction is John Brown Memorial Park and the Adair Cabin which sits in the Pre-Civil War Battle of Osawatomie Battlefield. The reconnaissance survey should take several months. We’ll have more information on this in future newscasts.
