One hundred years ago in Kansas, November 1-10, 1918:

November 1, 1918

  • The State Industrial Welfare Commission approved recommendations that women workers be given a minimum weekly wage of $11 for an eight-hour day.

November 2, 1918

  • The State Board of health lifted the influenza closing order, but left the matter up to local authorities in affected communities.

November 7, 1918

  • A false peace rumor turned Kansas people into “howling mobs.”  Thousands jammed streets yelling, shooting, waving flags, believing the war had ended.  At Kensington a German Lutheran church and two other buildings were burned.

November 9, 1918

  • Governor Capper proclaimed Gas Mask day.  Everyone was asked to collect fruit seed pits and nut shells which were used in making masks.

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.