100 years ago in Kansas, April 1919.

April 1, 1919.

-All draft boards in the state were closed.  Kansas had inducted 42,102 men into the army at a cost of $6.39 per soldier.

April 3, 1919.

-Many towns were building community houses as memorials to soldiers and sailors.

April 4, 1919.

-The K.U. alumni board, in session at Lawrence, approved plans for a $250,000 memorial stadium and athletic field.

April 18, 1919.

-The Topeka State Journal said Senator Capper had received thousands of requests that the clock be run on “God’s time” and not on daylight saving time as provided by “publicity-seeking politicians.”

April 19, 1919.

-Ninety counties had made plans for home-coming celebrations for soldiers.

-Three thousand officers and men of the 35th Division, many of them Kansas troops of the 110th Engineers, arrived at New York.  They were the first Kansas troops back from France.  A Kansas reception committee, headed by Governor Allen, was there to greet them.

April 23. 1919.

-Two Kansas National Guard regiments, the 130th Field Artillery and the 137th Infantry, arrive at New York.  The Kansas welcoming tugboat met them.

April 26, 1919.

-The first contingent of the returning 35th Division arrived in Kansas.

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.