Constructed in 1869, this home was in the Harvey family from 1883 to 1944.  

Judy Garland starred in a 1946 MGM movie, The Harvey Girls, which depicted the high standards of the restaurant and the experience of young women who worked in these restaurants. 

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In an era when travelers had few dining options beyond railroad depots that offered notoriously bad and overpriced fare, Fred Harvey created a restaurant that served travelers quickly and efficiently. Harvey's methods were soon repeated at depots along the Atchison, Topeka, &amp; Santa Fe Railroad--effectively creating the first restaurant chain in America. The Harvey House restaurants helped to convince travelers to choose the ATSF rail line above others, and also provided viable employment for many cooks and servers, known affectionately at that time as "Harvey Girls." This stately rim rock building was constructed in 1869 and was purchased by Fred Harvey in 1883. The home stayed in the family until 1944 when Harvey's heirs donated the property to Cushing Hospital for use as a dormitory for its nursing school. City leaders and preservationists are working to restore the residence and build museum exhibits. Local volunteers are available to offer private tours of the building and share their progress as well as their vision for the museum's future.

Fred Harvey House and Museum

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This drive through Leavenworth, Kansas, includes several museums along with historic homes and downtown businesses. The homes include the home of railroad and restaurant innovator Fred Harvey, whose home has been converted into a museum. The tour includes a historic public library building, several downtown commercial buildings including a historic theater, historical markers, and an iconic railroad depot. 

The future Carroll Mansion was built on land initially purchased by John McCullough Foster in the late 1850s, along with the surrounding farmland. At twenty-four years old, Foster, along with his wife Letitia, moved here just three years after Leavenworth was founded. As Foster was a carpenter by trade, he built his home himself, constructing a simple four-room frame house with a one-story rear kitchen wing. After ten years living here, which he spent working as a contractor, he carried out the home's first renovation, creating a brick Italianate. Soon after, thanks to the 1870s real estate panic, Foster and his family left Leavenworth for Nebraska City.In 1876, the home was sold to Major David Taylor, a United States Army paymaster. Taylor died shortly after, causing the home to be sold again, this time in 1882 to Lucien Scott and his wife Julia. Scott was president of the First National Bank of Leavenworth, the president of the Leavenworth Coal Company, and the vice president of the Kansas Central Railroad, and was considered the richest man in Kansas at the time. It was Scott who hired local carpenter George McKenna, who, under Scott's direction, renovated the home into the mansion it is today. McKenna expanded the four-room home to sixteen rooms, decorated the interior with elaborately embellished woodwork, and modernized the home with plumbing and gas lighting. When renovations were finished, the impressive Queen Anne Victorian mansion became one of Leavenworth's popular places for social gatherings.Finally, in 1887, the Scotts sold the property to Edward Carroll of the Leavenworth National Bank, who moved in with his wife, Mary Ellen Hunt Carroll, and their six children. The home was in their possession for 77 years; Ella Carroll was its final resident. She donated the home in the 1960s to the Leavenworth County Historical Society, who run a museum and special collections out of the property. Today visitors to the Carrol Mansion Museum can step back in time and learn what home life was like for those living here in the late nineteenth century, as the home has been largely unchanged since Scott's renovation, save for when the bathrooms were improved in the 1920s. The home continues to boast McKenna's hand-carved woodwork, as well as parquet floors, stained glass windows, other unique architectural aspects, and furniture, portraiture, and artifacts dating back to early Leavenworth.

Built in 1857 by one of the city of Leavenworth's earlier residents, the Carroll Mansion started out as a simple four-room farmhouse owned by John Foster. When he and his family left town for Nebraska, the home eventually ended up in the hands of local wealthy businessman Lucien Scott. It was Scott who worked with carpenter George McKenna to renovate the home into the sixteen-room Queen Anne Victorian mansion that it is today. After this, it was sold to the family of Edward Carroll, whose child Ella donated it to the Leavenworth County Historical Society after living there for more than seventy years. Today, visitors can see this elaborate late nineteenth-century home and its elaborate woodwork, stained glass windows, and authentic decorations.

Carroll Mansion Museum

A.J. Angell moved to Kansas in 1857 and worked as a surveyor. He established a lumber business in 1870 that proved to be very successful. He entered into a business partnership with one of his clerks, Frank G. Markart, in 1883 to form A.J. Angell and Co. After A.J. Angell died in June of 1885, his widow (Mary J. George) continued to hold her late husband's interest in the business. The lumber yard was located on a half block at 603 Cherokee Street and was still in operation in 1899 with Mr. Markart as the manager. Before constructing the mansion on S Broadway, A.J. Angell and his family resided in Leavenworth at 767 Ottawa Street. In 1880, the 47-year-old lumber dealer shared his home with his wife, Mary (40, a Pennsylvania native); daughters Annie G. (9), Mary L. (7), and Josephine M. (4); and a white servant, Nellie McGuire (20). By 1900, the widowed Mary J. (age 61) was remarried and still living in the mansion with her three daughters; her husband, Amos Fenn (65); and one of his children, Pearl (28). Mr. Fenn was born in England and emigrated to America in 1851; he worked at or owned a planing mill. His first wife, Naomi Hickham, died in 1883 in Leavenworth. By 1910, Mr. Fenn was retired and still living in the mansion with his wife, Mary J.; a boarder named Joseann Marais (25, married for 5 years, South Carolina native) and her son, Samuel George (2, born in South Carolina); and a servant from the Phillipines, Iosi Herrera (female, 21). Both Mary J. and Amos died within two months of each other in early 1913 while in San Antonio, Texas. Both were buried in Leavenworth County in Mount Muncie Cemetery in Lansing. The mansion was vacant from 1913 to 1918. A married daughter, Annie, moved into the house in 1918 with her husband, Frank Daniel Webster, an Army officer at Fort Leavenworth. The home had been vandalized when unoccupied and items had been stolen; the Websters renovated and changed gas to electricity power. The Websters purchased the interests of the other two Angell sisters and the mansion stayed in the Webster family until 1975. The Angell House is massive, covering an area of about 75 by 52 feet. The main doorway is sheltered by an elevated porch that extends across the main (east) facade. Another noteworthy feature is a wide cornice supported by closely spaced single wood brackets. Two walkout balconies above the cornice line are sheltered by dormers accented in the Stick style. Inside are an entry hall, three parlors, a library, kitchen, five bedrooms plus two servants' bedrooms and an upstairs sitting room. The original two and a half bathrooms have been expanded to five. The third floor space may have been a ballroom. By the late 1970s, only one original wall covering remained: the wall paper in the front entry hall. Not surprisingly given the original owner, the home features many details finished in wood and parquet flooring of walnut, maple and oak. The mansion formerly stood on a lot of 7.5 acres, but 2 acres were confiscated for back taxes owed in the 1940s. The original carriage house lies to the northwest of the house; the ground floor of the masonry building served as a tack room and stable but has been converted into a garage for three horseless carriages. The second story of the carriage house contained a three room apartment and a hay loft. The Angell House underwent more renovations in the 1970s: five chimneys were rebuilt to their original height, exterior woodwork was repaired, the original iron decorative fence along Broadway was found and reinstalled, the hipped roof and gutters were replaced, utilities were replaced, plaster was repaired, stained glass windows were repaired, and two fireplaces were reconverted to woodburning.

Completed in 1885, the A.J. Angell House a two-and-one-half story brick mansion with a basement constructed in the Queen Anne style. A wing attached to the west facade served as a servants' quarters and kitchen. The owner, a native New Yorker with a successful lumber business in Leavenworth, died soon after the house was finished. Widow Mary J. Angell and her three daughters continued to live in the mansion with her new husband Amos Fenn and a stepsister. Amos and Mary J. both died in 1913. Angell descendants owned and occupied the house until 1975. The Angell House and its carriage house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 as a fine example of Victorian architecture.

A.J. Angell House

The first free public library in Kansas was established in Leavenworth in 1895 by the Whittier Club. Services were housed originally in the Ryan Building - formerly on the corner of 4th and Cherokee streets, as of January 14, 1896. The library needed more room and moved to the county court house in October 1896. Local women formed a Public Library Association and held fundraisers to raise money to buy a location to build a library. Leavenworth's voters approved a new tax to pay for the library in the spring 1899 election. A site was chosen on S 5th Street to build this building as a permanent library. The city applied for and received $30,000 in funding from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation to build the library; the city agreed to fund the library at $5,000 per year. A Grecian temple design was chosen and construction was begun in 1901. Architects were Mr. Sanguinet and Mr. Feth. H.C. Walcott won the contract for the building's slating and copper work. The library in the court house closed on December 15th 1901 and the books were being moved to the new building by the following March. Two weeks before the opening date, about 4,200 books were in place, with another 300 to be shelved. No ceremony was planned for the opening day on May 1st 1902, but the public was invited to visit when the doors were opened at 8 o'clock in the evening to 11. The local newspaper touted the elegant furniture in the building, and the chandeliers and decor of the reading room in particular. Miss Syrena McKee and Miss Johnson were the first librarians in the new building. The library's hours in 1902 were from 10am to 10pm on weekdays. On Sundays the library opened the reading room from 2pm to 10pm but for reading only; no books could be checked out. Books were checked out for a two-week period. Late fees were two cents per day. Two days after opening, the librarians requested that "those entering the building...converse in lower tones" since the openness of the building amplified sound. Children were allowed to enter the stacks to pick out books but adults needed to choose the book's card from the card catalog. A number of boys volunteered to be pages to retrieve books for library patrons. Groups met in the club room of the public library; in one week in October 1902, the Philomathean club, the Whittier club, and the City federation had meetings scheduled at the library. To the dismay of some people, it was discovered that the people of Leavenworth were more interested in reading works of fiction than non-fiction. A 1904 local newspaper article bemoaned that "trashy fiction seems to be the choice of 89 per cent of the patrons of the library" based on a study by the library's board. The writer wondered if the library was carrying out its purpose of "education of the masses" and suggested restricting circulation to "books of science, of history, travel and of education." A two-bedroom, 1-bath apartment in the former library that covers 900 square feet rents for about $849 per month. One-bedroom apartments rent for around $715 and studio units rent for less. Residents are free to read as many trashy novels as they please.

The building at 601 S 5th Street was constructed as a public library in 1901 to 1902 as a Carnegie Library. The two-and-a-half-story, Beaux Arts structure has a projecting central entrance bay with a two-story portico above a double-door entry. Fanciness abounds above the paired Ionic columns, with relief sculpture ornamentation, a molded cornice, and a terra cotta ornament at the pediment peak. The public library has moved to 417 Spruce Street and the S 5th Street building was renovated and converted into eleven apartments. The building now houses studio, one-bedroom, and two-bedroom apartments and was renamed Carnegie 601. The ribbon-cutting was held in March of 2017.

Leavenworth Public Library/ Carnegie 601

Born in Griggsviille, Illinois, Charles Wallace Parker moved to Abilene, Kansas, with his family at age five. As he became an adult and started work as a janitor, he quickly discovered his love for amusement devices. When he purchased his first portable shooting gallery with his earnings, he soon decided he could do even better, building one of his own. Soon after, he made his first carousel. According to the website for the city of Abilene, he was inspired to after one day of running errands:<blockquote>As the story goes, Parker and his daughter were headed towards the general store one afternoon. Parker had one dollar in his pocket to buy the family’s groceries. Suddenly, his daughter noticed a carousel offering rides for a nickel. After much pleading from his daughter, Parker paid for his daughter to ride the contraption. His daughter did not stop riding until Parker had spent eighty-five cents, leaving only fifteen cents to pay for the family’s groceries.  Seeing that the excitement of a carousel could get him to spend most of his last dollar, Parker decided he should be in the carousel business.</blockquote>Soon after, in 1894, he started the Parker Carnival Supply Company, renamed the C.W. Parker Amusement Company in 1896. Over the years, Parker and his company became famous for producing Ferris wheels, shooting galleries, and especially carousels. Most of his equipment was known for being portable, and this was especially true of his most famous carousel, the Carry-Us-All. It was easy to take devices like these apart and put them back together, and most of the parts were interchangeable, so they would be easily replaced if something broke. Parker's business continued in Abilene until a dispute with the city over property lines led him to relocate to Leavenworth. Here, he made even more opulent designs for his carousels, carefully decorating the horses and introducing more ridable animals. When World War I caused a shortage of supplies for manufacturing and a lack of money for families to visit carnivals, Parker's company was one of the few that survived. From Parker's death in 1932 until 1955, his son ran the company here.Today, at least sixteen of Parker's carousels still exist today. Several of them can be seen here at the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum, one of the museums run by the Leavenworth County Historical Society. These include the 1913 Carry-Us-All, Parker's main attraction, the Liberty Carousel, and the Primitive Carousel, which was built in the 1850s or 1860s, long before Parker ran his business. The former two can be ridden, but the latter is too old to be used. Also on display are several instruments that would have provided backing music for his carnival rides, including turn-of-the-century cylinder pianos and band organs. Some of Parker's works can also be seen at the Dickinson County Heritage Center in Abilene, including the 1901 carousel, the oldest of his extant carousels that can still be ridden.

Opened in 2005 and operated by the Leavenworth Historical Museum Association, this unique museum shares the history of carousels including artifacts and intact carousels from renowned Kansas designer Charles Wallace Parker. Growing up in Abilene, Kansas, Charles Wallace Parker became fascinated with amusement devices, starting with the purchase of a portable shooting gallery. Using earnings from working as a janitor, Parker soon created his own designs, beginning a career that would make him well-known as the "amusement king." He built his first carousel not long after. He founded the Parker Carnival Supply Company, becoming known for his unique designs that were meant to be portable, making them especially well-suited to county fairs. At the C.W. Parker Carousel Museum, visitors can see carousels like Parker's 1913 Carry-Us-All and some of the instruments that would have played alongside his carousels, including cylinder pianos and band organs.

C. W. Parker Carousel Museum

To fully understand the importance of the Union Depot Station to Leavenworth it is important to look at other events, specifically in railroad development, that occurred in preceding years. Namely, the competition in the railroad industry between Kansas City and Leavenworth. Leavenworth had been the preeminent city in Kansas, and held greater importance than Kansas City, until Kansas City won out over Leavenworth in getting a key rail bridge in 1867, and since then Kansas City had forged ahead, according to the Leavenworth Board of trade, by 1870 in replacing Leavenworth as the most important of the rail hubs on the Missouri River. The building of the Depot represented hope for a return to rail prominence for the citizens of Leavenworth, and that hope was reflected clearly in the Leavenworth Times newspaper. In a January 1887 article titled “Our Prospects” the Times predicts “our factories and coal mining will triple this year” as result of the depot and even directly acknowledges the disadvantage the town is at for not having a rail bridge, saying the citizens of the city should make every sacrifice necessary to secure it. The Times predicted that, with a railroad bridge and the Depot, the city would soon pass a population of 100,000. The citizens of Leavenworth were equally as enthusiastic, showing their support for the Depot by voting overwhelmingly in favor (1455 to 78) of a referendum on a tax increase that would help bring in a rail line critical to the survival of the project. Unfortunately for Leavenworth, the growth they hoped for never came to fruition, and Kansas City continued to outpace Leavenworth to become the metropolitan center it is today. An interesting wrinkle in the story of the Depot are some of the hiccups that occurred along the way for the project, including the ten-month gap between the completion of construction on the building and the actual opening for use. This gap was the result of a disagreement over expenses between the railroad lines, with the Missouri Pacific specifically dragging its feet. Eventually, the state board of trade attempted to step in: “a special meeting was called to consider how to force the station company to open it, the railroads having been unable to reach an agreement on the apportionment of expenses. It was decided at this meeting to place the whole affair before the State Board of Railroad Commissioners. The station was opened shortly thereafter” this is according to the Leavenworth Board of Trade’s own records, and they go on to say, “From a study of the proceedings one may fairly assume that the board of trade should be given considerable credit for securing the station for the city”. However, the application for the building to be placed on the national historic register says the Missouri Pacific refused arbitration from the Railroad Commissioner's board and instead gives credit to depot company director Len Smith who informed the Missouri Pacific the project would proceed with or without them. Although the historical record is unclear on the resolution of this conflict, there was actually an even more bizarre roadblock two years prior. In a September 1, 1886 article, the Leavenworth Times states that Leavenworth Mayor Shaw Neely is an agent for the Missouri Pacific line and attempting to obstruct the building of the depot by “covert means and false pretenses”. While no other sources corroborate this claim, in fact the records of the board of trade indicate, at least as of 1883, that Neely was an enthusiastic supporter of the project, if true it gives some interesting insight to the intensity of the rivalry between railroads in the area at the time.

Built in the Richardsonian-Romanesque style, construction on the Union Depot Station began in 1886 and continued until completion in January of 1888, although the station did not open for use until November of that year due to disputes on apportionment of funds between the participating railroads. The architectural style is especially noteworthy as the project began in very close proximity to the death of the great American architect Henry Hobbs Richardson, whose work was widely influential following his death, making the station an excellent example of an important style of the time period. The main champion of the project was the Union Pacific Railroad line but others like the Missouri Pacific, Santa Fe, and the Chicago &amp; Rock Island line were also involved. The building served its original purpose as a train station until 1963, at which time it was purchased by V.B. Greenamyre and used mainly as office and warehouse space for Besel’s Heating and Air. It was added to the national register of historic places in 1982, and converted to its current form, a community center, 1988.

Riverfront Community Center/Union Depot Station

Also called the Planters House, the Planters Hotel opened for business in December 1856 in Leavenworth, the leading city of Kansas Territory at that time. The inn opened under the backdrop of the Bleeding Kansas era, and members of both sides of the conflict stated at the inn. The Planters Hotel was regarded as the finest hotel in the area and hosted many of the era's leading citizens when they travelled to the area, including Ulysses S. Grant and Sarah Bernhardt.Abraham Lincoln also visited the Planters Hotel during the lead-up to his campaign for the Republican Party's bid for the 1860 presidential election. In response to the violence caused by the fighting during "Bloody Kansas," he decided to make an impromptu speech on the steps of the hotel on December 5th, 1859. During his speech, Lincoln urged the people of Leavenworth if not the people of Kansas in general to not resort to violence. Instead, the future Civli War President urged citizens to use the ballot box to voice their opinions on whether or not slavery should extend to Kansas. For proslavery forces, this message was not well-received as the population of Kansas Territory had shifted from a pro-Southern slant in the early years of the territory to a Free State majority as more residents of northern states arrived to start farms. The hotel was thrust into the debate over the Fugitive Slave Act, a central area of contention between pro and anti-slavery factions, when Charles Fisher, an African American working at the hotel as a barber, was kidnapped under the pretenses that Fisher was a fugitive slave. If this was true, any white man could capture Fisher under the terms of the Fugitive Slave Act and take him into a slave state to reap an immediate financial reward, pending a trial where Fisher could not defend himself and the judge would be paid a larger sum should he side with the slave catcher. After being arrested by self-deputized slave-catchers at gunpoint, Fisher was taken by his kidnappers into the slave state of Missouri. However, he escaped his captors and made his way back to Leavenworth. Fisher's kidnappers were soon arrested themselves and brought to trial, where Fisher was subpoenaed as a material witness despite the prohibitions of a Black man testifying against white people in court.The Planters Hotel was torn down in the 1950s after the building caught fire, and while the site is now home to an empty lot today, the city of Leavenworth has lain a historical marker on the site of the hotel and has even made a recreation of the hotel steps so that residents and visitors to the city can imagine Lincoln standing at that location and giving a speech calling for residents to settle the Free State question at the ballot box.

The Planters Hotel opened for business in December of 1856 within a four-story brick building that offered a hundred rooms to travelers. The hotel was the site of numerous proslavery gatherings giving Leavenworth's proximity to Missouri and political leanings during the Bleeding Kansas era, but it is also worth noting that Abraham Lincoln gave a speech on the steps of the hotel. The Planters Hotel was one of Leavenworth's leading historical landmarks until the 1950s when the structure was declared unfit for occupancy and demolished.

Planters Hotel Historical Marker 

The North Esplanade neighborhood became a popular locale for middle and upper-class businessmen to make their homes in the second half of the nineteenth century; the street, north of the original commercial district, was originally called Main Street. John C. Ketcheson, the original owner of this house at 309 N. Esplanade Street, previously lived a block away at 403 N. Esplanade, in the c. 1865 Lewis Burnes House, from 1875 to 1881. Both houses are contributing to the North Esplanade Historic District. John lived with E.B. Ketcheson - probably his brother - in both houses. Ketcheson sold the property to Colonel James L. Abernathy in 1895. The Abernathy family established the Abernathy Furniture Store in town in the 1850s; three brothers - James, William and John. Colonel James L. Abernathy may have bought the home as a gift; the Ketcherson House was occupied by the household of 31-year-old Omar Abernathy in 1900. Omar worked as the manager of a factory and had married Romaine T. (age 24) in 1894. The couple shared the home with their young daughters, Elizabeth (4) and Romaine (2); and an African-American servant named Luvera Davis (18). James L. Abernathy (64) was still a furniture manufacturer in 1900 and lived with his wife, Elizabeth (59), in a hotel at 108 Main Street with fifteen other boarders; Colonel Abernathy died in 1902. Omar Abernathy moved by 1910 to 604 Spruce Street; his wife, Romaine, died in 1913, and his mother, Elizabeth, passed away in 1926. Omar retired from the furniture manufacturing business in the 1920s and relocated first to Kansas City for eight years, and then to Miami Beach, Florida, where he died in 1941 at age 72. It is not known when he sold the house at 309 N. Esplanade. The nearly 100-year-old Ketcheson House was owned by Mr. and Mrs. William J. Doman in 1977. Later residents include members of the Kennedy, Yarrow, and Brasfield families. Other distinctive features of the Ketcheson House are two-story bay windows on the front and south sides. A two-story carriage house survives on the property, used as a garage. The three-bedroom, 2.5 bathroom house contains slightly over 3,000 square feet and was last sold in 1997 for $114,500. Other houses in the North Esplanade Historic District are: C.W.P. Boarding House (215 N. Esplanade, built c.1872), E.E. Henry House (213, c.1880), E. H. Durfee House (219, c.1872), Edward Stillings House (303, mid-1870s), William Small House (313, c.1880s), L.G. Terry House (317), William Small House (321), Lewis Burnes House (403, late 1860s), Elmore W. Snyder House (409, mid-1880s), George Ross House (417, early 20th c.), Alvin Woodworth House (501, mid-1860s), James McCahon (507), and Winfield Denton House (515, mid-1880s), Esplanade Park also is a contributing element to the historic district. The houses in the historic district are different from the nearby homes because they tend to be larger in size with a well-maintained appearance of the houses and yards. In the late 1970s, most of the houses in the historic district were owner-occupied.

The house at 309 N. Esplanade Street is one of fourteen houses that contribute to the North Esplanade Historic District, listed in the National Register in 1977. The district runs from 203 to 515 North Esplanade, on the west side of a street facing east toward a narrow strip of parkland, Esplanade Park, and the Missouri River beyond the bluff. Most of the contributing houses were built in the 1860s to 1880s. John C. Ketcheson, a printer, bought three lots in 1877 and had this house built in 1882. The two-story, frame, Queen Anne Victorian house features an octagonal three-story tower on the front and a rounded veranda.

Ketcheson House and North Esplanade Historic District

The Leanna Giles House is only two blocks away from the Missouri River and stood before Kansas became a state in January 1861. A land speculator named John Calhoun bought the lot within the original plat of Leavenworth from Thomas and Mary Doyle in 1858. The lot's value increased to $900 in 1860, indicating a house had been built; a frame building was mentioned in the rolls. While the neighborhood once held many similar frame homes, most survivors were removed during urban renewal projects in the 1980s. An empty, narrow lot sits between the Giles House and 2nd Street. The Giles House served mainly as rental property for working class tenants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The home was owned by German immigrants named Henry and Afra Krezdorn from 1879 to 1913. City directories records show that the Krezdorns lived a few blocks south. The tenant in 1880 was Adolf Lange, a Fort Leavenworth clerk, and his family. John Dumont, a prison guard, lived in the house with his family in 1900. The household of a railroad watchman, John P. Leonard, rented the house in 1920. Leonard purchased the house and sold it in 1925 to Richard and Mammie Clark. The Clarks seem to be the first owners to occupy the home. In 1930, Mammie Clark lived in the house with her widowed daughter, Marguerite Mitchell, a charwoman; Marguerite's two children, and a lodger who worked as a seamstress. The Clark family rented the house by 1940 to Edward and Mary Kromholc and their two daughters; Edward worked as a taxi driver. Leanna Giles purchased the Giles House in 1965 and lived there; she was probably the first African-American person to reside in the house. Mrs. Giles worked for thirty years as a nurse serving military veterans before she retired. She continued to live in the house until her death in 2012. Her grandson, Rickey L. Giles, Jr. owns and is renovating the house. The Giles House was clad in asbestos shingles over its clapboard siding in the mid-twentieth century. The simple rectangular main block of the house measures 21 by 49 feet and sits on a stone foundation. There is a stone-lined basement with a brick floor under part of the house. The building is covered by an asphalt shingled gable roof pierced by a brick chimney. Herringbone brick sidewalks approach the main entrance on Pattawatomie Street and run along the home's east side. The one-story rear addition was seen on the 1889 Sanborn map. The 1883 Sanborn map mentions that there were 17 frame dwellings on the block but doesn't map them individually. A fire in 2016 damaged the home's north wall of the two-story block and the north porch to the rear addition. The current owner of the home, Rickey L. Giles, Jr., removed the non-historic front porch walls and entryway in early 2016, exposing the three first floor original bays.

The Leanna Giles House may be one of the oldest houses remaining in Leavenworth and is thought to have been built in 1860. Near the northwest corner of Pottawatomie and 2nd streets, the house is a two-story, gable front frame dwelling. The house was named for Leanna Giles, a long-time owner and tenant of the home in the twentieth century. The simple architectural style, National folk, was common in the era, especially for working-class families. The home is still owned by the Giles family and was listed in the Register of Historic Kansas Places in 2017. It is significant to the history of residential development as one of the few houses of its age and style left in Leavenworth.

Leanna Giles House

This building is the former home of U.S. Army Captain William Bly, a Buffalo Soldier during World War I. Buffalo Soldiers like Bly, who might have gained their team's nickname from their dark, curly hair, had duties from standard military operations to protecting moving settlers and resolving conflicts between ranchers and farmers. The home was deeded to the nearby Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1991, and the Richard Allen Cultural Center and Museum opened on the property the following year. The museum offers a look into African Americans' local history and lives, especially in the early decades of the twentieth century. The furniture and decorations inside the home are similar to how they would have appeared when Captain Bly lived here in the 1910s and after his service in the 1920s. Other items in the collections include the Black Dignity Photos from the Mary Everhard Collection, negative prints of local African-American pioneers who lived in the Leavenworth area in the 1870s to 1920s. There are also military artifacts from notable local soldiers who served on Fort Leavenworth, such as Colin Powell, a bust of the Buffalo Soldiers' only female member, Cathay Williams, and the more frightening KKK memorabilia speaking to the history of racism in the Leavenworth area. An addition to the building, built in 2002, offers office and tutoring space. This part of the building is used today by tutors from ROCKS, an organization that helps support the advancement of African-American military officers. Members of ROCKS tutor local children of all races and backgrounds.

Named for the founder of the United States' first African Methodist Episcopal Church and housed in the former home of World War I Buffalo Soldier Captain William Bly, the Richard Allen Cultural Center (RACC) opened in 1992 to highlight the African-American history of Leavenworth. It is located across the street from the Bethel A.M.E. Church, an important piece of the local Underground Railroad. The home is decorated to look as it would have around the turn of the century, and an addition to the front of the home added in 2002 displays more artifacts of early African-American history in Kansas. In addition to this look into early Leavenworth history, the cultural center also provides local services, including tutoring for children provided by ROCKS, a professional development organization that supports the advancement of African-American members of the military.

Richard Allen Cultural Center & Museum

In July of 1860, before this house was finished, Merritt H. Insley was a hotelkeeper in Leavenworth. The 29-year-old lived in the hotel with his wife, Eliza (age 24). Insley owned real estate valued at $2,000 at that time, and personal property valued at $2,500. Twenty-four other people resided in the hotel in 1860. "Captain" Insley served in the US Army during the Civil War and was stationed at Fort Scott in 1863. By 1880, the banker and his wife shared their home on Seneca Street with two children: Harry E. (19) and Lillie E. (16); and two servants: a white housekeeper named Nelly Sullivan (18) and a Black coachman named Edwin Moore (35). The Insley daughter, Lillian, married Manford H. Carr in 1893. The Insleys sold their home on Seneca Street to Dr. William Walters in 1894 and moved to a smaller house in town. Dr. Walters was a 39-year-old physician in 1900; the single man shared his home with his widowed father, Joseph Walter[s], a farmer (72). Dr. Walters was a Kansas native; his parents were born in Pennsylvania. In 1910, Dr. Walters and his father were joined in the home by a sister of the doctor, Nana Shaw, a married 48-year-old. Two servants also lived in the home: Veruis Eugrin (female, 32, a cook) and Clarance Eugrin (19, a laborer). Dr. Walters offered medical services from his home until his death in 1912. Heirs of the physician sold the property in 1920 to David and Amelia Henckes; they did not appear in the 1920 census. The Henckes' house was converted into a boarding house by 1930. David A. Henckes was a veteran of the Spanish-American War born around 1876 in Iowa. His wife, Amelia L., was born in Austria in about 1885 and was married around 1907. The couple's daughter, Frances C., was born in Alaska; the 21-year-old worked as a public school teacher in 1930. Several other families rented space in the house in 1930: Homer Haug (39, a bookkeeper) and his wife, Alice H.(36); Carrie Austin (70); and Herbert E. Pomeroy (31, a prison guard) with his wife, Mildred (32) and son, James H. (6). Three single roomers also lived in the home in 1930: Joe Birmingham (25, a factory clerk), Omar Parr (31,a plumber), and Morris Robertson (27, a railway clerk). David Henckes died in the 1930s and his widow, Amelia (54, a manager of an apartment house), lived in the home in 1940. Others in the house were her niece, Bernadine Henckes (11), and four boarders: Iola Gerber (45, a stenographer), Thomas H. Birmingham (27, a crater), Ida A. Pfahl (21, a beautician), and Omar C. Parr (37, a plumber). Mrs. Henckes owned the home and it was worth $5,000 in 1940. The Henkes' daughter, Frances Henkes Bodde and her husband, Leo began living at the house in the 1960s and were still the owners in the late 1980s. The home is currently a 7-bedroom, 4-bath residence of nearly 5,000 square feet. The wood frame carriage house/ garage also is standing and part of the historic significance of the complex. A brick former outhouse with a hipped roof has been converted into a storage building. A cast iron fence and brick sidewalks also date to the historic era of the Insley house. Two outbuildings shown in 1890s photographs no longer stand: a wooden gazebo west of the new stairwell bay and a fountain near the property's northeast corner.

The original portion of the Merritt H. Insley House was constructed in 1860 and is now the two-story rear wing of the house. The house originally was ell shaped and faced east. From 1865 to 1866, a two-story, brick Italianate cube was added to the south of the ell; the house then faced south. One more building episode took place in 1883, when a one-and-a-half story, five-sided bay was added to the west of the cube, containing a staircase. The Insley House was listed in the Kansas and National Registers in 1986.  The house is significant because of its owner, Merritt Hitt Insley (1830-1909), and for its architectural style. Insley was a local entrepreneur and financier and was active in Leavenworth's business community from the 1850s to 1890s.

Merritt H. Insley House

Within Leavenworth, KS, a saloon was built in 1858, which would later become Candle Queens Candle in 2008. Also built around the late 1850s, was a hidden tunnel underneath this saloon speculated, in an interview, to be a part of the Underground Railroad at the time. This was a significant time because within the late 1850s, Leavenworth became a free state. Kansas in general was known to have the Underground Railroad range from various places like Lawrence to Leavenworth to Topeka and more. Ultimately, with Leavenworth being at the border of Kansas and Missouri (a heavily proslavery state), it basically made Leavenworth a hotspot for slaves on their route to freedom. For example, in the Freedom Crucible, one of the many narratives focuses on how a family takes a passage using wagons, underground railroad stations, and boats to pass from Missouri to Leavenworth and to Lawrence for freedom. This fuels the speculation that this tunnel, conveniently hidden under a saloon with narrow passageways throughout the town, could’ve been used by slaves on their route to freedom. However, there is no pinpoint evidence of whether the Underground Railroad incorporated these tunnels, and therefore, this speculation only remains a theory.    But what does the underground railroad have to do with mannequins, shop signs, and sawdust? Another theory of this tunnel is its use as an underground city. While freed slaves were allowed to be within the state of Kansas, racism didn’t simply go away. During segregation in Leavenworth, Black individuals were forced to live in designated areas, go to school on the bottom floors of buildings, attend separate churches, and more. Many white individuals refused to shop within the same shops as Black individuals and, therefore, it was speculated in an interview by the owner of Candle Queen Candles that this underground city was used as an underground city for Black individuals to shop. This tunnel was found to have remains of shop signs stating, “Electric Shoe Shop”, several storefronts, and even sawdust dating back to 150 years from a woodworker. So, using the context of that period paired with these remains found, it fuels the theory that the tunnel could’ve been used by the Black community as a safe space to shop. However, with the lack of evidence, this speculation also remains as just another theory. But there’s more.    Yet another theory is the usage of the tunnel as a hidden passageway for bootleggers during Prohibition. Around 1919 and 1933, the 18th amendment was passed which prohibited the manufacture, sale, and possession of alcohol. As there was a prominence of bootleggers and illegal sellers of alcohol in Kansas, they would use speakeasies, saloons, and other secretive areas to sell and consume illegal beverages. Leavenworth residents, as Rowe reveals, also contributed their fair share of rebellion of this amendment, for example, by distributing alcohol within milk bottles. Therefore, another speculated use of this tunnel was for bootlegging alcohol as it provided the secrecy needed for the transportation of alcohol and the avoidance of police. Yet again, without any firm evidence found, this speculation also remains as one of the many theories about this tunnel.    Even without knowing the true builder(s) or purpose of this tunnel, these strong speculations alone create layers of history on its own. Not to mention how much the missing pieces, like the filled in tunnels or artifacts eradicated over time, can tell us about history and society. Within the 1800s, these tunnels stretched all throughout Leavenworth and possibly held more artifacts to help unravel the complex history of Leavenworth. However, with new construction done throughout the town, they were later filled in by the city. So, while it’s unclear of the true purpose of this tunnel, we can use the remains and historical context to help theorize what truly took place under what is now Candle Queen Candles and tell a new layer of the history of Leavenworth, KS.

Under this small candle shop in Leavenworth, KS, lies a mysterious tunnel dating as far back as 200 years. While the city of Leavenworth has filled in the other tunnels for construction, the tunnel underneath Candle Queen Candles is one of the only two remaining. It only becomes more mysterious as the remains of mannequins, shop signs, sawdust, and various other artifacts were found within it. However, even with these discoveries, many are still unable to tell the true purpose of this historic tunnel. Though, its theories range from it being used as an underground railroad to even an underground city. So, to dive into these speculations we must revisit the history of the small town of Leavenworth, KS.

The Tunnel Remains 

Edward Dubinsky acquired the lots costing over $10,000 in 1936 where the Hollywood Theater would be built. He and his younger brothers, Irvin and Bill, operated the theater as The Dubinsky Brothers from 1938 to 1947. Formerly a theatrical troupe under the name Dubinsky Brothers Stock Company, Edward and his brothers Maurice and Barney toured the central U.S. beginning in 1906. In the 1920s the Dubinskys decided to concentrate on the motion pictures industry. They bought the Regent Theater in Kansas City, Missouri and began buying other theaters in the Midwest. The brothers owned 40 theaters in Kansas and Missouri by 1932. Maurice Dubinsky died in 1929. Barney was seriously injured in a 1936 car accident and retired from the movie theater business; he died in 1948. Opening night of the new theater was July 23, 1938 when the feature film "Little Miss Broadway" starring Shirley Temple and Jimmy Durante played to two sold-out crowds of 1,040. Viewers paid 35 or 25 cents and the seating was segregated by race. Edward Dubinsky changed his surname to Durwood and was still leading the company when he died in 1960; his son, Stan, took over the business. Durwood Theaters, Inc. stopped showing movies at Hollywood Theater in the 1970s and the structure was donated to the city in 1977. Stan Durwood eventually formed the AMC Entertainment company, a leading company in American movie theaters. The Hollywood Theater building has become the Leavenworth Performing Arts Center and again shows movie on its single screen to audiences up to 1,000 viewers; some of the old front seats were removed to enlarge the stage for live performances. The building also is the home to a theater group, River City Community Players (RCCP). The RCCP began operating in 1977 under founder Verneil Searles as part of the city's Parks and Recreation Department. Two of the RCCP's annual shows are musicals and two are non-musicals; two youth productions and an annual Christmas show take place each year. The group's first performance in June 1977 was a play written by the founder and called "Then, Now, and Wow."

Leavenworth's Hollywood Theater exemplified the Art Deco style with its vertical square columns and geometric designs on the front facade, above the marquee. The two-and-a-half story concrete building was constructed in 1937 and 1938 on the corner of Delaware and S 5th streets.  Hollywood Theater was listed in the Register of Kansas Historic Places in 1984 and the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. The City of Leavenworth owns the building, which currently shows movies and hosts a local theatrical group's live performances in the building now known as the Leavenworth Performing Arts Center.

Hollywood Theater

The second floor of the AXA Building was designed to house professional offices. A double staircase (similar to the style seen on the Titanic) in the lobby leads to 13 office spaces to the left and another 13 office spaces to the right. Some of the second story windows are slanted bays with bracketed, arched hoods; or windows with tan brick surrounds and fancy cornices with keystones. The uppermost half story forms an entablature with small windows interspersed by paired scroll brackets supporting a molded cornice. Inscribed on the top of the stone arch is "19 - : AXA: - 05" below a fancy ornament. A fire started in the basement of the wholesale pharmacy in the AXA Building in 1916 and burned for four hours before it was extinguished. The flammable turpentine and paint stored in the basement made fighting the blaze difficult, even with water streams from five hydrants in use. The fire was caused by spontaneous combustion. Ron Booth bought the independent pharmacy business in the main first-floor retail space at 429 Delaware Street in the AXA Building in 1981 and bought the building in 1985. Booth renamed the drugstore the Corner Pharmacy and restored the structure. He bought a neighboring building in 1988 to expand the vintage soda fountain and lunch counter. The business closed in 2015 when Booth retired. In the past, the space housed other pharmacies including Mehl &amp; Schott's Pharmacy and Clyde's Pharmacy. A pharmacy has been on this corner since before the AXA Building was built, since 1871. The vacant first floor space along Delaware Street, with a renovated storefront and full basement, is available for rent and covers 3,000 square feet. There are three commercial spaces facing S 5th Street, south of the archway entrance to the interior lobby. The first is vacant; the second, at 209 S. 5th, is Vol Libre Salon. The third, on the corner with the alley, houses Acme Shoe and Boot Repair. At least one of the second floor office spaces is leased by a couples counselling service.

The AXA Building is a commercial structure on the corner of Delaware and S 5th streets that was built in 1905 and designed by William P. Feth. The building's original owner was Charles Espenscheid, a miller from St. Louis. The ornamental building is two-and-a-half stories tall of red brick with contrasting tan brick trim. The main facade faces west onto S 5th Street and the building is divided into two identical wings connected by an arched entryway. The AXA Building was listed individually on the National Register of Historic Place in 1972 and is a contributing building in the Leavenworth Downtown Historic District which was added to the National Register in 2002.

AXA Building

The north elevation of the AT&amp;SF Railroad Depot faces Shawnee Street and is the first part of the building railroad passengers arriving from the east would see. the name LEAVENWORTH is emblazoned across the frieze of the central gabled projection with arched openings. The five-bay east facade fronts the building's parking lot and also has a central projecting bay A transite addition abutting the south facade was built in 1944 of panels bolted from the exterior onto interior wooden framing. Two doors allowed access into the addition; there was no connection from the main depot to access the addition. The seven-bay west facade faces the now-abandoned railroad tracks; it features a three bay central tower with a conical roof flanked by a two-bayed gabled section on the north and the typical shed roof over two bays to the south. Another railroad depot in Leavenworth, the Union Depot, was involved in a lawsuit in the 1880s to 1890s. A local property owner, John C. Douglass, claimed that building the depot on a city street harmed some property he owned nearby due to street closures. The Union Depot was built on S. Main and Delaware streets, near tracks that ran along the riverfront. Douglass called the depot a nuisance. The case worked its way on appeal up to the Kansas Supreme Court, who ruled in favor of the railroad company in 1898; the street closures for the depot location had been accompanied by the building of a new street nearby. The AT&amp;SF Railway Depot was vacant when the building was documented for listing in the National Register in 1985; some windows were boarded over. Removal of the transite addition was recommended to again be able to see the south facade, with caution since it could contain asbestos. Much of the original interior detailing remained: the transoms were filled with amber colored glass separated by wooden mullions. Although the original tile-faced fireplaces were removed in 1983, plans called for their return to the building. Original gas light fixtures had been replaced with fluorescent lighting and many of the original ceilings had been covered in small acoustic tiles. The depot was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Jaster in 1986; they invested in the property in 1983 and planned to restore and adapt the building. The depot was listed in the National Register under Criterion C for its architectural significance and under Criterion A for its association with the AT&amp;SF Railroad, the major passenger and freight railway in the 1880s and 1890s from Kansas to California. The company was extremely busy in 1887, the year the depot was built in Leavenworth, and completed almost 1,000 miles of tracks in Kansas. The depot actually was built by the Leavenworth, Northern, and Southern Railway Company, an affiliate established in 1885. The AT&amp;SF leased the building from the affiliate until 1899 when it purchased the depot. The diner now in the depot is open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch. The restaurant's breakfasts were voted the best in Kansas in 2018 by the Daily Meal.

The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (AT&SF) Railway Depot is a cross-shaped stone building dating to about 1887 on the south side of Shawnee Street. The architect or builder was Perkins and Adams. The Romanesque Revival style building is one-and-a-half stories composed of random coursed, rusticated, dark pink limestone and stands east of the abandoned railroad tracks. The passenger and freight trains haven't stopped at the depot since the 1980s. The depot has been converted into the Depot Diner, open every day for breakfast and lunch, since 2015. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

History of Downtown Leavenworth Driving Tour

Fred Harvey House and Museum

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Additional Information