Kansas Territorial Capital Museum

Construction was begun in 1855 on the building intended as the Territorial Capitol but work was suspended in 1857 when it seemed the Capitol would be elsewhere. Finally completed in 1882, the building housed Lane University until 1902. Displays include American Indian artifacts, exhibits portraying frontier life in the mid-1800s, and an exhibit about President Dwight Eisenhower's parents, who met and married while students at Lane University. Lecompton is on the banks of the Kaw River in the rolling hills between Topeka and Lawrence. From its founding as Bald Eagle in 1854, until Kansas statehood was granted in 1861, this village was the Territorial Capital. This location is part of the Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area. Extraordinary events in Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area forever changed America. In the nineteenth century, the nation turned its eyes to the Missouri-Kansas border, where peoples with diverse definitions of freedom collided, inciting and fueling a Civil War. The impact of these events is forever woven into the nation’s fabric. The heritage area focuses on three main themes: Shaping the Frontier, Kansas/Missouri Border War and the Enduring Struggle for Freedom. Learn more here.