To learn more about Merriam, Kansas, go back almost 200 years and study the Shawnee Indian Tribe.
Members of the Shawnee Tribe settled in the Turkey Creek basin after they moved from Ohio and Missouri to what became Kansas Territory in 1854 and a state in 1861. They had found in their new home “a rich and healthy country and were well pleased with the change,” according to one historic account.
Today, Merriam is a vibrant city that continues to prosper.
Christopher Engel, the city administrator notes Merriam is “20 minutes from anywhere you want to go.”
To look at the roots of the city, historians go back to 1832, when Quakers rejoined the Shawnee friends they had worked with in Ohio. They established a mission in 1836, opening a school that operated for 32 years.
(Read more: Joco 913 News)