Hiawatha, Kansas
Hiawatha (Ioway: Hari Wata pronounced) is the biggest city in Brown County, Kansas, United States. It is also the county seat of Brown County. In 2010,3, 172 people lived there.
History
Hiawatha was created in 1857. This makes it one of the oldest towns in Kansas. John M. Coe, John P. Wheller, and Thomas J. Drummond were important in creating the city, and the place was found on February 17,1857. B. L. Rider was responsible for naming Hiawatha. It was named after Henry Wadsworth Longfellow' s poem, The Song of Hiawatha. Hiawatha became the Brown County Seat in 1858. The first school opened in 1870.
The main street was called Oregon Street after the Oregon Trail. Parallel streets north of it were named after Indian tribes north of the Trail, and streets south carried tribal names of those south of the Trail.
Hiawatha is named after a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called The Song of Hiawatha. The Onondaga and Mohawk Indian leader Hiawatha is in the poem. Next the former Ioway-Sac reservation and the present-day Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Hiawatha is called Hari Wata in Ioway. It means" I am looking far away" . This name may be the result of choosing Ioway words that sound like the English name. It has nothing to do with the Onondaga-Mohawk leader.
The city has also had the oldest Halloween parade in the United States. They started it in 1914.
Geography
Hiawatha is at (39. 852530, -95. 536429). The United States Census Bureau says that the city has a total area of. All of it is land.
People
2010 census
The 2010 census says that there were 3,172 people, 1,369 households, and 843 families living in Hiawatha.
Famous people
Bion Barnett - banker
Al Buell - pinup artist
William Gallagher - 1953 Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer
Bill Martin, Jr. - children' s book author
Homer McCrerey - commissioned US Naval Academy officer and bioengineering oceanographer
John McLendon - inducted into Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979
Joe Wilhoit - baseball player, record holder for longest consecutive game hitting streak in professional baseball (69)
References
Other websites
City
City of Hiawatha
Hiawatha - Directory of Public Officials
Schools
USD 415, local school district
Maps
Hiawatha City Map, KDOT
1857 establishments in the United States
Cities in Brown County, Kansas
County seats in Kansas