KSHPO - Kansas State Historic Preservation Office

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – June 16 is National Accounts Payable Day. There are no arrears at the American National Bank, Arkansas City, Cowley County.

This three-story building has a rusticated stone facade distinguished by heavy arched stone window and door openings. An oriel window spans the 2nd and 3rd floors at the southeast corner. The ornate metal cornice and turret cap were removed at least 40 years ago and replaced with metal siding. Windows front the south and east facades. The stone piers supporting the wide arched storefront opening have been replaced or sheathed with concrete.

This three-story building retains its original stone facades with elaborate carved details on the east and south facades. Canvas awnings are extant on east and south storefront bays fit to the original storefront openings. This long narrow building spans the full depth of the lot and has a metal fire escape on the rear.

A current tax credit project is replacing the roof on the venerable structure that is a contributor to the Arkansas City Commercial Center Historic District. Learn more about the American National Bank in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=035-0210-00012

Job opening: The Kansas State Historical Society is seeking a part time seasonal staff member to support existing full-time staff at Hollenberg Pony Express Station State Historic Site in Hanover, Kansas. Hollenberg Station is located on the historic Oregon, California, Pony Express Trails and the newly designated Pony Express Historic Byway. The station served as a stop on these trails as the United States expanded westward. Duties include opening and closing the historic site, providing guided tours, greeting and orienting guests for their self-guided tour, processing retail sales and light janitorial work. It is a great opportunity for someone with a love of history and sharing it with guests. To apply, visit www.kansashistory.gov/p/jobs/11403

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – June 11 is National German Chocolate Cake Day. Get a big gooey slice at the St. Fidelis Catholic Church in Victoria, Ellis County.

St. Fidelis Catholic Church at Victoria is a large rural church building in a Romanesque influenced style. It is constructed of limestone cut in uniform horizontal courses with individual stones varying in length. The stone face is broken, giving a massive rusticated appearance. The building plan is a typical nave and transept style with dual towers flanking the west entrance. The interior height is 44 feet while the twin towers rise 141 feet. The main roof is a double pitch with wood shingles. Four-sided steep pitch roofs top each tower. A dentiled cornice defines the roof line for the main building and the towers.

Buttresses modulate each side of the structure. Windows are long narrow slits rising from a stone sill and terminating in a circular stone arch. The colored glass windows are recognized as being of very high quality. A large rose window is located directly above the triple doors of the main entrance. Centered above it is a niche with a stone statue of St. Fidelis. A projected water base encircles the entire building.

John T. Comes of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, one of the country's foremost church architects, finished the plans in 1905. The E.F.A. Clark Construction Company of Topeka began the construction in 1908; the cornerstone was laid on October 4, 1909; and the building was dedicated on Sunday, August 27, 1911.

St. Fidelis is commonly known as the "Cathedral of the Plains" and is a monument to the faith and courage of the Russian-German immigrants who came to Kansas in 1876 to escape oppression in Russia. They established a settlement called Herzog a mile from the so-called Victoria colony. The two settlements were consolidated under the name of Victoria in the 1880s.

State Rehabilitation Tax Credits were earned for mechanical system upgrades. Learn more about the St. Fidelis Catholic Church, and read the informative National Register nomination, in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=113-3550-00044

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – June is Automotive Service Professionals Month. You can trust your car at the McCoy-Skaggs Company, Dodge City, Ford County.

This two-story blond brick commercial building has rectangular plan form. The building faces south and has an aluminum storefront and glazed-tile bulkhead. A vertical “tower” divides storefront bays and extends one story above the storefront. A garage bay is recessed on the west end of the storefront. The east half of storefront has “EIFS” panel infill. The west bay of storefront is original blond brick with a horizontal band of windows and overhead garage bay. There are horizontal bands of large structural glass block with projecting concrete band at top on upper windows located on side facades. The ground-floor windows are multi-light steel windows on side facade. This building was constructed by McCoy-Skaggs Auto in 1946.

Also known as Frontier Ford, this building was among the first to seek the State Rehabilitation Tax Credit when the program launched in Kansas. Learn more about the McCoy-Skaggs Company in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=057-1370-00403 (black and white photo from the Ford County Historical Society)

This Wednesday we will be hosting an all day National Register Workshop! Come and learn all the ins and outs of the National Register of Historic Places. We hope to see you there!

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – June 4 is Shopping Cart Day. Avoid the one with the wobbly wheel at the Hjerpe Grocery in Lindsborg, McPherson County.

The two-story brick building features two first-floor storefronts with recessed entrances. There is a second-floor apartment that is accessed by an exterior staircase at the rear of the building. The first-floor entrances have hexagonal ceramic tile aprons. The bronze-framed storefront window, which angles back to the entrances on its north and south ends, sits on a brick kickplate. The storefront is framed with brick piers.

The identifying features of the upper façade are two window openings with two 3/1 double-hung wood windows, cast-stone sills and soldier-coursed brown-brick lintels. These window openings are surrounded by a projecting brown brick band punctuated by square cast-stone elements on all four corners. A cross-shaped cast-stone feature falls at the elevation of the sills. The 'front elevation is capped with a cast-stone parapet cap.

The Hjerpe Grocery is an intact example of Commercial Style Architecture associated with the early commerce of Lindsborg, Kansas, a Swedish-American community founded in 1869. Alfred Hjerpe, the son of Swedish immigrants, operated a grocery business out of this downtown Lindsborg building during the 1930s and 1940s.

State Rehabilitation Tax Credits were earned for interior finishes and mechanical system upgrades. Learn more about the Oak Grove School, and read the informative National Register nomination, in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=113-3550-00044

Come join us for this Russell Main Street event! What questions do you have about designating a historic district?

Edit: Venue Has Changed! The Meeting will be held in the City Council Chambers instead of Chet's Place!

What does Historic Designation mean for Downtown Russell, and how could it impact the future of our community?

Join Russell Main Street and the Kansas Historical Society for an informative presentation and Q&A session on the importance of Historic Designation for Russell's Downtown Main Street District.

Learn how historic designation can help preserve our community's unique character, protect our heritage, and support future downtown revitalization efforts.

📍City Council Chambers
📅 Tuesday, June 9
⏰ 5:30 PM

Whether you're a business owner, property owner, downtown stakeholder, or simply interested in the future of Russell, we encourage you to attend and be part of the conversation.

For more information, call 785-483-2897 or follow Russell Main Street on Facebook.

Continuing to seek applicants for the newest State Historic Site! More details at https://www.kansashistory.gov/11403.

Applications have been reopened for two positions serving the Charles Curtis House State Historic Site in Topeka! See details at https://www.kansashistory.gov/11403

The Curtis House is the former residence of Vice President Charles Curtis located near the state capitol.

The Kansas Historical Society is seeking a Full-time Site Administrator and a Part-time Assistant Site Administrator. Job duties can be found via the link above. This is a great opportunity for someone with a love for sharing history with others.

These opportunities will be open until filled. The positions have been reopened to seek a wider pool of applicants. Those who applied during the initial opening of these positions need not apply again; your application will continue to be considered.

The Charles Curtis State Historic Site is not yet open to the public.

WHAT’S WHAT IN TAX CREDITS – June 2 is National Leave the Office Early Day. Leave your desk lamp on at the R. H. Garvey Building in the Garvey Center, Wichita, Sedgwick County.

Garvey Center is comprised of five related buildings set in an urban plaza, designed by Sid Platt and Associates and completed in 1964. Although commonplace today, the building’s structural configuration reflected a new, modern approach to high rise office buildings.

The R. H. Garvey Building was Wichita’s first column-free construction. It is constructed of reinforced concrete with a central core that houses elevators, fire stairs and restrooms leaving the remainder of each floor column free for subdivision. The exterior of the building features a series of massive half-round columns that span the building’s full height framing vertical bands of windows in blue-tinted glass with turquoise spandrel panels between floors. This distinction in exterior materials and fenestration on base, shaft and cap provides a nod to Classical forms of nineteenth and early twentieth-century buildings while remaining thoroughly modern in style. Narrower concrete columns frame the top floor, arched at the top to form an open arcade around a penthouse promenade. A dark granite and quartz base was added to the white-colored concrete to give the building a sparkling appearance.

Federal and state tax credits have been earned for significant rehabilitation of the exterior and interior finishes. Learn more about the R. H. Garvey Building and read the informative National Register nomination in the Kansas Historic Resources Inventory: https://khri.kansasgis.org/index.cfm?in=173-10792

Kansas highlight!

We continue our tour of America’s historic sites on our with a visit to Grinter Place State Historic Site in Muncie, Kansas.

The home, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1857 on eight acres of land overlooking the Kansas River. The house was acquired by the State of Kansas in 1971 to preserve its extensive involvement with early Kansas Territorial/Statehood efforts. Moses Grinter operated the first ferry on the Kansas River to help troops cross the river from Forts Leavenworth and Scott. His is the oldest house in Wyandotte County.

Grinter Place is open for tours April through October, Wed. to Sun. https://www.kansashistory.gov/15857

Kansas Historical Society KSHPO - Kansas State Historic Preservation Office Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City KS