Kansas History – Franklin County Historical Society

August 9: Life In Kansas During the Dust Bowl

June 20, 2025 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A long, dark dust cloud rolls across the land. Text: Dust Cloud Rolling Over Western Kansas Prairie Copyright Potter '35

Saturday, August 9, 2025, 2 p.m. Lane Community United Methodist Church 425 S Oak, Lane, Kansas 66042 Black Sunday – April 14, 1935 – is an unforgettable moment in history. The photographs from that day of the dust storm in southwest Kansas made headlines across America. How did Kansans respond to this challenging moment in history? Using eyewitness accounts and photographs, this presentation explores the impact and the legacy of the drought and the “Dust Bowl” on life in Kansas during the 1930s and beyond. Presenter Katie Keckeisen is the…

June 27: Sod & Stubble (the movie)

June 20, 2025June 20, 2025 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A man and woman in 19th century Western dress are backlit by a summer sky. Sod & Stubble.

Film based on the book by John Ise Friday, June 27, 2025, 7 p.m. (doors open at 6 p.m.) Ottawa Memorial Auditorium, 301 S Hickory St, Ottawa, KS Purchase Tickets: $10 (plus fees and taxes) Join us for a motion picture retelling of this iconic Kansas story! Based on the book by John Ise (with updated research by Von Rothenberger), Sod & Stubble tells the story of the Henry and Rosie Ise, who homesteaded in Osborne County Kansas in the 1870s and battled through the many challenges of life on the…

October 25-26: Paranormal Investigations at Ottawa Memorial Auditorium

August 21, 2024 Diana Staresinic-Deane

FCHS and OMA are partnering to offer you the opportunity to investigate the haunted century-old Ottawa Memorial Auditorium! Click here for October 25 Stage Fright Tickets Click here for October 26 Boos and Brews Tickets Stories of otherworldly activities have haunted the century-old auditorium for decades. This October, ghost hunters will have the opportunity to investigate the rumors themselves. Ottawa Memorial Auditorium and the Franklin County Historical Society are partnering to take investigators behind the scenes at OMA to confirm or refute stories of ghosts in the historic auditorium. Stage…

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…

NEW DATE! June 2: A New Deal for Public Art in the Free State (program)

May 17, 2024January 22, 2025 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Text reads New Date! June 2, 2024, at 2 p.m. background image painting of a river with trees along the banks and clouds in the sky

New Date! This program has been rescheduled for June 2, 2 p.m. A New Deal For Public Art In the Free State Sunday, May 5, 2024, 2 p.m. Sunday, June 2, 2024, 2 p.m. FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 E Logan Street, Ottawa, Kansas 66067 Register for online access via Zoom Between 1934 and 1943, the U.S. Treasury Department commissioned over 1,600 pieces of public art for newly constructed post office buildings across the United States. In the state of Kansas, twenty-nine of these murals and other artworks were…

March 3: Carnegie Libraries of Kansas (program)

February 15, 2024 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A Greek Revival brick and limestone building with basement windows and two stories visible. Two-story columns flank the entrance. The Words "Carnegie Free Library" are lettered on the building. Carnegie Free Library, Ottawa, Kansas, is written in the corner of the image.

Carnegie Libraries of Kansas presented by Christine Steinkuehler Sunday, March 3, 2024, 2 p.m. In person: FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 E Logan St, Ottawa, Kansas 66067 Online: Register for Zoom Once the richest man in the world, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) donated a substantial portion of his fortune to the construction of more than 2,500 libraries around the world. 65 of those libraries—including 59 public libraries and 7 academic/university libraries—were built in Kansas. In her presentation, Christine Steinkuehler will explore how these buildings democratized access to libraries and created…

February 4: Army of Amazons: Women’s Fight for Labor Rights in Kansas Coalfields (87th FCHS Annual Meeting)

January 3, 2024 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Army of Amazons: Women’s Fight for Labor Rights in Kansas Coalfields presented by Linda O’Nelio Knoll 87th Annual Meeting of the Members of the Franklin County Historical Society Sunday, February 4, 2024, 2 p.m. In Person: FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 E Logan St, Ottawa, KS 66067 Online: Zoom or Facebook Live In December 1921, thousands of women in southeast Kansas rose up to fight injustice in the area coalfields. These women were immigrants from Eastern European nations as well as Kansas born. After a months-long strike by the…

Smithsonian Exhibit and Events Coming to FCHS August 19-October 1

July 24, 2023August 1, 2023 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Skip to Special Museum Hours Skip to Events: August 19: Grand Opening Celebration August 27: ‘We the People of Kansas…” The Story of Kansas’s Founding Documents, 1820-2020 September 5: The Governor Next Door: Elected Officials From Franklin County September 12: Madame Mayor: The First Women Mayors in Kansas September 19: The Pig in the Swimming Pool: Voices During the Creation of USD 288 September 24: Charles Curtis: The First Native American Vice President How far would you go to exercise your right to vote? In 1858, a group of Franklin…

March 5: Retelling Sod and Stubble

February 17, 2023 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Text: Retelling Sod and Stubble. Presented by Ken Spurgeon. 03/05/2023 2 p.m. In person or Online via Zoom or Facebook Live. Image shows men, women, and children standing in front of a house.

Retelling Sod and Stubble Presented by Ken Spurgeon Sunday, March 5, 2023, 2 p.m. In person: FCHS Archives & Research Center, 2011 East Logan Street, Ottawa, Kansas Online via Zoom & Facebook Live Many Kansans have read SOD AND STUBBLE, John Ise’s incredible “non-fiction novel” about German immigrant Henry Ise and his devoted wife, Rosie Haas Ise, who with tenacity and devotion fight to craft a home for their family on the plains of Kansas. The book, which includes additional material by Von Rothenberger, is known for its realism. This…

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…