Why did the German Russian immigrants known as the Mennonites leave Russia and come to Kansas?

Answer 1

For many reasons, but basically it comes down to these two:

1. Pacifist German Mennonites moved to Russia with promises from Catherine the Great in 1763 of land, religious freedom and exemption from being force to fight in wars. These exemptions were dropped in 1870 and peace loving Mennonites were forced into military service for Russian or imprisonment. Between 1874 and 1880, of the approximately 45,000 Mennonites in South Russia, ten thousand departed for the United States and eight thousand for Manitoba.

2. Meanwhile in the US the Civil War had just ended and the west was being opened up to settlers by the railroads. These railroad companies had been granted by the US Congress, large amounts of land along side these rail lines. So these companies sent their representatives to Russia to offer land to farmers willing to settle in the US Midwest. The railroad company that was most successful in recruiting these Mennonites was the Santa Fe Railroad (now part of the BNSF railroad), because they sent some Mennonites to help persuade these Russian Mennonite farmers to move. Many of these Mennonites settled in the state of Kansas, along with South Dakota, and Nebraska.