Editing Lane, Kansas (section)

== History ==
The first temporary settlement near what would become Lane occurred in 1838 when Rev. Robert Simerwell established a Baptist Mission Station "on the south side of Pottawatomie Creek" following the [[Potawatomi Trail of Death|Potawatomie Trail of Death]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Barr |first=Thomas P. |date=Winter 1977 |title=The Pottawatomie Baptist Manual Labor Training School |url=https://www.kshs.org/publicat/khq/1977/1977winter_barr.pdf |website=Kansas Historical Quarterly, Kansas State Historical Society}}</ref> When the Federal Government moved the Potawatomie (and the [[Pottawatomie Baptist Mission Building|Baptist Mission]]) to the [[Kansas River]] valley in the mid-1840s, brothers William, Peter, and "Dutch" Henry Sherman were left as the first permanent settlers.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Baker |first=Joseph N. |title=Early History of Pottawatomie Township, Franklin County, Kansas |url=http://www.franklincokshistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Early-History-of-Pottawatomie-Township-Franklin-County-Kansas.pdf |website=Franklin County Historical Society}}</ref> The community was known as Dutch Henry's Crossing because a wagon road forded the creek near the Sherman cabin.<ref name=":0" />

The area of Lane west of Kansas Avenue was originally laid out under the name '''Shermanville''' in 1855. It was renamed '''Lane''' in 1863 for [[James H. Lane (Senator)|James H. Lane]], a leader of the [[Jayhawker]]s abolitionist movement, who served as one of the first Senators from Kansas.<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/n298 191]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Qi9cXyTWt9EC | title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Volume 2 | publisher=Standard Publishing Company | author=Blackmar, Frank Wilson | year=1912 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Qi9cXyTWt9EC/page/n88 98]}}</ref>

When the [[Missouri Pacific Railroad]] arrived in 1879, a competing community, called either Emerson or Avondale, was laid out east of Kansas Avenue.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VwgtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA128 | title=A Gazetteer of Kansas | publisher=Govt. Print. Off. | author=Gannett, Henry | year=1898 | pages=128}}</ref><ref name="HSK">{{Cite web|last=Cutler|first=William G.|title=History of the State of Kansas, Franklin County, Part 15, Lane|url=https://kancoll.org/books/cutler/franklin/franklin-co-p15.html#LANE|website=Kansas Collection Books}}</ref> Within two years the competition between the two towns ceased, and both townsites had merged into the single community of Lane.<ref name="HSK" /> Lane was incorporated as a city in 1908.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Dates of Incorporation|url=https://www.kshs.org/research/pdfs/incorporated_cities_alphabetical_with_dates.pdf|website=Kansas State Historical Society}}</ref>

Lane is near the site where in 1856, the abolitionist [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] and four other of his followers hacked five pro-slavery men, one of whom was William Sherman, to death with broadswords near Mosquito Creek and Pottawatomie Creek. The event is commonly referred to as the [[Pottawatomie massacre]].