2010 Endangered List

Grace Bedell Billings Home

Delphos, Ottawa County

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.  While the presidential train headed across New York to the inaugural, Lincoln requested a stop so he could thank his “Little Correspondent,” as he called her.  Grace later married Civil War veteran George Newton Billings and they moved to Kansas.  They homesteaded first and then, in 1882, built the house at 602 N. Custer, Delphos, where they both spent the rest of their lives. 

Today, the house is deteriorated and roof repair is needed.  The interior exhibits damage from use as a rental property over the years.  Sharon Snively has established the Grace Bedell Educational Foundation to raise funds, purchase the property, conduct an appropriate use study, begin restoration, and convert the building into a museum.

[go back to Endangered Places]

Cedar Point Mill

Cedar Point, Chase County

Located above the Cottonwood River on the northwest corner of Main and First Streets in Cedar Point, the Cedar Point Mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for the important role it played in the agricultural development of the area.  It is the only historic mill left standing in Chase County and one of very few water-powered mills extant in Kansas. 

After flood destroyed an earlier wooden mill in 1871, Cedar Point founder, O. H. Drinkwater, and his partner, Peter Schriver, built a new mill using local limestone.  Completed in 1875, the mill produced 75 barrels of flour each day.  A wood-framed addition to the south side dates to 1903.  The mill ground wheat until 1941 when it changed hands and began grinding feed for cattle.  The mill closed in 1988 upon its purchase by Dr. Bruce McCullen and has been vacant since. 

It is now threatened by several structural cracks in the north wall and on-going deterioration.  Members of the Chase County Historical Society have asked the owner to donate the building to a non-profit organization capable of coordinating a preservation effort.

Mary Butterfield House

831 Leavenworth

Manhattan, Riley County

Constructed around 1908 for Mary Butterfield as a secondary residence for her and her husband Frank, a retired farmer.  Kansas State Agricultural College (now KSU) appointed Margaret Butterfield Secretary of the college in 1909. 

W. H. Sternberg Mansion

1065 N. Waco

Wichita, Sedgwick County

Constructed in 1886 by William H. Sternberg, the most productive late nineteenth century builder in Wichita, the mansion served as his personal residence and was the first property designated on the Wichita/Sedgwick County historic register.  It is also listed in the National and Kansas Register of Historic Places.  After a renovation in 1977, Wichita’s historic preservation officer stated, “this house is one of a few remaining homes of this elaborate style in the city and is regarded as a quintessential product of the late Queen Anne residential design.”

Present owner, Ken Elliott, nominated the property because it is threatened by deterioration.  Elliott has tried to rehabilitate the ornate building on his own, but has been unable to qualify for municipal and state assistance. 

Swedish Mission Church

Topeka & Lakin Streets

Osage City, Osage County

Constructed by Swedish immigrants in 1872, the Swedish Mission Church is located at the intersection of Topeka and Lakin Streets in Osage City.  The church is a rare example of the Carpenter Gothic style in Kansas and is listed on the Register of Historic Kansas Places.  The ornamental steeple and stained glass windows date to 1904, a rear addition dates to 1914, and the building was raised onto a new concrete basement in 1951. 

The current owner, Evangelical Covenant Mission Church, requires that the building be moved in order to build on the site.  The church has offered to donate the building to an owner or organization that will move and restore the building.  Otherwise, it will be sold for salvage.

[go back to Endangered Places]

Vermilya-Boener House

Lawrence vicinity, Douglas County

Elijah Wentworth Vermilya worked with Swedish stone masons to construct this farmhouse in 1867.  It remained the family residence until 1948.  Descendants of the Vermilya family sold the house in the mid-1950s and it has been vacant since.  A subsequent owner secured the house for future rehabilitation and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. 

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.  The building is threatened by deterioration and a proposed sand pit mining operation.  The Midland Neighborhood Association was organized to work toward preservation of the building and the surrounding agricultural landscape.

[go back to Endangered Places]

Whitewater Falls Stock Farm Barn

Towanda vicinity, Butler County

The Whitewater Falls Stock Farm was established by Scottish immigrant, J. W. Robison and his son, James C. Robison.  The barn was constructed to house a prize-winning Percheron draft horse breeding operation and, later, was used for a Hereford cattle breeding operation.  When the barn was dedicated on May 19, 1909, it was described as the largest barn in Kansas.  The barn has not been evaluated for eligibility for the National Register of Historic Places, but it was documented in the state-wide survey of historic barns in Kansas (2007) and in Barns of Kansas by Robert Marsh (2002).