Fort Lane (Lawrence, Kansas)

Lawrence · Kansas · Civil War

Quick BriefFort Lane, built atop Mount Oread southwest of Lawrence in 1856, served as a lookout post to observe groups seeking to attack the free-state town. Named for James H. Lane, the controversial free-state leader, the informal fortification played a limited role during the Civil War and was eventually destroyed as the University of Kansas campus expanded.

Civil War

History & Significance

Lawrence was a free-state community built by northerners, and from 1854 to 1861 the area around it became a battleground between settlers from the North and South contending over Kansas's future status as a slave or free state. Fort Lane was built by Lawrence residents in 1856 to serve as a lookout post to observe groups of men desiring to attack Lawrence.

A visitor in 1859 described it as "a rough, irregular structure of limestone, four feet high, with embrasures for cannon on three sides" and noted the structure did not have a roof. When Lawrence was threatened on September 14, 1856, Fort Lane was manned by a company of 40 men.

During the Civil War the fort was intermittently used as a lookout post, though ironically it was not used when William C. Quantrill approached Lawrence on August 21, 1863, when he raided the town and killed 150 to 180 residents. By February 1864 the U.S. Army established a post and fort on Mount Oread and Fort Lane was incorporated into the new system. After the Army abandoned the Mount Oread Civil War posts, Fort Lane stood many years until the University of Kansas campus encroached upon it, resulting in its demise.