What is Cyrus K. Holliday?
[[File:Cyrus K Holliday.jpg|thumb|right|250px|{{Center|Cyrus K. Holliday (1826-1900)}}]] '''Cyrus Kurtz Holliday''' (April 3, 1826 &ndash; March 29, 1900) was a prominent [[Kansas]] [[businessman]] who was part of the [[Slave and free states|free-state movement]] during the period called [[Bleeding Kansas]]. Holliday was one of the [[wikt:founder|founder]]s of the [[city]] of [[Topeka, Kansas]] and was its first [[president]].<ref name=Robinson>{{cite web |url=http://www.robinsonlibrary.com/america/uslocal/west/kansas/history/holliday.htm |title=Cyrus Holliday |publisher=The Robinson Library |access-date=17 June 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was also the founder of the [[Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway]].<ref name=hcUN>{{cite web |url=http://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.tra.017 |title=HOLLIDAY, CYRUS K. (1826-1900) |website=Encyclopedia of the Great Plains |publisher=University of Nebraska |access-date=17 June 2016}}</ref> He served in the [[Kansas Senate]].<ref name=Chinn147>Jennie A. Chinn, ''The Kansas Journey'' (Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2005), p. 147</ref> Holliday was president of the Merchants National Bank and also the Excelsior Coke and Gas Company, both of Topeka.<ref name=Robinson/> In 1890, he was the president of the Kansas State [[Historical society|Historical Society]].<ref name=Robinson/> In 2012, Holliday was inducted into the Kansas State Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://m.cjonline.com/news/2012-06-15/second-round-inducted-kansas-hall-fame#gsc.tab=0 |title=Second round inducted into Kansas Hall of Fame |author=Samantha Foster |date=15 June 2012 |website=cjonline.com |publisher=Morris Publishing, Inc |access-date=17 June 2016 }}{{Dead link|date=January 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> == Early career == Holliday was born near [[Carlisle, Pennsylvania]] on April 3, 1826.<ref name=ckhKHS>{{cite web |url=https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/cyrus-k-holliday/16833 |title=Cyrus K. Holli