Coffeyville, Kansas: The Town That Stopped the Dalton Gang

(Coffeyville Historical Society) W hen Luther Perkins erected his new building in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1890, a bank robbery was the farthest thing from his mind. Like his fellow citizens, he felt the town had come of age. The design of the new building would convey the permanence and elegance a proper town should display. It would house needed businesses, professional offices, and the new C. M. Condon and Company Bank. The difficult years seemed to be over: the violence over slavery, the bloody Civil War, and the nearly 30 years of lawlessness that characterized the post-Civil War period. The legendary outlaws of the 1870s and 1880s were mostly dead, in prison, or keeping a low profile. Cole Younger was serving a 25-year sentence for his part in a bank robbery attempt. From his prison cell he warned young people against a life of violence and crime, but his Dalton cousins would not listen. These former Coffeyville residents were interested in the new bank for reasons quite different from those of Luther Perkins. Bob Dalton planned to outdo the James boys by using the town as the setting for a spectacular double bank robbery. The robbery ended, however, with four of the five outlaws dead. Coffeyville became famous all over the country as the "town that stopped the Daltons."

TABLE OF CONTENTS About This Lesson Getting Started: Inquiry Question Setting the Stage: Historical Context Locating the Site: Maps 1. Coffeyville, Kansas, and surrounding area Determining the Facts: Readings 1. Renegades and Outlaws 2. The Dalton Gang 3. The People of Coffeyville Say "Enough!" Visual Evidence: Images 1. C. M. Condon and Company Bank, 1892 2. Condon Bank after the attempted robbery 3. "Death Alley," Coffeyville, Kansas 4. Bodies of the Dalton Gang after the shoot-out 5. The Condon National Bank building today Putting It All Together: Activities 1. The Myth of the Outlaw 2. Taking the Law into Our Own Hands 3. Locally Famous Events in the Community Supplementary Resources

RELATED INFORMATION How to Use a TwHP Lesson Lessons on Related Topics TwHP Home National Register Home About the National Register How the National Register Helps Teachers Contact TwHP The lesson is based on the Condon National Bank, one of the thousands of properties listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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