Endangered – Page 2 – Kansas Preservation Alliance

Endangered:
Ark City Office Building

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

This 1929 Art Deco style office building is the tallest building in downtown Arkansas City. The structure served as the commercial anchor downtown for much of the 20th century. It was a hub of activity with street-level cafes and shops and upper-level professional offices. It is listed in the National Register as a contributing resource …

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:
Drinkwater & Schriver Mill

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

In 2006 the historic, almost a century and a half old mill was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since then there has been community outcry to have this piece of history restored back to its former glory. Restoration efforts started officially in 2015 with the first order of business being removing the …

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:
Stone Arch Bridges

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

Stone bridges, though the most expensive way to erect a bridge, represented the strongest and most durable bridge construction method. When arranged with an arch, stone can bear an almost unlimited load making it a popular choice near mills where heavy vehicles would cross or along a major roadway into a town. Stone bridges represent …

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:
Diskau Archeological Site

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

Archaeological test excavations have recovered Clovis projectile points and the remains of extinct Ice Age mammoths and camels in a cultivated field near Riley, Kansas. State archeologists indicate finding mammoth and camel remains is very rare in not only the state but in North America. Access to the site is being restricted, limiting the further …

Endangered:
Chouteau Trading Post, Station and Post Office Site

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

Located at the mouth of the Kaw River, this historic site in Johnson County, Kansas, was home to the first trading post, train station stop and post office for the former Monticello Township (now Shawnee). Established in 1828 by Frederick Chouteau, the site first served as a fur trading post and ferry stop along the …

Endangered:
Sumner Elementary School

Year(s) Listed: • 1996 • 2009 | City/Town: • Topeka

Constructed in 1936 this Art Moderne style building is the school Oliver Brown’s daughter was denied admission to in the historic Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 19554.

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, …

Current Status: Endangered