Kansas Then & Now

Look at any historical picture, say, one from the 1870s, filled with frontier-looking buggies and horses and people. Then find that spot today. What you ll see are parallel parts of the human story. The people in both pictures walk the very same ground. Although they wear different clothes and travel in different ways, their inner lives are much alike they feel love and hate, do good deeds and bad ones, have envy and pride. With a little imagination, the past and the present are right there in front of you. That is the concept behind this book, Kansas Then & Now. Kansas City Star Books' fourth book in the series - all masterfully done by Kansas City historian Monroe Dodd - it shows what places looked like, then and now, across the wide expanse of the state of Kansas. For this project, we found scenes from Kansas history from territorial days down to the late 20th century, and photographed the same scene today, as closely as possible from the place the original photographer stood. We found places where momentous events occurred and famous people strode the earth. But more often we found everyday places featuring everyday people who did the most extraordinary thing: They created a community out of prairie and plain. The results are fascinating. Cattle and horses travel a dirt-packed Massachusetts Street in Lawrence; covered wagons prepare to move out in downtown Paola; buffalo hunters gear up outside the newly built courthouse in Great Bend. Dozens upon dozens of villages, towns and cities spanning the entirety of Kansas are featured in these pages.