Residential – Kansas Preservation Alliance & Abandoned Atlas Foundation

Endangered:
J. B. Cook Mansion

Year(s) Listed: • 2025 | City/Town: • Chetopa

Jeremiah Brown Cook (1834–1921), a Civil War cavalry commander, became a successful real estate businessman in Chetopa, Kansas. In 1886, he began building a grand brick home, which cost around $10,000 (equivalent to $335,000 today). Though its architectural style is debated (Italianate or Second Empire), it became a local landmark. Cook retired in his 50s, …

Endangered:
Doctor WB Jones Home

Year(s) Listed: • 2024 | City/Town: • Florence

PHOTO BY MIKE SPIVEY The abandoned homestead of Doctor W.B. Jones, located in a remote area, features a stone engraved above a window with “Doctor W.B. Jones 1878.” Dr. William B. Jones, born on May 5, 1836, in Kentucky, pursued a medical degree in St. Louis, Missouri, graduating in 1879 at 43 years old. The …

Endangered:
Edwin A. Smith Home

Year(s) Listed: • 2023 | City/Town: • Wellington

Joseph C. Smith Sr. and Mary Francis Burt Smith had decided that Wellington Kansas would be the place they settled down to have and raise their children. Mary had birthed four children Edwin, Joseph Jr., Nelly, and Harry. Edwin A. Smith was the eldest of the bunch born in 1870, they had brought him from his birthplace of Madison Indiana to Kansas …

Endangered:
Marion County Poor Farm

Year(s) Listed: • 2022 • 2023 | City/Town: • Marion

Picture from KSHPO The poor farm’s main building was constructed in 1889-1890 on a parcel of land once owned by W.E. Glover. Glover’s house is still standing. The poor farm’s cemetery is located a few hundred feet north of the poor farm. The buildings on the property have fallen into serious neglect since being abandoned …

Endangered:
Rock Springs Ranch Water Wheel

Year(s) Listed: • 2013 | City/Town: • Junction City

Iconic camp identifying building for generations of 4-Hers and a remarkably intact example of special site adapted vernacular design and engineering that utilized local materials and manual skills.

Endangered:
Rural Downtowns Statewide

Year(s) Listed: • 2012 | City/Town: • Central Kansas • Eastern Kansas • Northern Kansas • Southern Kansas • Western Kansas

Due to depopulation, the bustling late 19th and early 20th century downtowns across Kansas are becoming increasingly vacant. The 2010 census revealed 75 of Kansas’ 105 counties experienced population loss, with 23 of them losing 10 percent or more of their residents. With farm consolidation and migration to urban areas, the economic base required to …

Endangered:
Whitewater Falls Stock Farm Barn

Year(s) Listed: • 2010 • 2012 | City/Town: • Towanda

This unusually large and ornate barn is threatened by deterioration, especially a leaky roof. The Whitewater Falls Stock Farm was established by Scottish immigrant, J. W. Robison and his son, James C. Robison. The barn was constructed to house a prize-winning Percheron draft horse breeding operation and, later, was used for a Hereford cattle breeding …

Endangered:
Vermilya-Boener House

Year(s) Listed: • 2010 | City/Town: • Lawrence

The Vermilya-Boener House is the only structure remaining from a historic farm in a scenic area of level fertile land in the Kansas River valley north of Lawrence. Elijah Wentworth Vermilya worked with Swedish stone masons to construct the stone farmhouse in 1867. It remained the family residence until 1948. Descendants of the Vermilya family …

Endangered:
W. H. Sternberg Mansion

Year(s) Listed: • 2010 | City/Town: • Wichita

The Sternberg mansion was nominated for the Endangered Historic Places list by the present owner, Ken Elliott, because the property is threatened by deterioration. Elliott has tried to rehabilitate the ornate building on his own, but has been unable to qualify for municipal and state assistance. Constructed for his personal residence in 1886 by William …

Endangered:
Mary Butterfield House

Year(s) Listed: • 2010 | City/Town: • Manhattan

This house was constructed ca. 1908 for Mary Butterfield, who was the owner. She and her husband Frank, a retired farmer, lived with their daughter, Margaret, at another location. Margaret Butterfield was appointed secretary of the Kansas State Agricultural College (now KSU) in 1909. Formerly the Manhattan Emegency Shelter, the building has been vacant for …

Class: Residential