From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for April 27, 1911:

“Fifty-six years is a long time. It is longer than most people live. In fact it is 15 years longer than the average human life. Those who have lived that long in Lawrence are fortunate because they have seen so much history made. Lawrence is the place where more history has been made than any other town west of the Mississippi river. Things were always doing here. One of the first men to come was James W. Junkens, whose home is at 945 Tennessee street. Mr. Junkens came to Lawrence 56 years ago today. That is a long time and the wealth of knowledge he has gained at first hand is hard to estimate. In speaking of his early life here, Mr. Junkens said today: ‘I drove an ox team … arriving in Lawrence on April 27, 1855. According to the enumeration taken in that year there were 400 people. During the year there was one birth, one marriage and five deaths. The dead were buried in the cemetery west of the University. On the 7th day of May 1855, I commenced to break 10 acres of prairie land west of Alabama street for Chamman, on the claim contested between Lane and Jenkins, now the west part of Lawrence. This was the first sod broken in Lawrence. For 47 years I have lived at 945 Tennessee street.'”