Galena, Kansas, is in the rocky hills and gravel-filled valleys of Cherokee County in the southeast part of the state. As of the 2020 census, the city’s population was 2,761, and the city has a total area of 4.62 square miles, of which 4.57 square miles is land and 0.05 square miles is water.

The Indians knew of the presence of lead in the area long before the white settlers began to populate it. Large lumps of almost pure lead were often found on or near the surface, melted, and made into bullets at the campfires.

Afterward, the land was sparsely settled by hunters and farmers who earned a meager living from the rocky and sterile soil.

In the spring of 1877, a couple of young white men found several heavy stones containing high levels of lead. The landowner, a German farmer named Egidius Moll, wasted no time negotiating with the nearby mining companies in Joplin, Missouri. Before long, richer ore deposits were discovered, and by June 1, 1877, two rival companies were in the field bidding against each other for the lease and the sale of mining lots. The two rival mining companies also established their own town sites – Empire City, north of Short Creek, and Galena, south of the creek, named for the abundant bluish-grey lead in the area.

Galena was immediately laid out, and the excitement caused by the lead discovery was so great that no sooner was a lot staked off than a purchaser was ready with the money in hand to buy it. The influx was extremely rapid, and within about two months, Galena had a population of nearly 3,000. Business houses were hastily established, miners’ shanties were built by the dozens, and the townsite was dug up with mining excavations everywhere.

A joint-stock company purchased a tract of 80 acres of railroad land adjoining the site called the South Side Town & Mining Company, which also became a part of the townsite.

Galena was incorporated as a city in May 1877, less than two months after it was laid out. A post office was opened that same month, and the Galena Miner newspaper was established.

More wagons, tents, and hastily constructed buildings sprang up in the new boomtown, which, within months, supported a population of almost 10,000.

For a time, Galena and Empire City had a heated rivalry. Each kept pace with the other and sought to excel in the race.

The rivalry between the two mining companies carried over into the construction of the two towns, bound together by the rich veins of lead. Because Empire City was closer to the mining operations, most new settlers first camped there. However, the natural advantage was with Galena since nearly the whole, and by far the richest, of the lead field lay beneath and near the town. No sooner was this fact discovered than Galena began to take the lead of Empire City. This change soon began to seriously hinder the Empire camp, which strove arduously to turn the tide and save itself from being entirely absorbed.

More friction naturally arose as two cities struggled to settle within their limits and thousands rushed to the camp. The prospect of keeping order in the two mining camps was not very promising. Columbus Street in Empire, “Red Hot,” and Main Streets in Galena were the first to develop, with log-and-frame business houses hastily thrown together for temporary use.

The quarrel took on a serious tone when Empire City decided to prevent its population from moving to the Galena side. On the night of July 25, 1877, the city council of Empire City passed a resolution ordering a stockade eight feet high and one-half mile in length to be built along the south side of their city. If the plan were carried out, it would virtually stop all communication between the two cities and hinder public travel. The stockade was to enclose the south end of Columbus Street and the bridge over Short Creek.

As the stockade was being built, the uproar was so great that the workmen were given police protection. Galena residents protested in vain, petitioning the city, which, in turn, appealed to the U.S. Government to prevent the closing of a public highway to the U.S. mail.

However, as the gap was closing and the federal government’s action was too slow, the Galena Mayor, acting under the city council’s authority, organized a posse of 50 citizens to prevent the gap from being closed. On August 15, 1877, at 4:00 a.m., the posse attacked, tore down, and burned the more significant portion of the wall. Unprepared for the surprise attack, Empire City suffered only a few shots and minimal bloodshed.

For several years, the two towns vied for dominance, with constant feuds among their residents. The war became so bad that the main connecting link between the two cities became known as “Red Hot Street.” When feuding became so intense, doctors and undertakers began working nights and sleeping during the days.

This feud, coupled with the countless miners, transients, and outlaws hiding within its midst, provided a hotbed for violence. In this section of the town were innumerable saloons and gambling halls that catered to murderers, outlaws, and gamblers. Many hardworking miners were lured inside to lose their hard-earned gold at the gaming tables and other questionable pastimes. Some were never seen again.

During the early mining days, the population shifted and flourished along with the fortunes of the mining operations. Many enterprising entrepreneurs became wealthy in the early days of Galena, building fine homes and other structures. Others who did not find wealth in Galena soon pursued other endeavors.

In the fall of 1877, a building was constructed to serve several church denominations, including the Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Methodist congregations.

In the winter of 1877-78, the first school was held in a building originally used as a storeroom.

In the fall of 1878, H. Webb established a paper called the Short Creek Banner, which was sold the following year; the name was changed to The Messenger and moved to Columbus.

In 1879, the Kansas City, Fort Scott, and Gulf Railroad extended its line to Galena, and before long, the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad followed suit, extending its line from Joplin, Missouri. Deeper mining operations began in earnest, and the town soon saw all manner of passengers, freight, and lead being shipped through the area. The same year, the Presbyterians built their church, a one-story frame building.

A school building was also built in 1879, comprised of a large two-story frame structure containing four rooms. The school district also purchased four lots for the schoolhouse site, which were later found to contain rich lead deposits. A second school building was erected in 1880, a two-story frame containing two rooms. The land on which the previous school stood was leased for mining, and the school district profited handsomely. The Episcopalians erected their one-story church building the same year.

The Short Creek Republican newspaper was established on September 16, 1880. The name would later be changed to the Galena Republican. It survived until 1900. Another newspaper, the Galena Times, was founded in 1890 but suspended in 1899.

By the late 1890s, Galena had 265 producing mines, two banks, 36 grocers, and more than four dozen other retail stores.

Galena continued to thrive, and by 1904, over 30 mining companies were situated in or near the town.

Finally, the dispute between Galena and Empire City entered the courts. After a long period of litigation, the two cities declared a truce and began working together to build one of the world’s best mining camps.

When Empire City became a suburb of Galena on July 9, 1907, the surrender of its city charter to Galena was celebrated with great rejoicing. Citizens of both settlements took pieces of the old stockade as souvenirs. Empire City was annexed into Galena as its Fifth Ward in 1910.

By that time, Galena boasted three banks, three newspapers, and an opera house. Though its primary industries were lead and zinc mining and smelting, there were also foundries, stamping works, grain elevators, novelty works, and a broom factory. The population in 1910 was 6,096

.When Route 66 came through Kansas in 1926, Galena, like other small towns along the Mother Road, responded by providing services to the many travelers, bringing additional prosperity to the thriving town.

However, just a few years later, terrible labor strikes between the miners and the mining companies would result in hundreds of unemployed miners and bloodshed along Route 66. In 1935, members of the Mine, Mills, and Smelter Workers’ International Union went on strike in the Tri-State Mining District. The mining companies were unimpressed and quickly replaced the strikers with non-union workers organized into a company union, commonly called the Blue Card Union.

As a result, a mob of angry, unemployed miners blocked Route 66 and sprayed bullets and rocks onto any passing vehicles that failed to follow their commands. They were particularly interested in any vehicles transporting scabs from the Blue Card Union. Police officers were forced to detour the Route 66 traffic, and then Governor Alf Landon declared martial law in Galena and dispatched National Guard troops to quell the violence.

However, the unrest would continue for the next few years before exploding into violence again in April 1937 when the Committee for Industrial Organization (CIO) undertook to aid the unemployed workers of the Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers’ Union. While the unemployed miners were distributing leaflets for the CIO at a smelter in Joplin, Missouri, they were seized by Blue Card unionists and severely beaten on April 10, 1937. The next day, about 5,000 members of the Blue Card Union met in Picher, Oklahoma, armed with clubs and pick handles, to disperse a meeting of CIO organizers and wreck the local Union Hall. They then traveled to Treece, Kansas, where they demolished another Union Hall before continuing to Galena.

However, unemployed union members in Galena had been forewarned and barricaded their meeting hall. When the Blue Card mob arrived, brandishing clubs, gunfire broke out, and nine men were shot, one fatally. Ultimately, the hall was wrecked, and the union records were stolen. Twenty-five members of the Blue Card Union and ten members of the CIO were later arrested.

Though mining continued until the 1970s, it was never the same. The mines were eventually exhausted, and the population dwindled to less than a tenth of its former glory.

By the time the last lead and zinc mines closed in Cherokee County, nearly 2.9 million tons of zinc and 700,000 tons of lead had been produced.

Up until just a few years ago, the Galena area and the Tri-State Mining District, which encompasses approximately 2,500 square miles in southeastern Kansas, southwestern Missouri, and northeastern Oklahoma, were dotted with chat piles and mine tailings. These, however, led to environmental problems when the lead, zinc, and other minerals began to leech into the shallow groundwater. After contaminating nearby wells, streams, and rivers, the Environmental Protection Agency began cleaning up the area in 1983. Completed today, most old sites have been returned to their natural state. Few mining remnants, besides buildings, foundations, and scattered mining equipment, can be seen.

After the cleanup, the area remained dangerous because old mining shafts and tunnels still ran beneath it. In 2006, a mine collapse caused two historic buildings in Galena to cave in. Building stabilization is an ongoing effort today.

Galena is home to about 3,000 people today and offers glimpses of several historic buildings, including vintage examples of the Mother Road and architecture from this city’s boom days in cattle and mining.

A must-stop along Route 66 is Cars on the Route (originally called 4 Women on the Route), housed in an old KanOtex Service Station. Right beside the station is “Tow Tater,” a 1951 International boom truck that inspired “Tow Mater” in the movie Cars, plus vehicles that resemble Doc the Hornet, Hudson, Red (the fire truck), and a Buick as the Sheriff of Radiator Springs.

Make sure to stop at the Historical and Mining Museum to learn all about Galena’s rich history.

Galena is four miles north of the Oklahoma border and immediately west of the Missouri state line.

If you’re traveling Route 66, keep your eyes open because the next small town on the Kansas Mother Road is just a few miles down the road. Enjoy the ride as you head to Riverton, Kansas.