From the Lawrence Daily World for August 12, 1910: “Sunday will be a great day in the church calendar of the St. Luke A.M.E. in Lawrence. On that day the corner stone of their handsome new $10,000 brick church will be formally laid with appropriate ceremonies. Rev. J. M. Brown, pastor of St. Luke’s, announced the program for the event today. Preceding the ceremonies, an old fashioned basket dinner spread will be held in South Park. St. Luke is one of the oldest A.M.E churches west of the Mississippi, the building which the new house of worship replaces having been erected in 1870…. Today at the Kennedy farm, six miles west of the city, there is a celebration of an event that occurs in the lives of but few. It is the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Oliver P. Kennedy and friends and relatives from far and near are at their home to help them celebrate. Mr. Kennedy came to Kansas from Illinois in 1855. At that time Lawrence, called ‘Yankeetown’ by the Missourians, consisted of a log house, several sod dwellings, and some tents. There was no Topeka, Kan. Where that city stands there was tall grass and animals of the prairie roamed at will.”