Sam Wellman

Thomas Johnson of Shawnee Mission Sam Wellman

He weighed one-eighth of a Ton. He did not suffer fools. Several individuals claim Kansas City's first brick edifice built in the 1840s. But to the west in the wilderness called 'Indian Country' Thomas Johnson had built a CAMPUS of multistory brick buildings - years before that!America praised his manual training school for Indians at Shawnee Mission in his namesake Johnson County, Kansas. CONTEMPORARIES APPLAUDED HIM"Rev. Thomas Johnson, a noble specimen of Western man"Washington Union, March 1855 "No history of Kansas...would be complete without prominent mention of his long and efficient labors..."John Calvin McCoy, "the very father of Kansas City""[Johnson had]...administrative ability unsurpassed by that of any man I ever knew."Nathan ScarrittINDIANS REVERED 'BIG TOMMY'"...decidedly the best Indian preacher I ever heard..."Wyandot chief William WalkerBUT AT AGE 39 THOMAS JOHNSON'S WORLD CAME CRASHING DOWN...