(Update: For those who are interested, there’s an article in pdf form describing the underground in more detail at LV Mag, the magazine of Life in Leavenworth County.)
I’ve been busy with departmental stuff the past few days, so posting has been light. I thought I’d share this little bit from Leavenworth, Kansas: apparently there’s an old, small underground city underneath the downtown that nobody knew about until recently and nobody knows what it was for!
Details in the news article are sketchy. There isn’t any information on the overall size of the area, the number of rooms, or when it was rediscovered. There’s an accompanying video which doesn’t add much to the tale.
The report suggests that the underground city “was created in the 1800s and could have been used during slavery or for fugitives.” (Again, it doesn’t suggest what evidence suggests this.) I’m not so sure about the slavery angle, myself: Leavenworth was founded in 1854, only a few years before the Civil War and the end of slavery. The earliest settlements presumably came with the foundation of Fort Leavenworth in 1827. It seems unusual that a significant ‘underground railroad’ stop, complete with shops, would have been feasible for a town of 7,000.
The only clue that seems to be present is the remains of a store sign, with 10¢ displayed. Of course, without knowing exactly what that money buys, it’s a bit hard to narrow down the date.
Anyone have their own pet theories? Post ‘em in the comments!
Morlocks?
Morlocks? That’s utterly ridiculous! It’s clearly the work of mole people!
Based on the 10 cent symbol and it appearence (and historical use of the symbol) – 1890′s -1920′s.
Clearly it’s related to the Kansas town of Stull, and the devil-worshippers once located there. The underground “city” was used during periods of secret ceremony, when the proselytes lived there for a time as a part of a dark ritual.
Leviathan wrote: The underground “city” was used during periods of secret ceremony, when the proselytes lived there for a time as a part of a dark ritual.
I shudder to imagine what 10¢ buys you at a secret devil-worshiper ceremony.
PD wrote: “I shudder to imagine what 10¢ buys you at a secret devil-worshiper ceremony.”
Well, the rest of the sign is snapped off; it could have read, “10¢ and your immortal soul!!!!
It seems to me that we should speak with the Leavenworth elders
during the 1800′s secretcy was very vital for many reasons.
Hmmm…I would like to hear more about this mysterious place. Perhaps an underground network of saloons during prohibition ?
missourian wrote: “Perhaps an underground network of saloons during prohibition ?”
I wondered about that myself. It’s hard to say at a glance because prices of alcohol were poorly documented during the prohibition era, and therefore can’t be compared directly to the price on the sign (of course, the sign doesn’t necessarily indicate the cost of a drink, either).
Supplying and selling alcohol during prohibition?
Since “experimental” prohibition has existed in Leavenworth since 1881, it would make sense that an underground speakeasy would be established in secrecy.
Historian: That’s an excellent thought! It hadn’t occurred to me that many places were implementing prohibition before it became Federal law.
People have always been lil’ nasties and very secretive… Bet ya’ $10 bucks it was used for saloons, sex, drugs, and alcohol! People dont change, just the times. They were doin’ the same things ya’ll do in your basments!
Might not have been all thet secret in its heyday. Keep in mind that until the popularization of the elevator four stories up was about as high as it was practical to build. Adding another level below made more economic sense in a commerical area. Seattle has a whole network of underground stores as well and you can even take a tour there.
On a lighter note, I guess one could rule out the slavery connection by checking to see if there is an underground railroad station. lol
self: Nice observation. That’s an option that seems obvious in hindsight. According to the LV article, it may very well have been ordinary businesses that simply got as close to prime real estate as they could: by being right under it.
Pretty sure it was a joke. The Underground Railroad wasn’t actually a railroad.
I am 26 years old and my father has lived in leavenworth his whole life. My husband and his friends riding his bike in leavenworth many years ago found these stores under leavenworth. More than likely, it was for a speakeasy during prohabition. There is this place downtown called the landing and this place had three stories and all the underground seemed to be connected with this part of the known downtown. We live in Phoenix now but I always loved the old feeling you got with downtown leavenworth. It would be so great for the city to figure it all out, make it safe to view, and turn it into a museum or something!
I think I read that the business over part of these underground stores is a TITLE COMPANY. Hello, why don’t they research the ownership records of this building and the surrounding buildings to see who might have purchased the “land.”
The clerk’s office should have old records for building permits, etc. — look what I found with just a minute of google
searching:
Letter Press Book, addendum to Thomas Ewing to Dear Sir
Author: Ewing, Jr., Thomas , 1829-1896
Date: July 14, 1857
Accompanying a two page, mostly illegible letter from Thomas Ewing dated Leavenworth, July 14, 1857, was a two page addendum describing and itemizing the cost of building 40 new and reconstructing the roofs on 27 previously built houses in Leavenworth–total cost, $8,990. He also provided an estimate as to rent that could be expected on these properties and on “a two story brick building, such as you spoke of building on the corner of 4 & Delaware.”
This could be a tourist boom for the town!
Lawrence had an underground railroad network until 1860. I would not be surprised if Leavenworth did as well.
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1912/u/underground_railroad.html
When I was in Junior High in the late 60′s we would go and hang out in what we called “The Caves” located behind the old Buick Dealership on 5th St across from the old Sexton Funeral Chapel. They were all very much man made and went for what seemed like miles. One morning, the police came and took about 20 of us in and had our parents come and pick us up. Those tunnels went in every direction. After we were rousted out of there, they blocked the entrance. Of course being kids, we never questioned the historical significance of the underground structures, just thought they (and we) were cool.
The ten cent sign is painted on good quality 7 ply plywood. Plywood was invented in the 1850′s but was not in high use until years later. The cent symbol is a giveaway as to year as mentioned in other posts. You can clearly see floor joists and support columns on concrete floors. What we are looking at is a series of every day basements linked together. It could have been a way of channeling people together for civil defense reasons in the 1950′s or could be used as speak-easys during prohibition. Many times when street projects are done, ground elevations are raised thereby making windows useless so they are boarded up and buried. That is why you sometimes find ancient homes with 12-15 ft ceilings.
In any case, if you look at the details there are modern water heaters and recent history sliding patio doors etc in the background. The large chunk of wood securing one door is clearly new(er) as the cuts are still blonde and not grey. This is either a publicity stunt or a bunch of goofballs who don’t know what basements are or want to find Al Capone’s vault. Our local liquor store had horseshoe pits in the basement with prices and scoreboards on the walls. Big mystery! Hardly.
This is paramount to the times when my son is exploring in my old garage and then races into the house and proclaims; look at this weird thing I found! I say I know, I put it there, now put it back!
If i remember correctly, there was a large ammount of prostitution in the area around the turn of the century (Being near Ft. Leavenworth and all, soldiers need love too). In my opinion, protection for prostitution and speak-easy houses.
There were blacks living in Leavenworth before the civil war. In fact, my family was freed before the civil war and lived in Easton. Leavenworth was part of the underground railroad
The 10 cents is a poor diversion but it worked as a mile marker. 10 miles to one of the 6 entrances to the underworld that lies in kck
Ok, I know we are talking about Levenworth, but does anyone know about the caves underground out by Shawnee Mission Park? They seem to go on forever. What were these used for?
Hello my name is kasey and i have been trying to look up the tunnels under the city of shawnee oklahoma. Is this by any chance the the same ones ure talking about?
Is there an update on this story? I googled it and found it falls off the radar soon after it appeared.
I haven’t heard anything else about it for a while. It seems likely that there have been no new developments, either in explaining the origin of the underground city or in opening it to the public.
I read about this when it first came out. Kept looking for the follow up that was talked about but never saw anything. So, I did some investigating of my own.
I think the underground railroad theory can be disregarded. It really makes no sense. Entire underground towns were not built to accommodate slaves running for freedom. At least none that I have ever come across.
Look up Eureka Springs underground and I think you will find the answer. There, the town was built but they had constant problems with flooding. Walls were built and the streets were elevated. Walkways remained between the buildings and the walls for the elevated streets. Eventually, the buildings became the “basements” for additions built on top and later the walkway areas where covered over with sidewalks, etc…effectively leaving an “underground town” of original storefronts that became basements. Given this part of Leavenworth’s proximity to the river, it stands to reason there has been flooding from the beginning. My guess is, the underground part used to be street level and at some point, the streets were elevated to help alleviate the flooding issue.
The tunnels of Leavenworth have always been a guarded secret for the area. A few people have explored them, but most of the entrances have been sealed off. There is an extensive network of tunnels that runs all the way to Kansas City MO, the report only shows a very small part of what is in the tunnels. Near the Leavenworth VA there is a lake, and those that have explored that area say there is something rather large swimming around in it. There is also a large hole in the floor of the tunnel, but I don’t know that anyone has checked to see how deep it is. There are numerous dead-end run offs in the tunnels, and several large areas that could work for gathering groups of people.
The theory is that the tunnels were made as part of the underground railroad to bring slaves over from Missouri to Kansas, and the city aspect of it was added later.
I’m a 70-year-old native of Leavenworth, Kansas, and my grandfather, who was a longtime resident of Leavenworth, often talked about how the town was part of the underground railway. I remember how we kids used to nose about the caves behind the Buick dealership. We were too scared to go in, and that is probably a good thing. I remember when the old Planter’s Hotel stood on the Esplanade, and it was common knowledge that there were many caves underneath it where escaped slaves from Missouri were held. Remember, Kansas was a free state. According to my grandfather and my Kansas History teacher, who was 75 when I was in school, the Planter’s Hotel was owned by slave-holders from the tobacco farms in Missouri. Escaped slaves were held in the Planter’s Hotel cave until their Missouri owners came to get them–but the slaves kept disappearing from the caves, spirited away to freedom by Leavenworth citizens, no doubt through the network of tunnels. That still doesn’t fully explain the underground “city,” but it is not unlikely that it was part of the underground railway. Some of the older buildings in Leavenworth have basements that open into the “city,” which means that the tunnels are not necessarily in their original, untouched condition, thus it is probably impossible to infer exactly what the tunnels were used for without reliable evidence.
Thanks for the comment! You raise a point I hadn’t really considered yet, namely that the tunnels may have been used for multiple purposes since their origin.
Underground Railroad was not really underground. Anyone who knew history knew that. It was not a Rail Road that helped slaves escape. It was a path from place to place where Whites with money who were against slavery let slaves sleep in their barn and basements and helped them get north.
Being that there are parts to an old still down there. I would bet it went back to Prohibition.
Also take into account that Leavenworth was settled mostly by Irish and Germans. Specifically Masons.
Both Irish and Germans like Hidden Areas they can meet. Then take into account if they were Masons. Think about who owns most of Down Town, currently, and which families have owned downtown for nearly 200 Years. Ask the Masons.
It seems like using it during prohibition and slavery is possible. But…since there really wasn’t much there until Ft. Leavenworth was established, could it have been used as military housing? Kind of an elaborate “safe room”? Having an underground city with supplies, stores, resources, housing, etc. would have created a very effective element of surprise. It would have been pretty difficult to destroy a city that they didn’t know existed. It would have been a good place to hide and protect their families, homes, businesses, resources, leaders, etc. Kind of like the network of buildings under Washington DC that was designed to protect the president and other important leaders in case the US was attacked so that our government could survive and re-build according to what we had already established.
One of the rooms that was described as “some sort of torture chamber” looked like it could have been a doctor’s office. Influenza, cholera, measles, mumps, chicken pox, etc. created as much panic if not more than some of the epidemics we’ve seen recently. Maybe they used it to protect themselves or quarantine people who were already sick.
I think Seeker of the Past’s explanation, above, hits it right on the nose. There seem to be two kinds of “underground city” (as distinguished from cruder tunnel complexes) in the world — Those excavated for protection from the elements (e.g., Montreal and Moose Jaw, Canada, and Rockefeller Center, NY) and those left behind after street levels were raised (e.g., Seattle, WA and Portland, OR).
This seems likely to be the latter, with Tracker in Florida’s above find fixing the date at 1857. In many places, such “substreets” continue to be used for some time after being sealed off, for shelter from the elements or from prying eyes. So all of the alleged uses above, from crime to the underground railroad (to satanic/Lovecraftian cults, perhaps?) may well have been correct at various times.
Please do not also forget the fact that the Mormon Battalion had one of their posts there at Ft. Leavenowrth. Perhaps the underground network was left over from their “running from the law” days. I’m not saying that to be unkind, so do not flame me, I just know that they didn’t always stand in favor with the Federal government, so an underground area to hold commerce and live would be a natural solution.
Although, the commenter above who mentioned flooding is probably the most correct. We lived there during the flood of 1993 and it would not surprise me if the entire town had been elevated and built up, so to speak.
Look at the “tells” in Egypt. Entire civilazations were built right on top of each other.
Hey, maybe if everyone could mark locations of where they know tunnel entrances to be (or were), we could figure out just how big this underground city is! Wikimapia would be the perfect tool for this! http://wikimapia.org/#lat=39.3148164&lon=-94.9136111&z=19&l=0&m=b