Editing Highland, Kansas (section)

==History==

=== Short summary ===
The Highland Township was started with the founding of the [[Iowa and Sac & Fox Mission State Historic Site]] by Reverend Samuel Irvin and Reverend William Hamilton in 1837.<ref>{{cite web |title=History Of Highland |url=http://highlandks.com/residents/city_history.html |website=City Of Highland |access-date=22 October 2022}}</ref> The mission was sponsored and funded by the Presbyterians. The Founders plan behind the town was to make it an educational town and in 1857 when the town was laid out a spot was chosen for the future university.<ref name=":0">{{cite book |last1=Leopoldo |first1=Patrick |title=Gray's Doniphan County history: A record of the happenings of half a hundred years |date=1905 |publisher=The Roycroft Press |pages=38–39 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028875413/page/n53/mode/2up |access-date=22 October 2022}}</ref> Samuel Irvin established the first [[Highland Community College (Kansas)|Highland Community College]] Building [[Irvin Hall]] with the building being built in 1858.<ref>{{cite web |title=Irvin Hall |url=https://loc.gov/pictures/item/ks0002/ |website=Library Of Congress |access-date=22 October 2022}}</ref> The college was chartered and founded in 1858 and has gone through eight name changes over the course of its history.<ref>{{cite web |title=About HCC |url=https://highlandcc.edu/pages/about-hcc#:~:text=Highland%20Community%20College%20began%20as%20Highland%20University%20in,of%20Northeast%20Kansas%20for%20more%20than%20160%20years |access-date=22 October 2022}}</ref>

In 2011 Highland became the self proclaimed Snowflake City of Kansas<ref>{{Cite web |title=Welcome to the City of Highland, KS |url=http://www.highlandks.com/snowflake_city.html |access-date=2022-10-30 |website=www.highlandks.com}}</ref>

=== Early history ===
Reverend Samuel Irvin and Reverend William Hamilton found the Ioway Presbtaryian Church in 1843 with Rev. Hamilton acting as Minister. The church was moved from the [[Iowa and Sac & Fox Mission State Historic Site|Mission]] to Highland in 1860.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parish |first=Arlyn John |title=History of Highland Community College |year=1983 |edition=1st |pages=6}}</ref> John Powers Johnson builds a log home 2 miles west of the mission in 1854 due to land unavailability along the Missouri River. The Cabin was the first Building in Highland sitting on the site of the current Senior Citizen Center. Johnson left Kansas for two years as he didn't have to live in the home he only had to make improvements to the land in order to purchase it under the [[Preemption Act of 1841]] he however could not purchase the land until after the Iowa tribe members had been removed and the land had been surveyed. John Bayless preempted the land just west of Johnson and founded the Susquehanna western Immigration Company to promote anti-slavery people moving to Kansas. Samuel Irvin looked over the claims till the land could properly be purchased in 1857.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parish |first=Arlyn John |title=History of Highland Community College |year=1983 |edition=1st |pages=8–9}}</ref>

=== The Highland Town Company ===
On May 16, 1857, the Highland Town Company was formed buying town lots to resell to what they had hoped to be a bustling town. Bayless was the Company's president with Johnson acting as Secretary and Irvin as the treasurer. The town company had built some amenities such as a large hotel despite slow growth. The town struggled to gain population but despite its small size the town had a newspaper called The Highlander and the first bank arrived by 1862 being opened by Johnson. These three founding fathers hoped that Highland would become not only an educational center but also a religious center for Kansas and surrounding territories.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Parish |first=Arlyn John |title=History of Highland Community College |year=1983 |edition=1st |pages=9–10}}</ref> In November 1857 the Highland Presbytery was organized as part of the Missouri [[Synod]] and eventually came to encompass all 21 old school presbyteries in the Kansas and Nebraska territories.

=== Highland University ===
At the first meeting of the presbytery, it was decided by the members that a Presbyterian academy would be established in highland. On December 26, 1857, the board had decided that the academy which could be compared to a private high school was not sufficient and voted to established [[Highland Community College (Kansas)|Highland University]] instead with James Cambell as president and Samuel Irvin as Secretary. The board of trustees prepared a charter that was taken to Lecompton the [[Territorial capital]] of Kansas and was passed and signed by Governor Denver on February 9, 1858.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Driggs |first=S.W. |url=http://archive.org/details/privatelawsterr00kansgoog |title=Private laws of the territory of Kansas |publisher= |others=unknown library |year=1858 |pages=77–79 |language=English}}</ref> Highland Town Company then reserved 4 blocks on the west side of town for the University.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parish |first=Arlyn John |title=History of Highland Community College |year=1983 |edition=1st |pages=10–11}}</ref> Elementary classes were held at the college until a Grade school was opened in the mid 1870s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Parish |first=A.J. |title=History of Highland Community College |year=1983 |edition=1st |pages=35}}</ref>