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About Lyons, KS

For millennia, the land now known as Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. Although Coronado's exact route across the plains is uncertain and has been widely disputed, his men and he are thought to have camped near the present location of Lyons on their quest for Quivira , a Native American place that Indians to the southwest had told them was fabulously wealthy in gold. West of Lyons is a cross commemorating Juan de Padilla, a member of Coronado's expedition, who returned the following year as a missionary. He was killed in 1542 by Native Americans after establishing a church in the area, and is considered the first Christian martyr in North America. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase.