Short answers, pulled from the story.
Lawrence Kansas was founded on the 17th of July 1854 by a group of twenty-nine men from Boston Massachusetts. These pioneers were part of the New England Emigrant Aid Company led by Eli Thayer and funded by abolitionist Amos A. Lawrence.
Pro-slavery forces under Sheriff Samuel J. Jones returned to Lawrence in May 1856 to sack the city and destroy the Free State Hotel. They smashed newspaper presses and looted thirty thousand dollars worth of property while only one person died when falling masonry struck a member of Jones's posse.
William Quantrill led hundreds of Confederate raiders to destroy Lawrence on the 21st of August 1863 during the Civil War era. Between one hundred fifty and two hundred men and boys were murdered leaving eighty widows and two hundred fifty orphans behind.
The University of Kansas opened its doors in 1866 after winning a legislative vote by a single margin over Emporia. Amos Lawrence donated ten thousand dollars plus interest and forty acres of land to secure the university's location making it the largest employer in the city.
James H. Gower and Justin DeWitt Bowersock completed the dam across the Kansas River in 1879 establishing what remains the only hydropower facility in Kansas. The Bowersock Dam closed in 1968 before reopening in 1977 with city assistance to provide power for the growing industrial city.