Hesper is an unincorporated community in Douglas County

Douglas County, Kansas

Douglas County is a county located in northeast Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2010 census, the county population was 110,826...

, Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

 located two and a half miles southeast of Eudora

Eudora, Kansas

Eudora is a city in Douglas County, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Lawrence, Kansas Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is located along the Kansas and Wakarusa Rivers. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,136.- History :...

. Hesper was founded in 1858 by Quakers wanting to lend support to the free-state cause. In 1884, the Hesper Academy was opened but it closed in 1912.

Friends University

Friends University

Friends University is a private non-denominational Christian university in Wichita, Kansas.Friends University was founded in 1898. The main building was originally built in 1886 for Garfield University, but was donated in 1898 to the Religious Society of Friends by James Davis, a St. Louis...

 in Wichita

Wichita, Kansas

Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...

 was founded by James Davis, who was a native of Hesper. The town is also the birthplace of college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 legend John H. Outland

John H. Outland

-External links:...

, namesake of the Outland Trophy

Outland Trophy

The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best United States college football interior lineman by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named All-America at two positions, Outland garnered consensus All-America honors in...

.