Linked from The Murder of Mary Glass
1803: The Osage are the first known settlers in the area. Chief Black Dog and his band made a hunting trail through modern-day Coffeyville.
1839: Black Dog II’s band of the Osage are pushed to the Verdigris Valley west of the Verdigris River (to present day Coffeyville) from their homes by the U.S. Government. Even though the land was set aside for the Osage, white settlers still came.
1854: Kansas Territory is officially opened to Euro-American settlers. The Osage’s plight of white squatters increases.
1865: Osage Trust Lands are taken from the Osage in a treaty agreement and reduced in size, leaving the Osage Diminished Reserve.
1869: Trading post established by James A. Coffey on the east side of the Verdigris river (now 15th & Walnut) to trade with the Osage. At least two other trading posts are established by others nearby. The Osage began trading with Coffey, who was set up on their side of the river, and Coffey’s trading post became a thriving town.
1870: While the Osage were on their summer buffalo hunt, Congress passed legislation ordering the total removal of the Osage from Kansas and authorizing the sale of what was left of their land to settlers. The Osage Diminished Reserve is now home to many small white settlements that have sprung up around Coffeyville. Montgomery County population is 7,500. 65 are “colored” and 3 are “Indians” as reported on census.
1871: Coffeyville gets a post office.
1872: Osage forced removal back to Oklahoma, their third forced displacement (and arguably the most deadly) in 46 years. The Osage Diminished Reserve now belongs to the United States. Coffeyville attempts incorporation “on lands the title of which has passed from the government…from the Osage nation of Indians.” Incorporation fails.
1873: Coffeyville successfully incorporated. Colonel James A. Coffey was gone; he had only stayed long enough to help lay out the town’s foundation.
1880: Coffeyville population is 750. Montgomery County population is 18,000. 684 are “colored” and 1 is “Indian” as reported on census.
1881: The Votaw Colony, a Black settlement, is established two miles north of Coffeyville.
1888: Coffeyville population is 2,000. Most of the Osage Diminished Reserve has now been settled by Euro-Americans.
1895: A flood severely damages the Votaw Colony, causing many original colonists to move to Coffeyville and other larger cities.
1899: Eighteen separate Coffeyville children requested “a separate school for colored children” or something similar as an answer to What Does Coffeyville Need Most?
1900: Another flood hits the Votaw Colony. Afterward, almost everyone left to Coffeyville or Independence. Black population is about 16%; most migrated from the South.
1901: Coffeyville population 5,000. Black population is 16%. The natives are gone, or no longer counted.
1906: The Kansas Supreme Court ruled in Cartwright vs. The Board of Education of Coffeyville that the BOE has no power to exclude African American students from classrooms attended by white children. Coffeyville continues to do so until the 1950’s.
1909: From 1900-1909, Coffeyville maintains a 69% indictment rate against Black homicide defendants compared to a 4% indictment rate against white defendants.
1910: Montgomery County is the fifth most populous in Kansas, behind Pittsburg, Kansas City, Wichita, and Topeka. Coffeyville is the biggest city in Montgomery County. Black population is about 10% of the total; the Black neighborhood is concentrated near the Missouri Pacific Railroad yards.
1916: Population 18,500. Mary Glass murdered. Dave Cline Jr. acquitted.
1919: From 1910-1919, Coffeyville maintains a 54% indictment rate against Black homicide defendants compared to a 4% indictment rate against white defendants.
Sources:
https://www.coffeyville.com/342/Colonel-James-A-Coffey
https://www.coffeyville.com/343/Early-Area-History
https://www.coffeyville.com/338/Coffeyville-Celebrities
https://www.coffeyville.com/340/Coffeyville-Mayors
https://www.coffeyville.com/344/Glass-Factories
https://brownvboard.org/content/prelude-brown-1906-cartwright-v-coffeyville
https://brownvboard.org/content/opinion-cartwright
https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/handle/10355/41414
https://www.kshs.org/p/removal-of-the-osages-from-kansas-1/12753
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=OS001
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/coffeyville-kansas/
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1022&context=greatplainsquarterly
https://www.kshs.org/publicat/history/2001autumn_linsenmayer.pdf