Merriam, Kansas

Merriam, Kansas is a city of 11,098 people (2020 census) in northeast Johnson County, about eight miles south of downtown Kansas City on the Turkey Creek corridor.¹² Settled as Campbellton after 1864, renamed for railroad secretary Charles Merriam in the 1880s, and incorporated October 23, 1950, it is best known in metro history for Merriam Park (a railroad amusement park dedicated by Ulysses S. Grant in 1880, landscaped under young George Kessler) and for the 1949 school-desegregation case Webb v. School District 90 — a Kansas Supreme Court victory that preceded Brown v. Board.²

Overview

County	Johnson County, Kansas
Earlier name	Campbellton (from David Gee Campbell, 1864)2
Incorporated	October 23, 1950 (third class); second class 195721
Population (2020)	11,0981
First mayor	Carl Engel Sr.2

Merriam uses the Shawnee Mission postal designation and sits minutes from Overland Park and Shawnee.¹

History

Indigenous and trail corridor

Kanza (Kaw) people occupied northeast Kansas into the early 1800s before successive removals west.² Between 1826 and 1833 Shawnee people were relocated into the region; Quaker missionaries followed and opened a mission school (site near 61st and Hemlock) on land granted within present Merriam.² The California Road and Fort Leavenworth Military Road crossed the area; Shawnee leader Charles Bluejacket ran a trading post near present Johnson Drive and Slater.²

Campbellton to Merriam

In 1864 Tennessean David Gee Campbell bought land from Shawnee landowner Mary Parks and settled near Turkey Creek; the hamlet was called Campbellton.² The Kansas City–Fort Scott railroad built a station in 1870; the growing addition was named Merriam for railroad secretary Charles Merriam, and by the 1880s that name displaced Campbellton.²

Merriam Park and Hocker Grove

Railroad executives opened Merriam Park on 40 acres as a planned amusement destination, dedicated in July 1880 by former president Ulysses S. Grant.² Entry cost 25 cents; peak attendance claims exceed 20,000 visitors a day, with lagoon, pavilion, zoo, and carousel. Landscape architect George Kessler served as park superintendent before designing Kansas City’s parks and boulevards.² After Kansas City built its own amusements, Merriam Park closed; Hocker Grove (1907–1919) and the Hocker trolley (c. 1907–1934) carried the next generation of leisure traffic.²

Schools and desegregation

South Park’s Walker School (Black students) and whites-only South Park Elementary (opened 1947) produced the Walker School Walkout and the 1949 case Webb v. School District 90, in which the Kansas Supreme Court ordered equal facilities and admission of Black children to South Park Elementary — a local precedent often cited on the road to Brown (1954).² Teacher Corinthian Nutter taught boycotting students in homes and church basements and testified in the case; the Walker School building is on the National Register.²

Incorporation and “firsts”

Unincorporated until 1950, Merriam lists among JoCo “firsts” the county’s first Bell telephone office (1908), first NAACP branch (1948), first public library (1956), first major county park (Antioch Park, 1956), first full-service hospital (Shawnee Mission Medical Center / AdventHealth, 1962), and early home of Johnson County Community College (1969–1972).² Julius McFarlin was the first African American elected to JoCo political office (Ward 1 council, 1973–2001); Carl Wilkes became JoCo’s first African American mayor (2001).²

Sources

See also

• johnson-county-ks
• george-kessler
• civil-rights-era-kc
• shawnee-nation-in-kc
• overland-park
• Wiki

Footnotes

1. Wikipedia — “Merriam, Kansas.” — asserts: 2020 pop. 11,098; incorporated third class Oct 23, 1950; second class Jan 18, 1957; named for Charles Merriam; Shawnee Mission postal area; Seaboard Corporation HQ. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. City of Merriam — “History of Merriam.” — asserts: Kanza/Shawnee background; Campbellton 1864; rename for Charles Merriam; Merriam Park 1880 / Grant dedication / Kessler; Hocker Grove and trolley; Walker School / Webb v. School District 90 / Nutter; incorporation Oct 23, 1950 and second-class 1957; city-of-firsts list; present ~11,500 framing. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷