Residential – Page 2 – Kansas Preservation Alliance & Abandoned Atlas Foundation

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 …

Endangered:
Grace Bedell Billings Home

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

When Grace Bedell was eleven years old in New York state, she wrote to candidate Abraham Lincoln suggesting that he grow a beard so he could be elected president. Lincoln requested a stop when the presidential train headed to the inaugural so that he could thank his “Little Correspondent” as he called her. Later, Grace …

Endangered:
Phillipena Strasser House

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

Commissioned to be built in 1874 by widow Phillipena Strasser, the Strasser House is the second oldest house in Manhattan’s Ward 2 and one of few surviving examples of stone residences in the city. In an agreement with the City of Manhattan, the Strasser House will remain at its current location though the surrounding context …

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:
Kenneth Smith Home

Year(s) Listed: • 2006 | City/Town: • Shawnee

Kenneth Smith was the first American golf club manufacturer. His golf clubs were coveted by heads of state and famous celebrities. Kenneth Smith acquired his stone house in 1932, but the home was actually built by one of the founding members of Shawnee, John Garrett, a stonemason. The home dates to around 1870 with additions …

Endangered:
Sauer Castle

Year(s) Listed: • 1996 • 1999 | City/Town: • Kansas City

Anton Philip Sauer immigrated to Kansas City from New York in 1868. Originally from Hessen Germany, the wealthy entrepreneur spent his younger days traveling all over South America and other countries. Finally settling down in Kansas City Anton owned around two hundred acres and picked a spot that reminded him of his homeland along the Rhine River. …

Endangered:
909 Pennsylvania

Year(s) Listed: • 1997 | City/Town: • Lawrence

Created in 1873 by the railroad as worker housing, the building was built in the National Folk Style. It has not been maintained and will be lost to demolition by neglect unless a solution can be found.

Endangered:
Dillion House

Year(s) Listed: • 1997 | City/Town: • Topeka

Photo from: Dillion House Built in the Italian Renaissance style the Dillon House is a rare survivor of an elite pre-World War I residential neighborhood. Its overall form and many of the character-defining features are still clearly evident today. A passionate man famous for his hospitality, Hiram Price Dillon’s robust spirit is evident throughout the …

Endangered:
Nicodemus, Kansas

Year(s) Listed: • 1993 • 1996 | City/Town: • Nicodemus

Photo by: unknown/Library of Congress The only remaining western Kansas town established by African Americans during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. A report by the National Park Service indicates that “if Nicodemus is not protected and preserved…..it is inevitable that the historic structures will continue to deteriorate and eventually be razed.”

Class: Residential