January 16^th, 2006

Lawrence City Commission

City Hall

Lawrence, Kansas  66044

Dear Commissioners,

     I’m writing on behalf of the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association (ELNA), in support of the City of Lawrence’s current initiative to place Hobbs Park on the Lawrence Register of Historic Places.

The park site is indeed a landmark of Kansas.  As the heart of the homestead of one of Lawrence’s founders, John Speer, to its entrenchments, set by John Brown, during the first invasion of Kansas by proslavery marauders in 1855, to the professional Negro League exhibition baseball games played at Municipal Stadium in the 1950s - this low hill on Lawrence’s eastern perimeter stands as a fitting symbol and storyteller of the American historical experience.   Old East Lawrence is permeated by that history, and its telling is central to the long-term welfare and preservation of this integrated, eclectic middle-class urban neighborhood.

The ELNA applauds the city’s past support for the listing of Hobbs Park, as a landmark, and looks ahead to an era when a broad public acceptance for the importance of this history has lent itself to the protection of this venerable working-class district.

Sincerely,

Janet Good

East Lawrence Neighborhood Association