The oldest surviving building in Alma, Kansas is today known as Palenske Hall, named after Fred Palenske, the benefactor of the Wabaunsee County Historical Society. The building was built in 1873 for […]
Alma’s Oldest Building, Palenske Hall
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Delivering Ice, Alma, Kansas
Herman Tenbrink, right, unloads blocks of ice for Alice Johnson’s drug store located at 227 Missouri Street in Alma, Kansas. Charles Johnson, center, is standing on the back of his horse, circa […]
WCHS Completes Kansas State Historical Records Advisory Board Grant
Greg Hoots, of the Wabaunsee County Historical Society has completed work on his grant project, Preserving Memories: Digitizing History, which digitizes over 400 photographs and manuscripts belonging to Alma photographer and businessman, […]
The Cold War in the Flint Hills
– By Greg Hoots – For four years in the early 1960s the Flint Hills of Wabaunsee County was home to one of America’s weapons of global destruction, an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile […]
The History of the Davis Ranch
– By Greg Hoots – The story of the Z Bar Ranch begins with George H. Davis, born in 1876, the youngest of three children. His father, James Davis, worked for the […]
The Early History of Lake Wabaunsee: 1933-1945
– By Greg Hoots – In 1925 the Kansas Forestry, Fish and Game Commission was formed, and soon that agency began constructing state lakes across Kansas. In Wabaunsee County, a group of […]
Otto Kratzer and His Great Western Adventure
– By Greg Hoots – The dawn of the 20th century found America hungry for motorization. In the 1890s the first powered motorcars were being developed in Europe by German engineers Karl […]
Paxico Gallery
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McFarland Gallery
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Maple Hill
The name “Maple Hill” was coined by Isabella (Bourassa) Higganbotham, who was appointed the settlement’s first postmaster on May 1, 1862, providing mail service to the few families in the area. Maple […]
Flint Hills Special 