Leavenworth

Leavenworth: United States Penitentiary

Leavenworth, city, seat (1855) of Leavenworth county, northeastern Kansas, U.S. It lies on the Missouri River. First settled as Fort Leavenworth in 1827 by Colonel Henry H. Leavenworth to protect travelers on the Santa Fe and Oregon trails, the town was organized and laid out in 1854. The following year Leavenworth became the first incorporated community in Kansas Territory. By 1857 it was a prosperous supply base for the settlement of the West. During the American Civil War the city supported the Union, though earlier it had been strongly proslavery. Leavenworth is now a trading centre for a diversified farming area; industries include steel and iron plants and the manufacture of paper and food products. It is the seat of St. Mary College (1923). Fort Leavenworth, 3 miles (5 km) north, includes the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, a national cemetery, and a museum. Leavenworth has long been associated with prisons, and indeed the city’s self-image and marketing revolves around the prison theme; area prisons include a maximum-security federal prison, a military disciplinary barracks, a state prison, and a privately owned and operated facility. The federal penitentiary (nicknamed the “Big Top” for its dome), founded in 1875 as a military prison, is located at Fort Leavenworth; among its notable inmates were boxer Rocky Graziano and Robert Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz). Pop. (2000) 35,420; (2010) 35,251.