In 1861 the amount expended for the support of common schools was only $1,700, while the expenditures for the same purpose, during the year 1885, aggregated $2,977,763. For the five years ending with 1865, the expenditures for public schools aggregated $262,657.21; for the next succeeding five years they aggregated $2,259,497.89; for the next five, $7,552,191.43; for the next five, $7,509,375.23; and for the five years ending with 1885 the expenditures for public schools aggregated $12,630,480.64. Thus Kansas has expended for the support of her common schools, during the past quarter of a century, the enormous sum of $30,214,202.40. The table following shows the expenditures each year, from 1861 to 1885, inclusive, and illustrates not only the growth of Kansas, but the general and generous interest of its citizens in public education: ═══════╤═══════════════ _Year._│_Expenditures._ ───────┼─────────────── 1861 │ $1,700 00 1862 │ 11,894 45 1863 │ 26,867 03 1864 │ 81,221 30 1865 │ 137,974 45 1866 │ 225,426 27 1867 │ 364,402 50 1868 │ 431,316 54 1869 │ 565,311 17 1870 │ 673,041 41 1871 │ 1,074,946 09 1872 │ 1,701,950 44 1873 │ 1,657,318 27 1874 │ 1,638,977 99 1875 │ 1,478,998 64 1876 │ 1,165,638 80 1877 │ 1,394,188 11 1878 │ 1,541,417 12 1879 │ 1,589,794 30 1880 │ 1,818,336 90 1881 │ 1,996,335 64 1882 │ 2,194,174 65 1883 │ 2,579,243 62 1884 │ 2,882,963 53 1885 │ 2,977,763 23 ───────┼─────────────── Total │ $30,214,202 40 ───────┴─────────────── CHURCHES AND NEWSPAPERS. Churches have multiplied and newspapers increased as have the schools. In 1860 there were only 97 church buildings in Kansas, and they had cost only $143,950. In 1870 the number of churches had increased to 301, valued at $1,722,700; and in 1880 they numbered 2,514, costing an aggregate of $2,491,560.