Merriam has a long history of innovation and diversity in Johnson County. The area was originally inhabited by the Kaw tribe until the 1820s when a variety of treaties and westward expansion forced them further west. The Shawnee tribe of Ohio and Missouri have left the more lasting impact on the area after being displaced by the U.S. Government to land that would eventually include present-day Merriam in 1826. The Society of Friends followed the Shawnee from Ohio at the invitation of the tribe and opened a mission on 320 acres at what is today 61st and Hemlock Streets in Merriam. Two other missions were also opened in the area during the early 1830s – the Shawnee Baptist Mission in present day Mission and the Shawnee Methodist Mission whose site can still be visited in Fairway.
The origins of Merriam began in 1864 when a Shawnee woman named Mary Parks sold her land to David Gee Campbell, a white man from Tennessee. Not much is known about either party, but the surrounding town was originally named Campbellton in his honor. The town name was short-lived as the railroad came through in 1870 and changed everything from the town’s economic prospects to its name. The town name was changed to Merriam in honor of Charles Merriam, the secretary for the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Gulf railway.
Merriam has long been the home to Johnson County’s natural recreation, including Merriam Park (1880), Hocker Grove Amusement Park (1907), and Antioch Park (1959). These parks were established along railway lines and trolley lines coming from Kansas City, Missouri, creating a rural destination for the urbanites to enjoy a short commute away from the city. Merriam Park especially attracted national attention with President Ulysses S. Grant giving its dedication. In 1881 George Kessler, who later designed Kansas City’s City Beautiful system of parks and boulevards, was hired as landscape architect for the 40 acre park.
Merriam’s national impact came with the Webb vs School District 290 court case (1949). This school desegregation case served as a precursor to the Brown v. Topeka Board of Education case that changed our nation’s education system. Corinthian Nutter, a teacher at the dilapidated Walker School; community member Esther Brown; and the families of thirty-nine Walker School students fought to integrate these students with the white children at the newly built South Park School. You can learn more about this landmark case from a Johnson County Library ‘The Past is Prologue’ program presented by Johnson County Museum Curator of Interpretation Andrew R. Gustafson.
-Amanda Wahlmeier, Johnson County Library
