Try the interactive displays

Join us for special family events

Reetta Morris was five years old when in 1855 her family moved from Cincinnati, Ohio to near Fort Riley, Kansas. These were exciting times! Legislators were meeting at First Territorial Capitol to organize a government. Sometimes their debates were heated as they discussed proslavery and anti-slavery issues. Reetta was the only child admitted into the meetings. She remembered what it was like to be in Kansas at that historic time.

We arrived about the first of April, and my father helped on the capitol building. And when the building was enclosed and had a roof, the upper story was offered to him to live in with his family, a much superior abode to the tent we were living in.

The Legislature convened on July 3, 1855, and it was a tumultuous assembly. The stairs leading to upper story started near the side door, the steps were wide apart, and I sat on one step looking down on the men.

On July 4th the program took on something of a patriotic nature, with Governor Reeder present, trying to exert a peaceful atmosphere. My mother dressed me up in the fashion of little girls of 1855.

We were not long from Cincinnati, Ohio, and had pretty attire, so she togged me out and let me go down to where my father stood at the door. When father saw me, he sternly commanded me to return to my mother. "This is no place for you," he said, but Gov. Reeder who knew me so well, exclaimed, "Let the child remain she is the only redeeming thing in the room. Come and have a seat near me." I went directly to his side where he tried to help me, all eyes rested upon this little bundle of pink and cheered--in those days I had no thought what cheers were meant for. Of course my panteletts must show or I would be sorely ashamed, I made an effort to pull them down so they would be visible. This brought a wild acclaim, and for a moment the two antagonistic factions forgot difference in opinion.

I sat snugly by his side, but soon became tired and said "I guess I will go to mother now," amid new and wild applause, I thought they were fighting.

Reetta V. Morris Hadden
(Pictured in 1930)