Posted on 08/08/2008 2:03:01 PM PDT by decimon
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- Some Leavenworth residents have been unknowingly walking around above an underground city, and no one seems to know who created it or why.
Windows, doors and narrow paths beneath a title company at South Fourth and Delaware streets lead to storefronts stretching several city blocks and perhaps beyond.
(Excerpt) Read more at kctv5.com ...
bump for later
I guess its safe to say it isn’t Kim Jong-il’s diggers coming up from North Korea?
It's never safe. Trust no one.
I saw a Discovery Channel (or maybe NGC) thing on the same type of thing under part of Seattle.
I didn’t know that this existed, but I doubt the Channel 5 speculation that this was somehow connected to the Underground railroad. Leavenworth used to be a wild and wooly town, gambling, alcohol, prostitution, you name it - right here in River City. I’m sure that there was a need for certain commercial enterprises to be out of sight of the law. Mind you, the local law enforcement types weren’t a problem, they had a piece of the action.
According to Wikipedia, the town was established in 1854, 27 years after the establishment of Ft. Leavenworth just to the North.
This was the same year (1854) the Kansas-Nebraska Act which allowed the citizens to decided whether to allow slavery in the two territories it established. Lecompton, KS (essentially pro-slavery governments) was the territorial capital, but abolitionists set up an opposition government in Topeka. A mini-Civil War broke out between Border Ruffians who supported slavery and Free-Soilers who opposed it. However, not a large number of slaves ever lived in the territories. John Brown got his start here and the war was what coined the phrase “Bleeding Kansas”.
I suppose it could be that homesteaders in Leavenworth felt obliged to provide shelter for themselves and possibly slaves seeking freedom by building underground facilities. But this seems far-fetched.
If they haven’t done so then they need to date the tunnels. That would narrow the possibilities.
I’ve heard rumors that there is the same type of thing under San Antonio that is military related, but never could confirm the rumor and can find nothing on the internet.
Interesting. There should be some artifacts or writings down there to indicate uses. Or so I’d think.
Other towns - Wichita, Dodge City, Abilene, and others - were just as wild and wooly. They didn't need to hide the action from the law. I doubt that was the intention here.
IIRC, St. Louis has an underground section. It could well be that both metropolitan areas built over the earlier and older sections. One would think, though, that something would exist in the city's history to explain this.
for home
Possibly. But as I just noted to another poster, I believe St. Louis has an old underground area that's been revitalized. It could well be that the city built new construction on top of old. Unusual, but possible.
My quick search reveals that San Antonio is one of the most flood prone areas of the US. If so then it's not a great place for tunnels.
Yes, we do have flooding, that’s for sure. Like I said they are just unconfirmed rumors told to me by several different people that have lived here all their lives. Me, I’m not a native, but I got here as quick as I could and married one ; )
This couldn't be true for Leavenworth. The title building that provides the modern access to the underground is one of the oldest buildings in town, built shortly after the city's founding.
A bunker for Boss Prendergast while he was running the Truman Presidency from Leavenworth?
It was Cities of the Underground on the History Channel, and I wish they would bring back a third season of it.
They found a similar set up under downtown McKinney, Texas a few years ago.
In Seattle it was due to the development of the sewer system. They needed to increase the grade to the ocean, so parts of the city were buried under many feet of debris. There are complete storefronts under the sidewalks. Its pretty cool.
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