Tag: Franklin County

Saturday, March 9: Researching Your Home and the People Who’ve Lived There

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Researching Your Home and the People Who’ve Lived There  Saturday, March 9, 2 p.m.  Neosho County Community College, 900 E Logan, Ottawa, KS  Free Event Researching a property—whether an old home, a new business, or a section of pastureland—can do more than tell us the history of a space; it can also help us build a human connection to the people who came before us and the history they experienced. This presentation helps participants consider creative ways to study documents and assemble a meaningful narrative with information found through research.…

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Sunday, January 27: 82nd Annual FCHS Meeting featuring Sarah Bell, Women and Chautauqua

Diana Staresinic-Deane

82nd Annual Meeting of the Members of the Franklin County Historical Society featuring “A Congress for Women: Women’s Clubs and the Chautauqua Movement,” presented by Sarah Bell Sunday, January 27, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Neosho County Community College, 900 E Logan, Ottawa, KS   We’re launching the Franklin County Historical Society’s 82nd year with Sarah Bell’s presentation, A Congress for Women: Women’s Clubs and the Chautauqua Movement!  Chautauqua was a rural movement that focused on moral education and self-improvement, and from 1883 to 1914, Ottawa was home to a…

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Third Annual Silent Film Event brings “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” to the big screen

Diana Staresinic-Deane

The Franklin County Historical Society, Plaza Cinema, and Kansas Silent Film Festival are partnering to bring three fun and spooky films accompanied by live music to the Plaza Cinema, 209 S. Main, Ottawa, Kansas, on Saturday, October 20, at 7:30 p.m. Bill Shaffer, former producer/director at KTWU, will emcee the October 20 event, which starts at 7 p.m. The evening’s lineup includes the short films Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920) and Dr. Pycle & Mr. Pryde (1925) and the feature film Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (also 1920). What…

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“Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde” Silent Film Event October 20

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Plaza Cinema, 209 S Main, Ottawa, KS Saturday, October 20, 2018, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $15 + tax The Plaza Cinema, Franklin County Historical Society, and Kansas Silent Film Festival are once again partnering to bring you a spectacular silent film event featuring a LIVE musical score performed by keyboardist Marvin Faulwell and percussionist Bob Keckeisen, with introductions by Bill Shaffer. This year’s films include shorts DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1920), DR. PYCLE & MR. PRYDE (1925), and the feature length film DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE (1920), starring John…

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Kansas and the 1918 Flu Epidemic, featuring historian Tyler Johnson

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Neosho County Community College, 900 E Logan, Ottawa, KS Sunday, November 4, 2018, 2 p.m. In 1918, an influenza epidemic killed millions of people around the world. One hundred years later, scientists and historians are still working to understand how it started.  Historian Tyler Johnson will present the story of the 1918 Influenza outbreak’s start in Western Kansas, the national outbreak, Kansas’s battle against the flu, and how Ottawa fared during the outbreak. He will also discuss death tolls and theories of how the pandemic started. This program is free…

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Diary of Reuben Smith, Kansas Settler and Civil War Soldier, presented by author Lana Wirt Myers October 21

Diana Staresinic-Deane
Lana Wirt Myers, author of The Diaries of Reuben Smith, Kansas Settler and Civil War Soldier

Neosho County Community College, 900 E Logan, Ottawa, KS Sunday, October 21, 2018, 2 p.m. In 1854, after recently arriving from England, twenty-two-year-old Reuben Smith traveled west, eventually making his way to Kansas Territory. There he found himself in the midst of a bloody prelude to the Civil War, as Free Staters and defenders of slavery battled to stake their claim. For fifty years, Smith wrote fascinating narratives about all he observed and experienced during territorial days, the border war, civil war, and early Kansas politics (he served three terms…

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Historic sign lights up Old Depot Museum

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Rick Hamman of Coffelt Sign Company puts the final touches on the newly restored 1962 Ottawa sign in the Model Railroad Room at the Old Depot Museum in Ottwa, Kansas. The sign is one of a pair that once served as a beacon for trains arriving at Ottawa’s fifth and final Santa Fe depot, which opened in 1962. Passenger service ended in 1971. Restoration and installation was completed by Coffelt Sign Company of Emporia, Kansas, and funded in part by a grant from the Caroline E. Hewitt Trust.

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Dietrich Cabin Fall 2018 Hours Announced

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Step back in time at the 1859 Dietrich Cabin! Learn about life in 19th-Century Franklin County. Dietrich Cabin is located in City Park at 5th and Main streets in Ottawa, Kansas. Kids are always welcome! Admission is free, but donations to help FCHS maintain the cabin are always appreciated. Fall2018 Dietrich Cabin Hours  Sunday, August 26, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.  Saturday, September 15, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, September 23, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.  Sunday, October 28, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

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Discover Archaeology in Your Own Backyard on July 29

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Archaeology in Your Own Backyard Sunday, July 29, 2 p.m. Neosho County Community College, 900 E Logan, Ottawa, KS The land is much older than we are, and evidence of the people who came before us can be found in the soil. As pieces of farm tools, dishes, pottery, arrowheads, and nails come to the surface, they connect us to the past. What should we do if we find something? How do we identify it? Do we get to keep it? Kansas archaeologist Aaron Colgrove will present “Archaeology in Your…

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FCHS board votes not to pursue barn project

Diana Staresinic-Deane

Ottawa, Kansas—After months of research and investigation, the Franklin County Historical Society Board of Trustees unanimously voted against pursuing the acquisition of the 1894 Hatfield-Wolf-Bowers barn, located near the corner of Seventh Street and Eisenhower Road in Ottawa, Kansas. In 2017, the Bowers family approached the Franklin County Historical Society about the possibility of donating the barn and some land to the historical society. “FCHS saw a potential opportunity to develop an agricultural museum and meeting space,” said Diana Staresinic-Deane, executive director of the Franklin County Historical Society. “We saw…

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