It almost sounds like a bad sit-com: A French aristocrat moves to rural Kansas to start a silk-making commune. But it really happened, more than 150 years ago, and although the commune failed, it can still tell us much about what life in the United States was like back then — and what it’s like today. Kansas Public Radio’s Matthew Algeo reports on the life, death, and lasting legacy of an American commune: Silkville.
Plus more on these stories:
- Wichita residents have one more week to register for an upcoming election on a proposed city sales tax.
- Several community members urged Wichita school board members Monday night not to move forward with a plan to close four elementary schools.
- Wichita Police say a man is in custody after a standoff in Old Town Monday that lasted much of the day and drew a large police presence downtown.
- A private prison company is one step closer to opening an immigration detention center in Leavenworth, Kansas.
- Kansans For Life, an anti-abortion lobbying group, is pushing to block Medicaid funding from paying for any services at facilities that provide abortions.
- The city of Lawrence is gearing up for an influx of thousands of soccer fans in advance of the World Cup games that will be played in Kansas City.
- Stargazers can help document Midwest light pollution by looking at Orion and reporting what they see.
- The Cosmosphere in Hutchinson is hosting a watch party for the first manned flight around the moon in more than 50 years.
- The City of Newton is celebrating its 154th birthday with community events later this month.
Producers: Haley Crowson and Lu Anne Stephens
Editors: Beth Golay and Suzanne Perez
Contributors: Matthew Algeo, Jenni Anima, Daniel Caudill, Celia Llopis-Jepsen, Suzanne Perez, Zach Ruth, J. Schafer and Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga
Theme music: Torin Andersen
Digital editor: Haley Crowson
