Monticello Community Eco-History

Kaw Valley Monticello Township ... "Trails-n-Tales"

• Ancient peoples roamed the area hunting buffalo in the 1500s.
  
• The Spanish traded the area to the French in 1811 and US President
  Thomas Jefferson negotiated the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
  
• 1825: the Kanza Indians were removed from the area by the federal government.
  Then the Shawnee Indians arrived from Ohio and Missouri.
  
• 1828: Frederick Chouteau (grandson of a co-founder of St. Louis)
  established a trading post and ferry near Mill Creek.
  
• 1836: a saw and grist mill were built for the Shawnee Indians on Mill Creek.
  
• 1854: Kansas became a territory, each Shawnee Indian received 200 acres,
  and all unclaimed land was left open to pioneer settlers.
  
• The town of Monticello was founded on 160 acres on June 19, 1857.
  
• Monticello elected James Butler Hickok as a town constable in 1858.
  It was his first law enforcement job before going on to become the famous "Wild Bill" Hickok.
  
• 1859: A territorial road was surveyed between Leavenworth City and Fort Scott. Its route went through the town of Monticello, where a stage stop, stores, saloons, a black- smith, a doctor, and a hotel served travelers. This road crossed the historic Santa Fe Trail at Olathe.
  
• 1863: The Monticello Ferry Co. was chartered to operate
  across the Kaw River at present-day Bonner Springs.
  
• The Kansas Midland Railroad began building a railroad in the area.
  It bypassed Monticello, ending the town's hope of becoming the county seat.
  
• 1870: Thomas T. Nichols, grandfather of J.C. Nichols, settled here.
  
• 1903, 1951, and 1993: Great floods.
  
• 1955: Kansas City suburban airport was developed
  near present-day Kansas 7 Highway and Johnson Drive.
  
• 1974: The Monticello Fire District was organized with volunteer firefighters.
  
• 1988: Shawnee and Lenexa began annexation of Monticello Township.
  
• 2005: Virginia School was placed on National Historic Register and moved.