Kansas History – Page 2 – Franklin County Historical Society

August 14, 2022: Tattooed: The Tale of Maud Wagner

May 25, 2022 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Text reads Tattooed The Tale of Maud Wagner. Image is of a woman in a sequined strapless dress and dark hair upswept with a flower. The woman's skin is covered in tattoos of plants and people.

Tattooed: The Tale of Maud Wagner presented by Lisa Soller August 14, 2022, 2 p.m. Ottawa Memorial Auditorium, 301 South Hickory Street, Ottawa, Kansas Born in Emporia, Kansas, in 1877, Maud Stevens left home at the age of 19 to join the circus. While working as an aerialist and contortionist at Louisiana Purchase Exposition (also known as the St. Louis World’s Fair), she met and married Gus “The Globe Trotter” Wagner, a “most artistically marked up man” who would collect more than 800 tattoos during his lifetime. Soon covered in…

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…

February 8, 2022: Osage Women, Gender, & Empire

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

Osage Women, Gender, & Empire Presented by Dr. Tai Edwards Recording Available Historian Dr. Tai Edwards will speak on the research she has conducted for numerous publications (including her book) on Osage Women and Empire: Gender and Power. She will address aspects of colonialism and its impact, Indigenous power, and gender roles in the context of the Osage experience in modern-day Missouri and Kansas. Dr. Edwards is a history professor at Johnson County Community College. Her research and teaching focus on empire, Indigenous peoples, gender, and disease. She is…

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…

March 8, 2022: Prairie Gas Stations

December 15, 2021December 15, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

A dilapidated stucco building stands abandoned in a field. Many of the windows are boarded up. Part of the tile roof is missing.

Prairie Gas Stations presented by Judi Kirk Sunday, March 6, 2022, 2 p.m. Ottawa Memorial Auditorium 301 South Hickory Street, Ottawa, Kansas 66067 Judi Kirk loves early 20th-century gas stations. When she discovered that one of her favorites—a filling station on Highway 54 in Cairo, Kansas—was torn down, she made it her quest to photograph as many old Kansas gas stations as she could before they vanished. Her adventures in seeking out and photographing historic filling stations have been compiled into two books, Remnants: Prairie Gas Stations Remembered and…

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…

New Exhibit Features Historic Maps of Ottawa

September 7, 2021 Diana Staresinic-Deane

Background shows a translucent image of the index page from the 1884 Ottawa Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. Text reads Our City in Sanborns: The City of Ottawa in Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1884-1924

Our City in Sanborns: The City of Ottawa in Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1884-1924 Now through July 2022 at the Old Depot Museum The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps were first published in the 1860s to help fire insurance agents assess risk to commercial, industrial, and residential buildings and properties. Sanborn ultimately printed more than 50,000 editions of maps for 12,000 U.S. towns and cities through the 1950s. Because these maps were expensive—ranging in price from $12 to $200 depending on the year and the size of the city—communities often…