Established in 1871, Osborne was founded by a Pennsylvania colony and became the only city in the Solomon Valley/Highway 24 Heritage Alliance region founded by a colony. A scouting party of 67 people left Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in April 1871 bound for Kansas, and on May 1, 1871, the remaining 38 men and one woman laid out the townsite. Colony co-leader Colonel William Bear proposed the name Osborne City after Civil War veteran Vincent B. Osborne, while the surrounding township was named Penn after William Penn. The remaining 250 colonists arrived later that September, and although the colony officially disbanded in July 1871, the Osborne City Town Company then governed the community. After four general elections, Osborne City was declared the permanent county seat in November 1872, became a second-class city in 1878 with a mayor and city council government, and by the mid-1890s dropped "City" from its name. Osborne is noted for architecture that includes the Classic-styled Carnegie Research Library, used as the Osborne Public Library from 1913 to 1995 and now serving as archives for the local genealogical and historical society; the Richardsonian Romanesque Osborne County Courthouse of 1907-1908, built of Cottonwood and Post Rock limestone; the former Presbyterian Church dedicated in 1911; the 1903 Bible Baptist Church; the 1906 United Methodist Church with handcarved main doors and a carillon; and the twin native stone Renaissance-style First National Bank and Walrond, Mitchell and Heren Law Office buildings of 1885 and 1886. Courthouse Square also contains the 1929 Old Settlers Monument and the 2000 Osborne County Veteran's Memorial, while the courthouse itself bears carvings of stylized sunflowers and of a lion and Medusa, symbols of justice. The area offers views of the South Fork Solomon River valley from Osborne's North and South Hills, and the Blue Hills of Osborne County are known for Cretaceous Period sea fossils; in 1978 the Kansas Geologic Survey named Medicine Peak and the Scaphites Gully Site notable fossil locations after rare Scaphites and other fossils were discovered there. Osborne's heritage is also reflected in the Osborne County Museum Complex, in seasonal agricultural activity tied to wheat, corn, and milo harvests, and in recurring community events such as weekly sale day, the Osborne County 4-H Fair, and a classic car show. Among people associated with Osborne are buffalo hunter Jeff Durfey, whose 1870 log cabin is the county's oldest building; blacksmith Frank Hatch, who built and drove the first self-propelled vehicle in Kansas through town in 1887; General Lewis Hanback; editor and legislator Charles E. Mann; Calvin Reasoner, founder of Arlington, later mayor of Osborne and a state representative; his daughter Elsie, America's first female war correspondent during the Spanish-American War; surgeon and football star Marvin "Mal" Stevens; and coach David Johnson, whose teams won 213 games and two state championships from 1963 to 1991.