Editing Crawford County, Kansas (section)

==History==

===Early history===
{{See also|History of Kansas}}
For many [[millennia]], the [[Great Plains]] of [[North America]] was inhabited by [[nomadic]] [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. From the 16th century to 18th century, the [[Kingdom of France]] claimed ownership of large parts of [[North America]]. In 1762, after the British defeated France in the [[French and Indian War]], France secretly ceded [[New France]] to [[Spain]], per the [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]].

===19th century===
In 1802, Spain returned most of the former New France land west of the Mississippi to France, but kept title to about 7,500 square miles. In 1803, the United States acquired much of the West and most of the land for [[History of Kansas|modern-day Kansas]] as part of the 828,000-square mile [[Louisiana Purchase]], at a cost of 2.83 [[Penny (United States coin)|cents]] per [[acre]].

In 1854, the [[Kansas Territory]] was organized, and in 1861 [[Kansas]] was admitted as the 34th [[U.S. state]]. The preceding years had been filled with violence as settlers arrived on both sides of the slavery question; the residents voting for Kansas to enter as a free state were the majority. In 1867, '''Crawford County''' was established (formed from [[Bourbon County, Kansas|Bourbon]] and [[Cherokee County, Kansas|Cherokee]] counties) on the Cherokee Neutral Lands, which were originally established as a buffer zone between the Osage tribe and the State of Missouri.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |first2= |title=Soldier vs. Settler - Fort Scott National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/fosc/learn/historyculture/postofsek.htm |access-date=July 24, 2023 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}</ref> It is named for [[Samuel J. Crawford]], who was the governor in office at the time.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C | title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc. | publisher=Standard Publishing Company | author=Blackmar, Frank Wilson | year=1912 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_o8X5krq3fP8C/page/n467 471]}}</ref>

===20th century===
In the early 20th century, Crawford County was often referred to as the "Little Balkans", because of the many immigrants who came here from that area of Europe. They came to work in the mines, industrial work that did not require much English in the beginning. This area was the site of a number of illegal bootlegging operations, most of which were organized by immigrants in order to supplement their meager earnings as strip miners. During his term, Governor [[Walter R. Stubbs]] of Kansas made it his mission to stamp out this practice.<ref name=chap64>{{cite book|last1=Connelley|first1=William|title=A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans|url=http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1918ks/v2/ch64p1.html|access-date=September 29, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130613193014/http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1918ks/v2/ch64p1.html|archive-date=June 13, 2013|date=1918|chapter=Walter Roscoe Stubbs}}</ref><ref name=boozebros>{{cite news|title=Booze Brothers|url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2006/may/01/booze_brothers/?print|access-date=September 29, 2017|work=[[Lawrence Journal-World]]|date=May 1, 2006}}</ref> According to the criminal justice scholar Ken Peak, "The [Little] Balkans drove [Stubbs] absolutely nuts. He had his hands full and sent people down to the Balkans to clean it up".<ref name=boozebros/> Despite this crack down, however, the governor was unable to eradicate the crime completely from the area.<ref name=boozebros/>

===21st century===
On Sunday, [[Tornado outbreak sequence of May 2003|May 4, 2003]], a violent [[Fujita scale|F4 tornado]] touched down in western Crawford County, several miles west of [[Frontenac, Kansas|Frontenac]] at around 4:40&nbsp;p.m. The [[tornado]] remained on the ground throughout Crawford County until it entered neighboring [[Barton County, Missouri|Barton County]], [[Missouri]]—traveling a total of {{convert|35|mi|km}} and ending near [[Liberal, Missouri|Liberal]], [[Missouri]]. The communities of Ringo, Franklin, and [[Mulberry, Kansas|Mulberry]], all in Crawford County, were devastated. The tornado cut a path of destruction roughly one quarter mile wide. Several F4 tornadoes hit [[Kansas]], [[Missouri]], and several other states that day, including the [[Kansas City metropolitan area]]. Six deaths were reported in Kansas, and [[Kathleen Sebelius|Governor Sebelius]] declared much of eastern and southeastern Kansas a disaster area, including Crawford County.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.morningsun.net/news/x1755079282| title=5 years later| publisher=The Morning Sun| date=May 4, 2008| access-date=June 3, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927134632/http://www.morningsun.net/news/x1755079282| archive-date=September 27, 2011}}</ref>