Editing Hanover, Kansas (section)

==History==
The "Hollenberg Station" became an important hub along the way for [[Pony Express]] travelers and Geret Hollenberg eventually established a grocery and stage depot on his farm in 1858.<ref name="jstor.org">{{cite journal|last1=Wilson|first1=Julie|title="Kansas Über Alles!": The Geography and Ideology of Conquest, 1870-1900|journal=The Western Historical Quarterly|date=Summer 1996|volume=27|issue=2|pages=170–187|doi=10.2307/970616 |jstor=970616}}</ref> The Hollenberg farm housed nine boarding rooms, and the success of "Hollenberg Station" as a business attracted more people to the area and many settled alongside the Hollenbergs in the decade leading up to the establishment of Hanover.<ref name="Carnes - Lost Kansas Communities 2">{{cite journal|last1=Carnes|first1=Rebekah|title=Hanover, Washington County, Kansas|journal=Lost Kansas Communities|date=Spring 2012|page=2|url=http://lostkscommunities.omeka.net/items/show/92|access-date=23 April 2015}}</ref>

Prior to the establishment of the town, in 1868 a school district was established in the area to satisfy the need to educate children of settlers who continued to arrive near the "Hollenberg Station."<ref name="Carnes - Lost Kansas Communities 8">{{cite journal|last1=Carnes|first1=Rebekah|title=Hanover, Washington County, Kansas|journal=Lost Kansas Communities|date=Spring 2012|page=8|url=http://lostkscommunities.omeka.net/items/show/92|access-date=23 April 2015}}</ref>

Hanover was laid out in 1869, and incorporated as a city in 1872.<ref name="Cyclopedia" />  It is a German community named after [[Hanover|Hanover, Germany]]. The founders Geret Hollenberg and Sophia Brockmeyer settled their farm originally called "The Cottonwood Ranch" and later the "Hollenberg Station" alongside the Little Blue River, which became a popular stop along the Pony Express. The popularity led to the establishment of Hanover. The [[Hollenberg Pony Express Station]] is the only remaining building along the two thousand mile route, and it continues to stand one mile northeast of Hanover. In the 1940s it was registered as a National Historic Landmark.<ref name="jstor.org"/><ref name="Carnes - Lost Kansas Communities 2"/>

Hollenberg, who laid out the original plans for the town in 1869, decided to name it [[Hanover]] after his hometown in Germany.<ref name="Carnes - Lost Kansas Communities 2"/><ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5zdAAQAAMAAJ | title=Biennial Report of the Board of Directors of the Kansas State Historical Society | publisher=Kansas State Printing Plant | author=Kansas State Historical Society | year=1916 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5zdAAQAAMAAJ/page/n419 312]}}</ref> A contemporary of Hollenberg wrote at the time that Hanover represented "just a little bit of Germany" in Kansas Territory.<ref name="jstor.org"/> Located at the junction of two railroads, it was an important shipping point.<ref name="Cyclopedia">{{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/n802 806]}}</ref> Access to the railroad was greatly contributed to the economic growth of Hanover, enabling the expansion of the local grain elevator. The success of the grain elevator, because of its close connection with the railroad contributed to the growth and initial success of the town.<ref name="Carnes - Lost Kansas Communities 8-9">{{cite journal|last1=Carnes|first1=Rebekah|title=Hanover, Washington County, Kansas|journal=Lost Kansas Communities|date=Spring 2012|pages=8–9|url=http://lostkscommunities.omeka.net/items/show/92|access-date=23 April 2015}}</ref> As the town continued to develop, a German Evangelical Society church, as well as a Catholic church to serve the town's Czech residents were established in 1870.<ref name="lostkscommunities.omeka.net">Rebekah Carnes, "Hanover, Washington County," Lost Kansas Communities, accessed April 26, 2015, http://lostkscommunities.omeka.net/items/show/92</ref> Additionally, following the movement of some Native groups to Oklahoma from the nearby Ottoe reservation, some land was annexed by the Hanover township, which allowed for further expansion as more white settlers moved into the area.<ref name="jstor.org"/><ref name="lostkscommunities.omeka.net"/>

The local area had a significant Native American population. The [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]] Indians resided west of Hanover, the Kansa and [[Kaw (tribe)|Kaw]] tribes lived to the south, and the [[Otoe tribe|Otoe]] Indians were located north.<ref name="Carnes - Lost Kansas Communities 8-9"/> The [[Otoe Reservation]] resided north of Hanover on the Kansas-Nebraska border from 1854 to 1883.<ref name="Overton1992">Overton, Daniel W., [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1074&context=greatplainsresearch "Withholding Payment on Otoe-Missouria Reservation Lands"] (1992). Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences. Paper 75. Retrieved 5/30/15.</ref> Their reservation was 160,000 acres large (250&nbsp;mi<sup>2</sup>).<ref>[http://www.visitodell.com/otoe.htm "Otoe Reservation"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219025111/http://www.visitodell.com/otoe.htm |date=2012-02-19 }}, Old West Trails Center. Retrieved 5/30/15.</ref> When the Otoe tribal lands were sold in 1883, the land sold for a record-high average of $12.22 per acre. By comparison, most other Native American tribes in the central and northern Great Plains were only paid ten cents per acre.<ref name="Overton1992" /> Some of the Otoe Indians were relocated to [[Red Rock, Oklahoma]], while many of the mixed-race Otoe Indians were integrated with the local German settlers.<ref>[http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/gage/odell/ "Odell - Gage County"], University of Nebraska. Retrieved 11/29/08.</ref> Many people in Hanover today have a fraction of Native American ancestry.

The region was especially attractive to German speakers and settlers, and when the town was established Hollenberg continued to draw to settlers of German, as well as Czech origin. Until World War I many residents of Hanover and the surrounding continued to speak their native languages, and to this day many German traditions remain an important aspect of town identity.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Carnes|first1=Rebekah|title=Hanover, Washington County, Kansas|journal=Lost Kansas Communities|date=Spring 2012|pages=7–8|url=http://lostkscommunities.omeka.net/items/show/92|access-date=23 April 2015}}</ref> German settlers often encountered Native people groups such as the [[Pawnee people|Pawnee]], [[Kaw (tribe)|Kansa]], and the [[Kaw (tribe)|Kaw]]. Contact between the German settlers and natives were mainly non-violent and few conflicts were reported between the various groups. In fact, a substantial amount of trade took place between the settlers and the native groups.<ref name="Carnes - Lost Kansas Communities 4-5">{{cite journal|last1=Carnes|first1=Rebekah|title=Hanover, Washington County, Kansas|journal=Lost Kansas Communities|date=Spring 2012|pages=4–5|url=http://lostkscommunities.omeka.net/items/show/92|access-date=23 April 2015}}</ref>