Fresh Air Baby Camp, Wichita, KS

This Progressive Era building provided a refuge for infants whose health was at risk within the existing hospital system.  Community members, principally women, rallied the Wichita community to construct the building and secured local builder George Siedoff to donate the required labor.  Prominent local architect Lorenz Schmidt volunteered to design the building specifically to fit its purpose and included a crib room, isolation room and large windows with screens for ventilation.  The design reflected Craftsman and Prairie Style influences.  The building opened in 1921 and accommodated 20 babies in the summer months.  No fees were charged for infant care as fundraisers and memberships were sold to cover medical costs.

When Wesley Hospital opened in 1926, the Baby Camp project was moved to the new facility, thus enabling the program to continue year round.  The City leased the airy, well constructed building to the Wichita area Girl Scouts for a day camp and troop activity house.  In 2001, the Girls Scouts moved from the building and it now stands vacant.  A group of concerned citizens are now working to raise awareness about the building and find potential solutions for future use.

Historic Brick Sidewalks, Manhattan, KS

Manhattan’s oldest neighborhoods stretch out over roughly 100 blocks and retain over 50% of their original brick sidewalks.  These landscape features are roughly 120 years old.  They complement and connect the area’s historic Queen Anne, Second Empire, Richardsonian Romanesque as well as Craftsman homes.

Homeowners must provide maintenance for the city owned brick sidewalks, however, many people do not have the resources or technical knowledge to maintain them property.  Additionally, a large number of non-owner occupied homes have contributed to the deterioration of the sidewalks.  The Manhattan/Riley County Preservation Alliance has featured the sidewalks on tours of endangered resources in the city.  Technical assistance and grant incentives would help preserve these defining landscape features.

Colonial Fox Theatre, Pittsburg, KS

Opened in 1920 as the Colonial Theatre, this Italian Renaissance Revival Building features Beaux Arts details and is the only remaining theater in Crawford County from the `Movie Palace’ decade of the 1920’s.  Prominent local builder, Asa Messenger modeled the building after a theater in Kansas City and local craftsmen produced the stone, steel and woodwork for the building in addition to the ventilation and heating systems.  The theater changed ownership in 1958 and became the Fox Theatre.  It provided entertainment for Pittsburg citizens until it closed in the mid-1980s.

This spring, the Colonial Fox Foundation successfully prevented the building from being sold at public auction and now owns the property.  Now that the building is safe from demolition, the Foundation is working to raise money to pay for the purchase and also to renovate the building.  The public has responded by supporting numerous fundraising efforts; including building tours, benefit concerts and online auctions.  The Foundation’s vision is to provide a venue for independent and classic films as well as live performances.

SBA Tower Building, Topeka, KS

A landmark in the western Topeka skyline, the building was constructed in 1930 to house the Securities Benefit Association Hospital.  The design of the building was inspired by Independence Hall in Philadelphia and represents collaboration between a Chicago firm, Schmidt, Garden and Martin and Topeka architect Walter E. Glover.  In 1961, the Menninger Foundation purchased the building for use as a treatment and research facility.  Menninger relocated in 2003 and the Tower building, along with the rest of the campus, became available for sale.  In the summer of 2006, vandals broke into the vacant building and damaged the windows and interior.

In March of 2007, St. Francis Hospital announced plans to purchase the property and develop it as a health park.  The Tower Coalition is working closely with St. Francis to find a new use for the historic building.  They are working to raise awareness about this unique Topeka landmark and are confident it can be feasibly redeveloped and enjoyed by future generations.

Kansas Homesteads, Statewide

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 of these agricultural resources are located in areas of the state that have lost population.

The Tamme Lucken Rewerts Homestead is located in Lydia and provides an example of a farm that began as a Homestead.  In 1887, Rewerts moved his family from Illinois and established a farm in western Kansas, seven years later he received ownership of the land and his family continued to farm it until 1967.  At that time, the farmhouse, windmill, cellar, and associated outbuildings were abandoned.  The buildings exist today in a deteriorated state and the land around them is leased for farming.

Old Abilene Town, Abilene, KS

Old Abilene Town is an example of an early heritage tourism site founded to help promote the western heritage of the town.  Following the national model of Henry Ford's Greenfield Village, Old Abilene Town represents a collection of buildings that were moved from their original sites in the early 1960s.  Though the practice of moving historic buildings from their original context is viewed as controversial among historic preservationists today.  Old Abilene Town as an outdoor museum represents early efforts of community supported heritage tourism.

Old Abilene Town is a collection of about 20 buildings including:  log cabins, churches, train depots, commercial buildings and barns.  In its heyday, Old Abilene Town treated thousands of visitors to Old West shootouts and other lively historical adaptations.  Old Abilene Town prospered in the first 20 years of existence until it encountered financial challenges in the late 1970s.  Changes in ownership and a plan to move the town closer to I-70 caused community support to wane while the buildings deteriorated.  In 2006, Historic Abilene, Inc. reconstituted its board and developed a business plan that includes preserving the historic buildings on site and providing living history programming.  Currently the group is raising awareness about the plan and seeking funding sources.

Bethany Place Landscape, Topeka, KS

This year’s list includes eight historic places, including the Bethany Place Landscape in Topeka, Kansas.   Started in the 1860s as the College of the Sisters of Bethany, Bethany Place was the first women's college in Kansas.  Georgia Neese Gray, the first female US Treasurer is one of the college's most notable alumnae.  The present day campus still retains two of the original Gothic buildings surrounded by a wooded setting with mature trees.  As was the practice with most female colleges in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this landscape served as the backdrop for student meetings, athletic contests, dramas, and other traditions.  The Bethany Place Campus landscape serves as a record of its time, place and use.

Bethany Place is currently used for residences and a conference center for the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas.  The owners are planning to remove several mature trees to create a parking lot for nearby Grace Cathedral. This plan has been opposed by several public and private citizens groups.  Immediately after the City Council approved the permit to build the parking lot, 14 mature trees were removed from the landscape.  This action was stopped and the Friends of Bethany Place are going through the appeal process.

Kansas Barns, Statewide

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, development pressures from adjacent cities and towns, and demolition by corporate farms are causing the removal of barns from the state landscape at an alarming rate.  The Kansas State Historical Society is undertaking a statewide survey of a sample of barns to create a multiple property nomination for the National Register of Historic Places, which will aid in the listing of barns to the Register.  Additionally, the Kansas Barn Alliance has partnered with the Leavenworth County 4-H to pilot a comprehensive farmstead inventory utilizing handheld GPS devices.  They are also working to promote reuse ideas and to highlight the need for rehabilitation incentives for barns through their newsletter and annual conference.