100 years ago in Kansas, November 29 – December 9, 1917:

November 29, 1917

  • Kansas was given 800 federal troops to protect industries.

December 2, 1917

  • An army balloon, dragging a 6,000-foot steel cable, broke away in a high wind at Fort Omaha and made a path through Kansas, breaking telegraph and telephone wires.  Damage was reported at Newton, Herington, Fort Riley, Wamego and Council Grove.  The balloon was grounded at Meade.

December 3, 1917

  • The Kansas Peace Officers Assn. met at Independence to discuss methods of handling I. W. W.’s (Note:  Industrial Workers of the World) and German spies.

December 9, 1917

  • More than 10,000 books and ten tons of old magazines were gathered for soldiers at Topeka.  (Note:  One might guess that doctor’s offices were not the same for years.)

Blair Tarr is the Museum Curator of the Kansas State Historical Society. He oversees the three-dimensional collections of the Society, but has special interests in the Civil War, Wichita-made Valentine diners, and Leavenworth's Abernathy Furniture. In the last few years he has also done a lot of cramming on The Great War. He is a past president of the Kansas Museums Association and the Civil War Round Tables of both Kansas City and Eastern Kansas. He is currently a board member of the Heritage League of Greater Kansas City.