Editing Wabaunsee County, Kansas (section)

===19th century===
{{See also|History of Kansas}}
For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. In 1803, most of [[History of Kansas|modern Kansas]] was secured by the [[United States]] as part of the [[Louisiana Purchase]]. The first white settlers in the area were said to have been a band of outlaws known as the McDaniel Gang.<ref name="kansapedia">[http://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/wabaunsee-county-kansas/15353 Wabaunsee County, Kansas], Kansapedia. (accessed July 27, 2013)</ref>

In 1854, the [[Kansas Territory]] was organized and '''Wabaunsee County''' was created by the territorial legislature on March 25, 1859.<ref name="kansapedia"/> The name used since 1859 is derived from the [[Potawatomi]] "Wah-bon-seh", meaning "dawn of day" literally, and it was the name of the chief of the [[Potawatomi Indians]].<ref name="kansapedia"/> Originally, the county was named '''Richardson''', after [[William Alexander Richardson]], a congressman from Illinois, who introduced the first Kansas and Nebraska Bill in the House of Representatives, which made certain Indian lands territories in 1854.<ref>[http://ks-wabaunsee.manatron.com/Information/History/tabid/8785/Default.aspx Wabaunsee County History.]</ref>

Also in 1854, the [[Beecher Bible and Rifle Church]] was established by a group of free-staters, who had rifles shipped to the church to be used in the free-state effort in boxes marked Bibles.<ref name="kansapedia"/> Captain William Mitchell, Jr., a seaman who joined the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony that settled in Wabaunsee, played an important role in the county settlement and with the underground railroad.<ref name="kansapedia"/>

The county's first church, Wabaunsee Church of Christ, was founded in June 1857.<ref name="kansapedia"/>

In 1861 [[Kansas]] became the 34th [[U.S. state]], entering the union as a free state.

The first railroad to be built through Wabaunsee County was the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe in 1880.<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/n835 853]}}</ref> In 1887, the [[Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railway]] built a main line from [[Topeka, Kansas|Topeka]] to [[Herington, Kansas|Herington]].<ref name="Rock Island Rail History">{{Cite web |url=http://home.covad.net/~scicoatnsew/rihist4.htm |title=Rock Island Rail History |access-date=May 29, 2013 |archive-date=June 19, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110619230000/http://home.covad.net/~scicoatnsew/rihist4.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>  This main line connected Topeka, [[Valencia, Kansas|Valencia]], [[Willard, Kansas|Willard]], [[Maple Hill, Kansas|Maple Hill]], [[Vera, Kansas|Vera]], [[Paxico, Kansas|Paxico]], [[McFarland, Kansas|McFarland]], [[Alma, Kansas|Alma]], [[Volland, Kansas|Volland]], [[Alta Vista, Kansas|Alta Vista]], [[Dwight, Kansas|Dwight]], [[White City, Kansas|White City]], [[Latimer, Kansas|Latimer]], Herington.