KSHPO - Kansas State Historic Preservation Office

10/15/2026

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – October 15 is International Day of Rural Women. The farmer and the cowgirl can be friends at the Stonehaven Farm in Tonganoxie, Leavenworth County.

The Stonehaven Farm Mansion was located on a 2000-acre apple orchard in south Leavenworth County. The home was designed and built in 1898 by Cora Wellhouse Bullard, with input from famed architect Daniel Burnham. Bullard was one of the most significant and influential women in Kansas during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, and Bullard is the daughter of the widely known “Apple King of the World” Judge Fredrick Wellhouse.. The house is known as the most beautiful country home in Kansas and served as a community and political rally gathering point for people in the region, and became a stop on the Union Pacific Railroad.

Stonehaven Farm includes a large 1898 farmhouse and carriage house, along with remnants of the former farming operation within the site itself. The 1.5-story house, designed by Cora and finished in 1903 is an uncommon Kansas example of a mixture between the American Shingle and Craftsman styles. The house is characterized by massive fieldstone construction with shingled facades, multiple dormers, and a widow’s watch. One feature sets it apart from the coastal shingle style homes: the wide eave overhang and knee braces more common in the Craftsman style. It was common at the time for these two styles to “merge almost imperceptibly” as they do at Stonehaven Farm.

Kansas Historic Tax Credits were earned for repairs to the veranda and porte cochere. Learn more the Stonehaven Farm and read the informative National Register nomination in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=103-718

10/14/2026

The Kansas Historical Society is seeking a Review and Compliance Architectural Historian. This position is responsible for timely reviews of projects in accordance with state and federal laws for the protection of historic properties; educates the public and government officials about protective laws; reviews projects submitted by property owners, federal and state agencies and local governments through the Kansas Review & Compliance system and analyzes their potential to affect the state’s historic properties; and reviews and evaluates proposals for conformance with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. The employee must be able to read, understand, and explain architectural drawings and specifications. The employee must possess skills necessary to provide excellent customer service. To apply, click on the link below.

Kansas Historical Society

10/13/2026

FROM THE KHRI ARCHIVE – October 13 is National M&M Day. Alliteration is the aim at the Marion County Poor Farm in Marion, Marion County.

The Marion County Poor Farm is a 2.72-acre site located five miles southwest of the town of Marion in Marion County. The site includes the main house (1890), the ruins of a stone house (ca. 1883), a wooden structure of unknown date, and the remaining land associated with the poor farm that functioned from 1890 to 1964. The main stone structure is two stories plus a full basement and includes 40 rooms, 80 windows, and five bathrooms. Two original wooden porches remain: a covered porch on the south and a large west porch. A sidewalk encircles the house. The building is set in the countryside of Marion County and is accessed via gravel roads. The view is clear from all sides of the property, as flat farmlands are all that surrounds it.

The residence was built by one of the county's well known stone masons, Fred Schaefler of Hillsboro, “cutting and shaping the stone with his artisan's hammer and chisel.” The walls are 18 inches thick. The building is two stories plus a full attic and full basement and containing 12 bedrooms, two historic dining halls, a banquet room, two large kitchens, two wards, a recreation room, and an elevator (non-functional).

Application has been made for state historic tax credits for exterior rehabilitations. Learn more about the Marion County Poor Farm and read the informative State Register nomination in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=115-0000-00826

10/08/2026

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – October 8 is International Birth Registration Day. Don’t forget the footprints at the Fresh Air Baby Camp in Wichita, Sedgwick County.

The Fresh Air Baby Camp is a one-story concrete structure with Prairie and Craftsman influences built in 1921. It is six bays wide by one room deep. The building is centrally located in North Riverside Park. Typical of the Craftsman and Prairie influences, the building has a low- pitched, side hipped roof covered with exposed rafter tails and painted green French interlocking tiles that are original to the building. The windows are triple-hung wood sash windows with four lights in each sash with continuous sills and are uniform through the building. There are ten windows in the north elevation, eight windows in the south elevation, two in the west elevation and two in the east elevation. Modern aluminum storms have been installed. The walls have been painted white.

Kansas Historic Tax Credits were earned for exterior and interior repairs and mechanical systems upgrades. Learn more the Fresh Air Baby Camp and read the informative National Register nomination in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=173-5880-09040

10/07/2026

Congratulations to the Shepard Chapel in Manhattan for receiving a $100,000 Heritage Trust Fund grant!

This Gothic Revival church was built in 1916 and served Manhattan, Riley County until the 1960s. It was listed on the National and Register of Historic Places in 2023.

10/06/2026

FROM THE KHRI ARCHIVE – October 6 is National German-American Day. Zähle deine Segnungen at the German Evangelical Church in Westmoreland, Pottawatomie County.

This is a single story, stone church, with a single entry on the west elevation and a steeply pitched front gable roof. Italianate details highlight the lintels above doors and windows. The foundation is cut belt-course stone. Four-over-four arched double-hung sash windows face north and south each. The entrance has an arched lintel transom with prominent keystones, and decorative bases adorn the stone trim around door.

In 1887 this modest stone building was erected by the German Evangelical Association. In 1914 the Church of Christ purchased the property. An interesting condition of the deed conveying the property to the Church of Christ was that ‘no organ nor other musical instrument be used, nor advocated, nor kept; and that no fair, festival, nor other practice unauthorized in the New Testament, be held, had nor conducted, in, upon, nor about said premises…’ In 1977 this building became the site of Rock Creek Valley Historical Society Museum.

State historic tax credits have been earned for exterior rehabilitations. Learn more about the German Evangelical Church and read the informative National Register nomination in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=149-5770-00006

10/01/2026

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – October 1 is World Vegetarian Day. It’s harvest time at Sunnyland in Garden City, Finney County.

The Queen Anne-styled home features a prominent, front-facing gable and rounded turret with a domed roof on the east facade. Wooden shingles roof the turret in a decorative pattern. The lower portion of the house (two stories) is red brick while the upper was wooden siding and decorative shingles. There is a large Palladian window centered in the south-facing side facade. A large slab of stone mounted in the turret wall reads, "SUNNYLAND 1909". Rooms in the house were first let for rent by Mr. & Mrs. James C. Burnett after they purchased the home in 1959. It now operates as a B&B.

Kansas Historic Tax Credits were earned for exterior and interior repairs. Learn more Sunnyland and read the informative State Register nomination in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=055-1950-00020

09/30/2026

Congratulations to the Masonic Temple in El Dorado, Butler County for receiving a $100,000 grant from the Heritage Trust Fund!



This three-story brick building was built in 1922 for Patmos Lodge. Although a masonic symbol still adorns the center bay, today the building serves the community as a apartment complex

09/29/2026

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – September 29 is Silent Movie Day. Stop by the concession stand at the Orpheum Theater and Office Building in Wichita, Sedgwick County.

Evidenced by the exposed north end wall, the Orpheum is a steel-framed structure with a brick veneer. It was described by the supervising architect in 1922 as “the last word in fireproof construction." The auditorium roof is concrete supported on five 8-ton steel trusses. "Oak Bark" brick, which was used to face the upper stories of the north, west, and south walls of the building is rough and dark brown; red brick was used on the sides of the building not visible from the street.

Prominent features of the auditorium facade are three pairs of exit doors with terracotta jambs, topped by three arched windows in a framework of pilasters and ornamental pediments. The generally restrained Spanish Baroque detailing of the exterior, especially in the corner tiara, hints at the whimsical environment of the theater within, which is modeled on the architect's concept of a Spanish courtyard.

State tax credit projects have benefitted the years-long exterior and interior rehabilitations of this important historic building which celebrated a grand opening in 2026. Learn more about the Orpheum Theater and Office Building and read the informative National Register nomination in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=173-5880-00039

09/25/2026

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – September 24 is National Punctuation Day. Let’s debate the Oxford comma at the Clyde School in Cloud County.

The Clyde School is a two-story on basement, load-bearing brick and reinforced concrete masonry school with Collegiate Gothic Revival influence completed in 1923-1924. The building has a simple rectangular mass and faces north. Secondary entrances are located on the east and west facades of the building. There are mature trees in the front (north) yard of the site, but otherwise, the property surrounding the school is either paved for parking or sown in grass.

The flat roof of the school is hidden behind a stepped parapet with a projecting cast stone cornice and coping. The exterior walls are polychromed with red brick on the basement level separated by a molded cast stone water table from a darker brown brick on the floors above. The basement level is laid in common bond where every seventh course is rusticated. The upper floors feature windows outlined with belt courses of brick headers and stretchers, with spandrels decorated with blind panels set with cast stone comer blocks. Windows on the building are 9/9 double-hung sashes set in single openings or in groups of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Windows above the east and west entrances feature an unusual arrangement of three 9/9 double-hung sashes set above another group of three 9/9 double-hung sashes. The side entrances contain single-light metal frame replacement doors with replacement two-light sidelights and two-light replacement transoms, set in a one-story projecting brick frontispiece polychromed with alternating bands of cast stone. The north entrance contains single-light metal frame replacement double door with replacement two-light sidelights and three-light replacement transom, set .in a one-story projecting brick vestibule spanned by a cast stone Gothic arch and decorated with foils, quatrefoils, and panels decorated with Gothic tracery. Above, the spandrel between the first and second floors contains a cast stone panel with the title "Clyde School" flanked by blind panels with Gothic tracery.

Federal Historic Tax Credits were earned for exterior and interior repairs. Learn more the Clyde School and read the informative National Register nomination in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=029-1030-00004