Critically important to this area's identity yet today are our pioneer roots. These storyboards produced in 1978 help us tell about our New England connection. Eli Thayer, who ran the Oread School (hence the name for Mt. Oread at K.U.) in Worcester, was the founder of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company that was behind the settlement of Lawrence. The treasurer of the Emigrant Aid Company was Amos Lawrence for whom the community is named.

On these storyboards the impact of the Kansas-Nebraska Act is shown. This act, by leaving the determination of slavery/no slavery to territorial voters, set in motion the confrontation between those pro-slavery and those against it. There were no clear residency requirements to determine who was entitled to vote.

The initial territorial elections resulted in a pro-slavery territorial government. Severe codes were enacted that stated that anyone who publicly opposed slavery would be imprisoned and/or fined. Lawrence, the center of slavery opposition, refused to become a municipality for over 3 years as a way of protesting the legitimacy of the pro-slavery government. Armed conclicts occurred as early as the fall of 1854 and again in athe fall of 1855 climaxing in what was called the Wakarusa War.