Atchison, population approximately 11,000, is located on the Missouri River in northeast Kansas, and was the original easternmost terminus of the Atchison, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railroad. The city was named for David Rice Atchison, United States senator from Missouri. Atchison is known as the birthplace of aviatrix Amelia Earhart. She was born in 1897 in the home of her paternal grandfather, Alfred Gideon Otis. Amelia was officially declared dead on January 5, 1939.
