Category: Events

November 16 Making Victorian Ornaments

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Old Depot Museum, 135 W Tecumseh, Ottawa, Kansas Thursday, November 16, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. $10 per adult – register by November 14, 11:59 p.m. Learn the history of Christmas tree ornaments and make your own Victorian ornament. Materials will be provided, but you’re encouraged to bring your own glue gun (if you have one) and any scraps of lace, satin, velvet, or ribbon you might want to use! Please let us know if you prefer any particular colors. Because of the complexity of this craft, this program is…

Read More

October 29 Haunted Lawrence featuring author Paul Thomas

Diana Staresinic-Deane

  Neosho County Community College, 900 East Logan, Ottawa, Kansas Sunday, October 29, 3 p.m. Join us for a special program and book signing featuring Ottawa native Paul Thomas, author of Haunted Lawrence! Founded in 1854 as an abolitionist outpost, Lawrence is a seemingly unassuming college town with a long history of hauntings. A ghostly guest never checked out of the Eldridge Hotel’s mysterious room 506. Sigma Nu’s fraternity house, the former home of Kansas’s eighteenth governor, is still haunted by the specter of a young woman. Learn the tragic stories…

Read More

October 21 Nosferatu the Vampyre (Silent Film Event)

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Plaza Cinema, 209 South Main, Ottawa, Kansas Saturday, October 21, 7 p.m. Tickets: $15 (order online or call (785) 242-5555) NEW DATE: 10/21 7pm: The Franklin County Historical Society is partnering with the Plaza Cinema to bring you a spectacular silent film event featuring a LIVE musical score performed by organist Marvin Faulwell and percussionist Bob Keckeisen, with introductions by Bill Shaffer, past producer/director at KTWU in Topeka. Films include animated short film FELIX SWITCHES WITCHES (1927), short film SATURDAY’S LESSON (1928), and the feature film NOSFERATU THE VAMPYRE (1922).…

Read More

October 15 Cemetery Tour: History in Stone at Ottawa’s Highland Cemetery

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Highland Cemetery, 1050 East 15th Street, Ottawa, Kansas Sunday, October 15, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Our second annual cemetery tour takes us to Highland Cemetery, a garden cemetery established in 1886. After discovering Hope Cemetery (Ottawa’s first cemetery) was prone to flooding, citizens founded a new cemetery on higher ground. Highland Cemetery was designed by American landscape architect George Kessler as a garden cemetery (also called a rural cemetery), with winding roads and landscaping that encouraged a park-like experience. Highland Cemetery includes many beautiful and unique monuments and is…

Read More

Dietrich Cabin Open House Fall 2017 Schedule

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Step back in time at the 1859 Dietrich Cabin! Learn about life in 19th-Century Franklin County. Admission is free and kids are always welcome. Dietrich Cabin is located in City Park at 5th and Main streets in Ottawa, Kansas. Fall 2017 Schedule Saturday, September 30, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, October 1, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, October 21, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, October 22, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Read More

New exhibit examines Midwestern World War II Home Front effort through Franklin County photographer’s images

Diana Staresinic-Deane

On Sunday, September 10, the Old Depot Museum will launch a new exhibit that explores what life was like for Kansans on the Home Front during World War II.  The museum will be open from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. for the grand opening. Admission will be free for all visitors that day. Using artifacts and photographs, “Home Front in the Heartland, Revisited,” examines the patriotism and sacrifice typical of Midwesterners during the early 1940s. War bond ads, ration books, a Red Cross uniform and patriotic posters will all be…

Read More