Western University

[W. Gray]

Western University in Quindaro, Kansas, began operating in 1881. From 1865 to 1877, the school was known as the Freedman's University, the first black school of higher education west of the Mississippi River.

Western became a combination public-private university.

In 1916, attendance cost $8.50 per month for room and board. Additionally there was a one-time entrance fee of $1 and a $1 gym fee each semester.

Declining enrollment and drops to both public and private funding sources caused the university to close in 1943.

Quindaro, Kansas, was named after a Wyandot Indian woman and was located on a site within the Wyandot reservation after the tribe sold land to the town founders.

Western University was close to the south bank of the Missouri River in present-day Kansas City, Kansas.

Photo is from the Kansas City Public Library Quindaro web site.