Twin Mound was a townsite in western 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...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It was named for two natural mounds that rise gently from the landscape.

History

Henry Hiatt was born in Dublin, Indiana

Dublin, Indiana

Dublin is a town in Jackson Township, Wayne County, Indiana, United States. The population was 790 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Dublin is located at ....

 in 1816. In 1856, Hiatt, his wife and five children moved to Kansas Territory

Kansas Territory

The Territory of Kansas was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until January 29, 1861, when the eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Kansas....

 settling in Bloomington. Shortly after his arrival, Hiatt and two other men operated a saw mill but within a year Hiatt decided to move on and transported his family seven miles southwest. The two nearly identical mounds inspired Hiatt for he settled in the area and founded his own community, Twin Mounds.

Hiatt gave no explanation as to why he left Bloomington but Hiatt resented the power of organized church in American society, preferred Confucious's version of the Golden Rule

Ethic of reciprocity

The Golden Rule or ethic of reciprocity is a maxim, ethical code, or moralitythat essentially states either of the following:* : One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself....

 and possibly objected to the regulations the Bloomington Town Company was imposing on the residents. Hiatt was, to a large degree, an anarchist

Anarchism

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be undesirable, unnecessary, and harmful, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations...

. Hiatt died in 1900 and was buried in a homemade coffin

Coffin

A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of dead people – either for burial or cremation.Contemporary North American English makes a distinction between "coffin", which is generally understood to denote a funerary box having six sides in plan view, and "casket", which...

 in Twin Mound Cemetery, a cemetery he started in 1858 when his first wife died.

Eventually the s was dropped from the town name. The small farming community was growing steadily and Hiatt had big plans for the town. He began talking up the Twin Mounds Harmonic College which would teach science, facts and laws; not sect, doctrine, nature or creed. The college would also be open to all races, creeds and sexes. Why Hiatt failed in this venture is possibly due to Hiatt's lack of experience and going up against stronger opposition who wanted a university in Lawrence

Lawrence, Kansas

Lawrence is the sixth largest city in the U.S. State of Kansas and the county seat of Douglas County. Located in northeastern Kansas, Lawrence is the anchor city of the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County...

.

The townsite remains a small farming community. All that remains is the one-room schoolhouse, the cemetery and the two mounds.