Franklin County – Franklin County Historical Society

July 20: Morning at the Mission: A Program and Tour at the Historic Ottawa Indian Mission & Burying Ground

June 11, 2024June 11, 2024 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Illustration. A woodframe meeting house stands within a wooden fence. Grave markers are visible to the left. Small houses and people are scattered among the trees and fields. Wagons and horses are parked along a dirt road. A stone pillar with a plaque reading Ottawa Indian Mission and Burying Ground: Graves of J Meeker, Founder, Chief Comchau, Notino, The Medicine Man, J. Tecumseh Jones Founder of OU in the foreground.

Morning at the Mission: A Program and Tour at the Historic Ottawa Indian Mission & Burying Ground featuring Kalisha Dixon Pheasant, Chief of the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma John Mark Lambertson, Historian Saturday, July 20, 2024, 9 a.m. 3375 Osborne Terrace, Ottawa, Kansas, 66067 Tickets: $25 in Advance; $30 at the Gate Current Ottawa University students free with student ID at the gate Founded by Jotham Meeker after the 1844 flood destroyed much of the original 1837 mission site, the Ottawa Indian Mission was home to the Ottawa of Blanchard’s Fork…

April 6: 5K Run For History Fun Run/Walk

March 13, 2024March 24, 2024 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Silhouettes of runners. Text reads 5K Run For History.

5K Run For History Fun Run/Walk Saturday, April 6, 2024 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Old Depot Museum, 135 W Tecumseh, Ottawa, KS 66067 Feel the spirit of the trains beneath your feet as you trace the paths of the AT&SF and the MoPac railroads during our Second Annual 5K Run/Walk, which kicks off at the Old Depot Museum! Whether you set your best time or enjoy a stroll with your friends, your $25 registration fee will help support the Franklin County Historical Society. Register by March 23 and receive…

Now through October 1: Countywide exhibit celebrates history makers

September 1, 2023September 1, 2023 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Franklin County Historical Society’s newest exhibit celebrates Franklin County citizens who exercised their right to protest, run for office, and made a difference! They Raised Their Voices: Rabble Rousers and History Makers exhibit panels are on display throughout the county in or near each history maker’s hometown. In this countywide exhibit, you’ll discover everyday people who advocated for desegregation, abolitionism, women’s suffrage, and good schools. You’ll meet a special agent who hunted down Confederate spies, a Freethinker who published her own Atheist newspaper, and a rancher who spoke out against the…

January 29: John Brown and Lane, Kansas, subject of 86th Annual FCHS Meeting presentation

January 29, 2023January 29, 2023 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Foreground: Portrait of John Brown showing a man was graying hair, sharp facial features, a white shirt with collar, and dark jacket. Background: historic map showing Franklin County in the center.

John Brown and Lane, Kansas presented by Grady Atwater 86th Annual Meeting of the Members of the Franklin County Historical Society Sunday, January 29, 2023, 2 p.m. In person: FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 E Logan St, Ottawa, KS Online: Zoom and Facebook Live Handouts for this program: Annual Meeting program Wishlist Kansas-Missouri Border Map John Brown in Kansas Territory Map The Pottawatomie Massacre was over in a matter of hours, but it effects rippled throughout the world. Grady Atwater, site administrator for the John Brown Museum…

July 17, 2022 Program: Architecture of the People’s Houses

May 24, 2022 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Architecture of the People’s Houses presented by Murl Riedel Sunday, July 17, 2022, 2 p.m. Ottawa Memorial Auditorium, 301 South Hickory, Ottawa, Kansas Kansas has 105 county courthouses and hundreds of city halls, plus a few more state capitals than you might expect. The manifestation of the greatest ideals occurs in these buildings, where the work of the people’s democracy is in action. The designs of these buildings tell us about the evolution of local government in the state. Larger societal issues, such as the Free State and the Civil…

May 7, 2022: New traveling exhibit tells story of self-rule among Indigenous nations

May 4, 2022May 4, 2022 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Group of Kickapoo Indians, standing outside tent, dressed in Euro-American clothing

Image: Members of the Kiwigapawa (Kickapoo) tribe standing outside a tent, dressed in Euro-American clothing. 1909. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/item/97512086/ A new traveling exhibit explores how Indigenous nations expressed autonomy during their years in “Indian Territory” Kansas. “Living Sovereignty: Sustaining Indigenous Autonomy in ‘Indian Territory’ Kansas” will open at the Old Depot Museum on Saturday, May 7. For generations before European and American settlement, Indigenous nations and tribes embodied sovereignty—the right to self-rule. Maintaining that sense of self-rule and self-government through years of interactions with the…

NEW DATE February 6, 2022: Santa Fe depot architecture subject of virtual annual meeting

March 29, 2022March 29, 2022 Diana Staresinic-Deane

“Santa Fe Depots: Form and Function,” presented by Bob Walz 85th Annual Meeting of the Members of the Franklin County Historical Society Recording Available Update: In deference to our Chiefs fans, we are moving our program to February 6, 2022, 2 p.m. What exactly is a depot and what is it for? Using images of depots along the Eastern and Western Lines of the AT&SF Railroad, Bob Walz will examine the history of the development of Santa Fe depots, from repurposed boxcars to large, ornate depots and everything in…

October 12: The Orphan Train Movement (Online Event)

October 28, 2021October 28, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A train has pulled into the station. A large group of people crowd around the train as passengers deboard.

The Orphan Train Movement presented by Kaily Carson Tueday, October 12, 2021 – 7 p.m. RECORDING AVAILABLE! Between 1854 and 1929, 250,000 children migrated from the East Coast to the West and Midwest on orphan trains. Learn how and why the orphan train system developed, how it worked, and hear the stories of orphan train riders to Franklin County. This free online program is presented by Kaily Carson, curator at the National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia, Kansas. Image: An orphan train arrives in Blue Rapids, Kansas. Photo courtesy…

POSTPONED: November 14: Main Street Richmond: 1880-1980 (online program)

October 28, 2021October 28, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

An aerial view of a street lined with businesses and cars.

Main Street Richmond: 1880-1980 presented by Dennis Peters Register at Zoom or watch via Facebook Live The small town of Richmond, Kansas, has changed a lot over the years. Changing businesses, shifting community needs, and destructive fires have shaped and reshaped the community. Dennis Peters, volunteer with the Richmond Community Museum, will present a history of Richmond through photographs in the museum’s collection. This program will be rescheduled as in in-person program in the spring of 2022.

New exhibit explores transition from horse-drawn buggies to horseless carriages

September 17, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Background: a photo of Central Street in Richmond, Kansas, showing both a horce and buggy and an automobile. The words "Horse Power" are in the foreground.

Horse Power Now through August 2022 at the Old Depot Museum The Franklin County Historical Society’s newest exhibit, “Horse Power,” explores the transition from horse-drawn buggies to horseless carriages and how the automobile shaped our streets and our culture. The exhibit will be on display at the Old Depot Museum in Ottawa, Kansas, through August 2022. In 1899, the Ottawa Herald reported that “Franklin County has 6,622 horses. As yet, she has no automobiles.” “Horseless carriages” were still a rarity in Kansas; in 1900, Kansas ranked tenth in the…