EMPORIA, a city and the county-seat of Lyon county, Kansas, U.S.A., on
the Neosho river, about 60 m. S.W. of Topeka. Pop. (1890) 7551; (1900)
8223, of whom 686 were foreign-born and 663 were negroes; (1910 U.S.
census) 9058. It is served by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, and the
Missouri, Kansas & Texas railways. The city has a Carnegie library, and
is the seat of the state normal school and of the College of Emporia
(Presbyterian; 1883). Emporia's industrial interests are mainly centred
in commerce with the surrounding farming region; but there are small
flour mills, machine shops, foundries and other manufacturing
establishments,--in 1905 the value of the factory product was $571,601.
The municipality owns and operates the water-works and the
electric-lighting plant. Emporia was settled in 1856 and was chartered
as a city in 1870. The Emporia _Gazette_, established in 1890, was
purchased in 1894 by William Allen White (b. 1868), a native of Emporia,
who took over the editorship and made a great stir in 1896 by his
editorial entitled "What's the matter with Kansas?"; he also wrote
several volumes of excellent short stories, particularly _The Court of
Boyville_ (1889), _Stratagems and Spoils_ (1901) and _In Our Town_
(1906).