Quivira Crossing Chapter
Daughters of the American Revolution
Lenexa, Kansas:
Our Home Town
The area known today as Lenexa was first inhabited by the Shawnee Indians. The city's name comes from Len-AG-See, the princess daughter of Shawnee leader, Chief Blackhoof. The Shawnee were a peaceful tribe - friendly to traders, map makers, and settlers traveling west on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails. The railroads arrived in the late 1800s and Octave Chanute founded Lenexa along the remnants of the Sante Fe and Oregon Trails. Many of the original buildings still stand today in the "Old Town" area, which is the center of the original city. Lenexa was incorporated in 1907.
Photo courtesy Lenexa Historical Society.
This marker was placed in 1906 by DAR and the state of Kansas. It marked the Santa Fe Trail at the point where it passed through Lenexa at 105th and Pflumm Road. The marker was later moved to Caenen Lake Road and Santa Fe Trail Drive before being placed in its current location on the southwest corner of Santa Fe Trail Drive and Noland Road in Bradshaw Park, in downtown Lenexa. The park is part of the original railroad right-of-way that ran through the fruit farm of Squire Charles Alfred Bradshaw.
There are 28 beautiful city parks in Lenexa, which has been named "Tree City USA" by the National Arbor Day Foundation. The largest area park is Shawnee Mission Park, with more than 2,000 acres and many recreational features, including an outdoor theater, a sailboat and paddleboat marina, swimming, fishing, baseball, tennis, and hiking and biking trails.
Photo courtesy Lenexa Historical Society.
Lenexa is home to the Legler Barn Museum, located in Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park, at the heart of Lenexa’s historic district. The museum features a restored Prairie Schooner, a Northern Pacific Caboose, 1912-1913 Lenexa Railroad Depot, a reproduction prairie sod house, and a reconstructed 1864 stone barn.
Photo from 17 May 1939 edition, Kansas City Star/Times.
The 16-year old girl depicted is Mary Louise Verstraete.
Photo courtesy Lenexa Historical Society.
The Lenexa Spinach Festival, held in early September, celebrates Lenexa's former claim as "Spinach Capital of the World." During the 1930s, the city was surrounded by truck farms, operated by Belgian immigrants, where spinach and other vegetables were raised. The Spinach Festival commemorates this heritage, and is a fun day of entertainment, arts and crafts sales, contests, and history education in the Sar-Ko-Par Trails Park.
Lenexa is a growing and progressive city with nationally-recognized schools. It has a diverse business community, with a number of national world-wide companies, as well as a full range of local concerns. The city is within easy access to the sights of the Kansas City area, and is home to more than 40,000 people...
...and Quivira Crossing Chapter, DAR!
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