National Health

The Quindaro Ruins is now on the path to becoming a National Historic Landmark.Once a thriving townsite where Wyandot Indians, white abolitionists, and Black Americans co-existed, the ruins are a testament to a time of freedom and equality.”This is where it all transpired, too bad people in Wyandotte County didn’t preserve the buildings that were down in that area,” said Corranzo Lewis Jr., a historian and native of Quindaro.Quindaro, located close to the Missouri River, was a crucial gateway to freedom in the Underground Railroad, aiding enslaved Missourians in their escape to the free state of Kansas. “This is why it’s so important to make this an historic landmark, and I pray, I’ve been doing it for 40 years,” Lewis Jr. said. “It’s been worked on for so many years, and now God has blessed us.” A bipartisan effort is now underway to make what’s left of Quindaro into a National Historic Landmark. The initiative is co-sponsored by U.S. House Rep. Jake LaTurner (R-KS) and U.S. House Rep. Sharice Davids (D-KS).”Kansas is rich in history, and this is one of our crown jewels and we have to make sure we preserve it for future generations and that’s what this is all about,” LaTurner said. “Kansas coming into the union as a free state. Quindaro being part of the Underground Railroad,” said Davids. “These are all things that I think tons of Kansans feel a lot of pride about. But it will definitely be really amazing for the rest of the country to get a chance to see that.” Some remnants of the past still exist in the Quindaro Ruins, like an abandoned brewery and gravesites of the ancestors who came before.”It’s not in question the historic significance of this landmark; we just need to make it happen,” said LaTurner. If the designation happens, the hope is that new life will be brought into Quindaro.”This is about coming together in a bipartisan way to do the right thing, this is a place that needs to be preserved and recognized, and we’re gonna get it done one way or another,” Kansas Rep. Marvin Robinson (D-Kansas City) said. The Department of Interior has the power to designate the Quindaro Ruins as a National Historic Landmark.