Lecompton (pronounced /lɪˈkɒmptən/)[4] is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States.

Anti-slavery Lawrence became the de facto capital during the latter part of this period, when the county seat was moved there.

This time period was known as Bleeding Kansas, due to the violence perpetrated by the pro-slavery, and to a lesser extent the anti-slavery, factions in the eastern part of the state.

It was originally called Bald Eagle, and was renamed Lecompton in honor of Samuel Dexter Lecompte, the chief justice of the territorial Supreme Court.

[5] In August 1855, the city became the capital of the Kansas Territory after President Franklin Pierce appointed Andrew Horatio Reeder as governor and charged him and his officials with establishing government offices in Lecompton.

[6] The city soon became a stronghold of pro-slavery politics and Southern sympathy, which put it in conflict with nearby Lawrence, which had been founded by Free-Staters from Massachusetts.

The Lecompton Constitution failed, in part, because the antislavery party won control of the territorial legislature in the election of 1857.

The free-staters briefly attempted to move the territorial capital to Minneola through a vote, although the resulting bill was later vetoed by Kansas territorial governor James W. Denver, and ruled void by U.S. Attorney General Jeremiah S.

Occupying the Rowena hotel that was originally built for the Territorial Legislature and visitors, the university later built a stone building in 1882 on the foundation of the started, but not completed, capitol building.

[9][10][11] The bell from Lane University went with the move, and today can be found on the campus of Holton High School.

In the 1970s, the community raised funds to rehabilitate the old building to become the Territorial Capital Museum, maintained by the Lecompton Historical Society.

[14] In the 1880s, there was some dissension in the United Brethren Church concerning secret organizations, causing the congregation to split.

The other three are Constitutional Hall, where two state constitutions were drafted in the 1850s in hopes of bringing Kansas into the union as a slave state; the Democratic Headquarters from the Bleeding Kansas era; and the Lane University building, which is now the Territorial Capital Museum.

[15] When the frame business buildings on the east side of main street (Elmore) were destroyed by fire in 1916, they were replaced with brick structures.

A mural depicting the city as it appeared before the fire is located in the local post office building.

In 1998, the Lecompton Historical Society began restoring the remains of the native limestone Democratic Headquarters Building c. 1850s.

Originally there was a log cabin connected to the west side of this building located on East Second Street.

[16] The climate is characterized by hot, humid summers, and generally mild to cool winters.

[17] Lecompton is part of the Lawrence, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area.

The 2020 United States census counted 588 people, 247 households, and 166 families in Lecompton.