Lecompton ? A piece of Kansas history was resurrected Sunday afternoon at the Lecompton Territorial Capitol building.

It was 150 years ago, on Oct. 30, 1855, that a ceremony celebrated the groundbreaking that marked the start of the capitol building construction. It was the springboard that led to the drafting of the Lecompton Constitution two years later as the state became embroiled in debate over slavery and ultimately the Civil War.

“No city in Kansas can hold a candle to Lecompton’s history,” said Paul Bahnmaier, Lecompton historian and one of the Lecompton Re-enactors.

The groundbreaking ceremony was re-enacted with the help of about 20 members of the community who made up the audience and then gathered with shovels for a group picture with the re-enactors.

Tim Rues portrayed Gov. Wilson Shannon, who gave a speech during the original groundbreaking. Rues read some of the words from the original speech. The Lecompton United Methodist Church choir led the singing of the National Anthem and “God Bless America,” and ended with “The Lecompton Song.”

Re-enactors gather to re-create the groundbreaking of the Lecompton Territorial Capitol building in Lecompton. The Sunday afternoon re-enactment was held on the lawn adjacent to the Territorial Museum.

The capitol building, which still stands and contains a museum, is now a national historic landmark. When Kansas became a state in 1861, Topeka became the state capital.

The city of Lecompton sprang up around the capitol building, and in 1857, a convention at nearby Constitution Hall led to the writing of the Lecompton Constitution, which would have made Kansas a slave state. The constitution was rejected after considerable debate. The word “Lecompton” was mentioned 51 times in the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 – in which Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas campaigned for one of Illinois’ two U.S. Senate seats – and newspapers from throughout the country sent reporters to the area, Bahnmaier noted.

“It (Lecompton) ranks right alongside of Harper’s Ferry, Fort Sumpter, Gettysburg and Appomattox Court House in importance to our nation’s history,” he said.

The re-enactment of what happened 150 years ago in Lecompton was important because it is a reminder of the turmoil the state and the nation went through up to and during the Civil War, John Conard, of Lawrence, said after the ceremony. He noted that New England sent hundreds – if not thousands – of people to Kansas to try to keep it from becoming a slave state while Missourians and Southerners also crossed into the territory.

“It’s very important to remember,” said Conard, a former state legislator who attended Sunday’s event, “this area was at the heart of the conflict preceding the Civil War.”