Western Kansas – Page 2 – Kansas Preservation Alliance

Endangered:
Lion Block

Year(s) Listed: • 2009 | City/Town: • Ness City

The Lion Block in Ness City, Kansas, serves as an excellent example of late 19th century Italianate design. Italianate styling was popular nationwide from the 1840s through the mid-1880s, spurred on by pattern books such as those published by Andrew Jackson Downing. Financed by the Shepard Brothers in 1887, the Lion Block retains its interior …

Endangered:
Kansas Barns

Year(s) Listed: • 2007 • 2008 | City/Town: • Central Kansas • Eastern Kansas • Northern Kansas • Southern Kansas • Western Kansas

Historic barns are a symbol of Kansas heritage and landscape. Of the first permanent buildings that farm families constructed, barns served a variety of functions integral to the survival and success of farms. By examining the various construction techniques and materials that were used, these vernacular buildings help to tell the history of Kansas. Vacancy, …

Endangered:
Kansas Homesteads

Year(s) Listed: • 2007 • 2008 | City/Town: • Central Kansas • Eastern Kansas • Northern Kansas • Southern Kansas • Western Kansas

The Homestead Act of 1862 made much of Kansas available for settlement. The Act provided farmers with 160 acres of land, provided they would live on the land for five years and improve it. Many of these settlers began in sod houses and then built frame or stone buildings depending on available local materials. Most …

Endangered:
Historic Wood Windows

Year(s) Listed: • 2006 | City/Town: • Central Kansas • Eastern Kansas • Northern Kansas • Southern Kansas • Western Kansas

This is a thematic nomination aimed at bringing attention to the nationwide problem of the loss of original wood sash windows. Many homeowners are replacing wood windows with vinyl windows under the false idea that they are more energy efficient. Due to the high quality of materials and craftsmanship, however, the original wood windows can …

Endangered:
Grainfield Opera House

Year(s) Listed: • 2005 | City/Town: • Grainfield

This 2-story brick structure has an ornate cast iron façade manufactured by Mesker Brothers of St. Louis. The 50’X 100’ building is located at the corner of 3rd and Main. Much of the exterior maintenance and repair has been completed but the small group of community volunteers has reached the point of needing more help to …

Endangered:
Brick Streets of Kansas

Year(s) Listed: • 2004 | City/Town: • Central Kansas • Eastern Kansas • Northern Kansas • Southern Kansas • Western Kansas

What first tells you that you have arrived in an old town more than Brick streets. In the early 20th century, there were many brick-making plants across Kansas and residents were happy to go from dirt to paved brick streets. This nomination was submitted by Von Rothenberger of Osborne where heavy equipment used to remove the …

Endangered:
Windsor Hotel

Year(s) Listed: • 1993 • 1997 • 1999 | City/Town: • Garden City

Photo by: By Ammodramus – Own work, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39265993 Construction began on the Windsor in 1887. Its chief builder was John A. Stevens, a former buffalo hunter and wild horse wrangler. He was backed by the building and architecture firm Stevens and Thompson and only decided to build when he saw another of Garden City’s …

Endangered:
Rural Churches of Kansas

Year(s) Listed: • 1998 • 2009 | City/Town: • Central Kansas • Eastern Kansas • Northern Kansas • Southern Kansas • Western Kansas

Rural churches all over the State of Kansas are in danger of disappearing. With smaller rural communities finding it harder and harder to keep their incoming revenue sustainable the upkeep of church buildings has become harder to maintain. In addition these communities are losing population faster than they can repopulate leaving congregations to die out …

Endangered:
Rural Schoolhouses of Kansas

Year(s) Listed: • 1998 | City/Town: • Central Kansas • Eastern Kansas • Northern Kansas • Southern Kansas • Western Kansas

Schoolhouses all across the state of Kansas are in danger of being turned to dust. Many of our one room schoolhouses, left vacant in the 1960s-1980s during consolidation and funding changes within the government have been abandoned for so long most are a shell of what they used to be. Rural high school buildings vacated …

City: Western Kansas