Kansas History – Page 2 – Franklin County Historical Society

March 8, 2022: Prairie Gas Stations

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A dilapidated stucco building stands abandoned in a field. Many of the windows are boarded up. Part of the tile roof is missing.

Prairie Gas Stations presented by Judi Kirk Sunday, March 6, 2022, 2 p.m. Ottawa Memorial Auditorium 301 South Hickory Street, Ottawa, Kansas 66067 Judi Kirk loves early 20th-century gas stations. When she discovered that one of her favorites—a filling station on Highway 54 in Cairo, Kansas—was torn down, she made it her quest to photograph as many old Kansas gas stations as she could before they vanished. Her adventures in seeking out and photographing historic filling stations have been compiled into two books, Remnants: Prairie Gas Stations Remembered and…

October 12: The Orphan Train Movement (Online Event)

October 28, 2021October 28, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A train has pulled into the station. A large group of people crowd around the train as passengers deboard.

The Orphan Train Movement presented by Kaily Carson Tueday, October 12, 2021 – 7 p.m. RECORDING AVAILABLE! Between 1854 and 1929, 250,000 children migrated from the East Coast to the West and Midwest on orphan trains. Learn how and why the orphan train system developed, how it worked, and hear the stories of orphan train riders to Franklin County. This free online program is presented by Kaily Carson, curator at the National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia, Kansas. Image: An orphan train arrives in Blue Rapids, Kansas. Photo courtesy…

POSTPONED: November 14: Main Street Richmond: 1880-1980 (online program)

October 28, 2021October 28, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

An aerial view of a street lined with businesses and cars.

Main Street Richmond: 1880-1980 presented by Dennis Peters Register at Zoom or watch via Facebook Live The small town of Richmond, Kansas, has changed a lot over the years. Changing businesses, shifting community needs, and destructive fires have shaped and reshaped the community. Dennis Peters, volunteer with the Richmond Community Museum, will present a history of Richmond through photographs in the museum’s collection. This program will be rescheduled as in in-person program in the spring of 2022.

New exhibit explores transition from horse-drawn buggies to horseless carriages

September 17, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Background: a photo of Central Street in Richmond, Kansas, showing both a horce and buggy and an automobile. The words "Horse Power" are in the foreground.

Horse Power Now through August 2022 at the Old Depot Museum The Franklin County Historical Society’s newest exhibit, “Horse Power,” explores the transition from horse-drawn buggies to horseless carriages and how the automobile shaped our streets and our culture. The exhibit will be on display at the Old Depot Museum in Ottawa, Kansas, through August 2022. In 1899, the Ottawa Herald reported that “Franklin County has 6,622 horses. As yet, she has no automobiles.” “Horseless carriages” were still a rarity in Kansas; in 1900, Kansas ranked tenth in the…

New Exhibit Features Historic Maps of Ottawa

September 7, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Background shows a translucent image of the index page from the 1884 Ottawa Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. Text reads Our City in Sanborns: The City of Ottawa in Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1884-1924

Our City in Sanborns: The City of Ottawa in Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1884-1924 Now through July 2022 at the Old Depot Museum The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps were first published in the 1860s to help fire insurance agents assess risk to commercial, industrial, and residential buildings and properties. Sanborn ultimately printed more than 50,000 editions of maps for 12,000 U.S. towns and cities through the 1950s. Because these maps were expensive—ranging in price from $12 to $200 depending on the year and the size of the city—communities often…

New exhibit highlights teen’s photos of 1950s Franklin County

March 25, 2021March 26, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A black-and-white image shows a teen boy standing with a camera on a tripod, photographing a sun setting over a body of water. The exhibit title Through a Teen's Lens: The Photography of Jack Bremer appears in the upper right-hand corner.

Through a Teen’s Lens: The Photography of Jack Bremer Now through March 2022 at the Old Depot Museum Before Jack Bremer found his calling as a United Methodist minister and social activist, he was a teenager with a camera. The Old Depot Museum’s newest exhibit, “Through a Teen’s Lens: The Photography of Jack Bremer,” showcases 50 photographs Bremer captured during the early 1950s. The exhibit will be on display through March 2022. Bremer’s photographs caught the attention of the Franklin County Historical Society in June of 2020, when his daughter,…

May 4: Petroglyphs of the Kansas Smoky Hills (Online Event)

March 25, 2021March 25, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Petroglyphs of the Kansas Smoky Hills presented by Rex Buchanan Tuesday, May 4, 7 p.m. Via Zoom and Facebook Live Click here to register for Zoom Access Too often Kansas history seems to start with the Coronado’s trip through the state in 1541. For centuries before European arrival, Native people lived on the plains, and some left behind rock carvings on soft sandstone in the middle of the state. Based on the book Petroglyphs of the Kansas Smoky Hills (University Press of Kansas, 2019), this presentation focuses on these carvings,…

Invitation to Bid on Roof Repairs and Painting/Plastering Projects at the Old Depot Museum

January 11, 2021January 15, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS INVITATION TO BID Roof Project & Painting/Plastering Project OLD DEPOT MUSEUM, also known as the Ottawa Santa Fe Depot OTTAWA, KANSAS Building Description Completed in 1888, the two-story limestone building with a prominent terne-metal roof served as a depot for the Southern Kansas and then AT&SF railroad lines until 1962, when the structure was donated to the Franklin County Historical Society. FCHS reopened the building as the Old Depot Museum in 1963. Project Descriptions Project #1: Repairing both the terne-metal roof and wooden platform roof to…