2024 – Kansas Preservation Alliance

Endangered:
Girl Scout Little House –

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

In July 1872, the Church of the Epiphany initially planned to rent City Hall for services but canceled the contract due to financial constraints. They began building a small chapel on August 26th 1872, 20 feet by 40 feet in size. Over the following year, as funds were raised, the congregation met in various public …

Endangered:
Stafford Santa Fe Depot

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

Photo Credit to https://kimscountyline.blogspot.com/2016/11/is-sun-setting-on-stafford-depot.html Built in 1911, the Stafford Depot is a historic ATSF train depot located in Stafford, Kansas. While many passenger depots have been abandoned in these smaller towns, some have found new life as museums or even residential homes. This is the hope for the Stafford Depot, but time is running out. The Historic Preservation Alliance, Inc. …

Endangered:
Ft. Leavenworth Garrison Homes

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

Photo credit to The Kansas State Historical Society As many as 185 homes are on the chopping block in Fort Leavenworth. These properties include grand, gabled homes and multi-family barrack housing for soldiers, dating back as far as 1919. The reason given for their proposed demolition is due to raising costs to maintain them. Originally …

Endangered:
Elmdale City Hall

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

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) provided the labor for the construction of the now-former city hall in Elmdale. As of 2023 the building appears to be abandoned. According to a historical marker, the city hall was built between 1936 and 1937 and funded jointly with the city of Elmdale providing $1,500 and the “Federal Government” …

Endangered:
Nick Chiles Buildings

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

These three Topeka buildings were owned by Nick Chiles, an African American entrepreneur, political and civil rights activist, and editor who moved to Topeka in 1886. Chiles founded, edited, and published the Topeka Plaindealer, which had the largest circulation of any Black newspaper west of the Mississippi River, from 1899 until he died at age 61 in …

Endangered:
Pospishil Building

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

The was the first native stone building in Luray, KS, was constructed in 1898-99 using limestone blocks from the Pospishil farm. This two-story building with a full basement measures approximately 100′ by 50′. Its Italianate design features a Mesker Brothers Iron Works storefront with classic elements like double-rosettes and fleur-de-lis, and a self-supporting awning. Historic …

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 …

Year Listed: 2024