Editing Emporia, Kansas (section)

==History==
[[File:Sixth Avenue and Merchant Street, Emporia, KS.jpg|thumb|left|Sixth Avenue c. 1912]]
[[File:Kansas - Emporia - NARA - 23940101 (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Aerial image of Emporia, 1944]]
{{See also|History of Kansas}}

Located on upland [[prairie]], Emporia was founded in 1857, drawing its name from [[ancient Carthage]], a place known in history as a prosperous center of commerce.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=prI_kG_QmvoC&pg=PA186 | title=Kansas: A Guide to the Sunflower State  | publisher=Works Progress Administration  | author=Federal Writers' Project  | author-link=Federal Writers' Project  | year=1939 | pages=186| isbn=9780403021673 }}</ref>

In 1864, the Union Pacific Railway, Southern Branch (later incorporated into the [[Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad]]) received land grants to build from [[Fort Riley]] to Emporia. The road eventually reached Emporia in 1869, becoming the first railroad to serve the burgeoning town.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=prI_kG_QmvoC&pg=PA187 | title=Kansas: A Guide to the Sunflower State  | publisher=Works Progress Administration  | author=Federal Writers' Project  | author-link=Federal Writers' Project  | year=1939 | pages=187| isbn=9780403021673 }}</ref> In July 1870, a second railroad, the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]] reached Emporia, and in the years following the [[American Civil War]] the city became a booming railroad hub.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/railroads-in-kansas/15120|title=Railroads in Kansas|publisher=[[Kansas Historical Society]]|access-date=2 December 2018}}</ref> In 1888, railroad executive and educator [[John Byers Anderson]] donated his personal library to the [[College of Emporia]] to commemorate his 50th wedding anniversary, and his former mentee [[Andrew Carnegie]] donated additional funds to build a library in Anderson's honor (conditioned upon the new college paying off its mortgage).<ref>Karen Kilcup (ed) A Cherokee Woman's America: the memoirs of Narcissa Owen 1831-1907 (University of Florida Press 2005) pp. 139-141 citing St. Louis Republic (February 17, 1901)</ref>

In 1953, Emporia was the site of the first [[Veterans Day (United States)|Veterans Day]] observance in the United States.  At the urging of local cobbler Alvin J. King, U.S. Representative [[Edward Herbert Rees|Edward Rees]] introduced legislation in The [[United States Congress]] to rename [[Armistice Day]] as Veterans Day. President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] signed the bill into law on October 8, 1954.<ref>{{cite web | title = Declaring Emporia, Kansas, to Be the Founding City of the Veterans Day Holiday -- (Senate -- October 31, 2003) | publisher = Library of Congress | url = http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r108:S31OC3-0043: | access-date = August 31, 2007 | archive-date = September 7, 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140907020746/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r108:S31OC3-0043: | url-status = dead }}</ref>

On June 8, 1974, an [[Fujita scale|F4]] [[tornado]] struck Emporia, killing 6&nbsp;people, injuring 200, and causing $25&nbsp;million in damages.<ref>{{cite web  | title = 1974 Emporia Tornado  | publisher = National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Topeka, Kansas | url = http://www.crh.noaa.gov/top/events/june1974.php | access-date = August 19, 2007 }}</ref>

On March 6, 1988, an armed gunman walked into the Calvary Baptist Church during services and opened fire. Cheunphon Ji, the 29-year-old gunman, had no particular target, killing one person and injuring four others.<ref>{{cite news  | title = Gunman Kills Man in Church  | newspaper = New York Times | date = March 7, 1988 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/07/us/gunman-kills-man-in-church.html }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=It did happen here |newspaper=The Emporia Gazette |date=April 19, 2007 |url=http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/police_courts_fire/article_0a5c0423-8548-5456-9785-5b964bd26279.html |access-date=March 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130409063154/http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/police_courts_fire/article_0a5c0423-8548-5456-9785-5b964bd26279.html |archive-date=April 9, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>