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Stanley Funeral Home, Eskridge, Kansas
Editor’s note: This story of the Stanley Funeral Home was compiled with personal recollections of Judy Stanley Hayes who was a toddler while her family resided in Eskridge, Kansas, supplemented with photos and family stories told by her parents. I’d like to thank Judy Hayes for sharing her family’s history with our readers. Raymond Stanley…
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Minnie Palenske Zwanziger Memorial Museum Turns 50
Fifty years ago, on October 27, 1968 the Wabaunsee County Historical Society held the grand opening of their new museum in Alma, Kansas, the Minnie Palenske Zwanziger Memorial Museum. Present at the opening to cut the ceremonial ribbon was the museum’s benefactor, Alma’s native-son, Fred “Fritz” C. Palenske. The building in which Fritz had been…
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1963 Wabaunsee County Farm Directory
For more than a half-century, rural directory companies in Kansas have produced county plat maps in a booklet form that feature all of the Townships of a particular county, while identifying all of the rural residences. The directories have proved useful to historians who are researching ownership of particular properties, as well as individuals who are researching…
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The History of the Alma National Bank
-by Greg Hoots- The Alma National Bank enjoyed a prominent place in the history of the business community of Alma, Kansas, boasting a rich history in the very roots of the town. The Alma National Bank, founded in 1898, had its origins in the Alma State Bank, established by Alma businessman and photographer, Louis Palenske. Palenske,…
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School District No. 20, The Cousins School
District 20 is a very early school district in Wabaunsee County, organized in 1867-1868. It is likely that the first school building was constructed of logs. In September of 1874 the school district held a successful bond election in the amount of $900 to construct this fine stone school building. The date-stone on this building says: Dist. School…
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Eskridge Branch Library Digitizes Photos
The Eskridge Branch of the Pottawatomie-Wabaunsee Regional Library system recently partnered with Kansas writer and historian, Greg Hoots to digitize their historic photo collection. The library had a small but significant collection of historic photographs of Eskridge as well as a group of Eskridge school class photos that had been donated to the organization. Hoots…
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Kratzer and Parish: Volland Then and Now Opens at Museum Gallery
A new photography exhibit opens this week at the Wabaunsee County Historical Society Museum in Alma, featuring the work of Kansas photographer and designer, Tom Parish. Kratzer and Parish: Volland Then and Now. A Re-Photography Exhibit by Tom Parish features thirteen ghostly photographs of Volland, Kansas which merge black-and-white photos containing faces and places from…
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The Alma Hotel: A Chronology
-by Greg Hoots- Joseph Brandt was born in Germany in 1828 and immigrated to America in the mid-1850s, settling first in Wisconsin where he met his wife, Christena, the daughter of Prussian immigrants. The couple was married in 1858 and raised a family in Wisconsin for 20 years before moving to Montana in the late…
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Dunn Home Supply, Eskridge, Kansas
-by Greg Hoots- Dean Dunn was born in 1926 in Eskridge, Kansas, the son of local pharmacist, Preston Dunn and his wife Dora. Preston Dunn had moved to Eskridge with his parents when he was just a boy, and he became a civic and political leader in Eskridge and throughout Wabaunsee County. Preston and Dora…
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Don Mogge: Eyewitness to History
-by Greg Hoots- Note: This story was first published in the Flint Hills Special, 2012. For years I shared my lunch break with Don Mogge. I would grab a bite to eat in the early afternoon, and Don would usually meet me at the café in Alma, Kansas where I dined, and he would enjoy…
