Historic Houses

Nate and I went on another day trip last weekend. First we went to Old Jefferson Town, which is a place near Oskaloosa, Kansas. Old Jefferson Town has a collection of 6 or 7 old buildings which at one point were scattered across Jefferson County, Kansas but have now been gathered together for the sake of preservation and tourism. The big draw for us was a chance to see John Steuart Curry's boyhood home. John Steuart Curry was a big name in the art world in the 1930s. He, along with fellow artists Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, made up the Regionalists (with a capital R). All three of these artists were from the midwest (Benton from Missouri, Wood from Iowa, and Curry from Kansas), and they were known for painting midwestern subjects. Nate and I had already been to see Thomas Hart Benton's Kansas City home so I guess now we just need to go see where Grant Wood once lived.

Below is John Steuart Curry's boyhood home. It's now a museum of sorts displaying some of his prints and sketches.

Old Jefferson Town also has an old jail, bank, church, store and schoolhouse (featured above). Here's the old teller window from the bank.

The other really amazing thing that we saw at Old Jefferson Town was this collection of barbed wire. It had been collected for years by a resident of Jefferson County who carefully labeled all the different types of barbed wire. He did a great service by donating his collection to Old Jefferson Town. They display it in the historic jail.


The docent at Old Jefferson Town was a little overenthusiastic so we were really ready to leave and continue on our journey to Atchison, Kansas. Atchison is a beautiful, little town on the banks of the Missouri River about an hour and a half northwest of Kansas City. Atchison was founded in 1854, played a role in the Civil War, and became a really important railway depot in 1859. I was particularly excited about going to Atchison because of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. I took a class at BYU in graduate school where we talked a lot about tourism in Santa Fe and all the artists who visited New Mexico. Almost all the big names in American art from the turn-of-the century through the 1930s went to New Mexico at least once (and it's still a thriving artist community). I haven't quite made it to New Mexico, but I did make it to the first leg of the journey.


Atchison was also the birthplace of Amelia Earhart. Here is her home. And below is the view from her front yard -- the Missouri River and the Amelia Earhart bridge.

Atchison is also known as the most haunted town in Kansas. Every year the folks of Atchison put on a Haunted Atchison trolley ride where you can see all the haunted houses (and great Victorian architecture) and hear about the mysteries happenings inside those homes. In the McInteer Mansion below lights are said to turn on and off in the tower which does not have electricity.


The Waggoneer (or Gargoyle) House has a strange architectural addition -- the two gargoyles perched on the ridge of the roof. They are said to protect the house, but they also protect themselves. Supposedly one owner, who was trying to remove the gargoyles, fell down the stairs to his death. Other tales of Haunted Atchison can be found here.



I can't say for certain that Nate and I met any ghosts, but I did mysteriously lose my hat on this trip...