Join us for a journey through the history of the University of Kansas campus! Led by local historic preservation enthusiast, Dale Slusser, this guided walking tour will explore the KU Historic Districts, highlighting significant landmarks and architectural treasures.
Save the date! Join us Thursday, October 10 as we celebrate the Lawrence Preservation Alliance's 40th Anniversary at our Annual Meeting!
Enjoy an evening of food, drinks, and honoring our city's rich history.
Thursday, October 10th at 6:00 PM
Lawrence Country Club
Please join LPA as we check in on the busy folks at Haskell Greenhouse and their wonderful work at Haskell Indian Nations University.
Join the Lawrence Preservation Alliance and the Wakarusa River Valley Heritage Museum for an evening exploring the rich history of the Wakarusa Valley.
Step back in time and explore the historic Colonel James Blood House (built 1867-1870) during our Old Housewarming!
Join the Lawrence Preservation Alliance (LPA) for a special behind-the-scenes look at The Outlook, the historic home of the University of Kansas Chancellor.
Join us back where it all started - at 947 Louisiana Street! Raise your glass to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Lawrence Preservation Alliance at the property that inspired our founding.
This event is free but for MEMBERS ONLY and RSVP is required. Please use this link to register: givebutter.com/LPA40thToast
Have you ever wondered what it's like to live in a beautifully restored historic home? Join Lawrence Preservation Alliance for an Old Housewarming on Sunday, April 7th from 1-3 pm at 1036 Rhode Island Street.
This is your chance to explore a stunning example of historic preservation and learn more about the process firsthand. Patrick Watkins, an LPA Board Member with a remarkable history of using historic tax credits to revitalize Lawrence's past, will be on site to answer your questions! Don't miss this opportunity to step back in time and see historic preservation in action.
RSVP here: bit.ly/1036RhodeIsland
Join us for an exclusive evening at the Haskell Cultural Center & Museum as we share treasures from Haskell's rich history!
The Lawrence Preservation Alliance and the Lawrence NAACP Branch present a ten-block guided walking tour through the neighborhood bordered by 12th and 14th streets and Connecticut and Pennsylvania. The tour will feature three short history presentations in front of the following Lawrence NAACP (1921) Founder Homes: 1325 Pennsylvania, 1333 New York, and 1230 Connecticut. The tour will include contextual insights into this historic neighborhood that was largely populated by Black residents in the 1920s.
Join the Lawrence Chapter of NAACP and Lawrence Preservation Alliance for this NAACP Historic Homes Walking Tour.
Join the Lawrence Chapter of NAACP and Lawrence Preservation Alliance for this NAACP Historic Homes Walking Tour.
Join Lawrence Preservation Alliance and Black Jack Battlefield as we celebrate the twentieth anniversary of our partnership that secured and preserved the site of this pre-Civil War battle between forces led by John Brown and Henry Pate. We will reflect on our shared history while looking forward to a recap of how far Black Jack Battlefield has come, as well as next steps. We will then enjoy a presentation from Douglas County Sustainability Office staff on the new Douglas County Open Space Plan currently in the development stage.
Please join us for LPA’s Annual Meeting of members! A brief business meeting, including a recap of LPA’s accomplishments this year and plans for 2024, will be followed by a presentation by LPA Board Member Emeritus, Dennis Domer, editor and one of the authors of the recently published Embattled Lawrence Volume 2: The Enduring Struggle for Freedom. Dennis will discuss the status of work on the next installment in this series - Embattled Lawrence Volume 3: Building the City - and will preview some of the content in this soon-to-be published volume, including his article on the introduction of a modern sewer system to our town.
The Lawrence Preservation Alliance is thrilled to extend a warm invitation to all history enthusiasts, book lovers, and community members to join us at the much-anticipated Book Release Party for the latest volume of "Embattled Lawrence." This event is set to take place on Tuesday, August 15th, from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM at Merchants Pub & Plate.
Old Housewarming at 601 Louisiana Street.
We are so excited to honor our 2023 Preservation Achievement Award Winners.
Old Housewarming at 603 Tennessee Street
Join us for a special opportunity to view Ima I. Smith Hall, home of the Department of Religious Studies, a Modern Movement treasure at the University of Kansas that was built in 1967. KU is currently vacating the building and its future is unknown.
All are welcome.
Please join us to help celebrate the recent completion of a comprehensive rehabilitation of this 1870 gable-front National Folk style house by LPA board member Pat Watkins. Located one door south of the Castle Tea Room, this house has been vacant since 2006, but has now been brought back from death’s doorstep by Pat and a trusted group of contractors, including Kyle Weiland of Stonehouse Construction.
On Sunday, September 18th at 1:30pm, Lawrence Preservation Alliance will hold its Annual Meeting of Membership at the Union Pacific Depot. A brief business meeting will be followed by recognition of outgoing LPA President Dennis Brown, who, with sixteen years of board leadership to his credit, has been the longest serving president in LPA history.
Lawrence Preservation Alliance returns to the Union Pacific Depot (1889) for the first time since the Annual Meeting of Members in 2008. The depot stands today due to the efforts of a loose coalition of advocates who worked—sometimes frantically—for six years, spanning an initial demolition announcement by Union Pacific on December 11, 1984, to the donation by the company of the depot to the City of Lawrence on February 7, 1990. Narrowly avoiding demolition several times, those advocates were slowly able to add enough support from city and state leaders—and Lawrence Preservation Alliance—to produce a positive outcome.
The Union Pacific Depot was designed by Henry Van Brunt, a classically trained architect from Boston, as part of multiple commissions from Charles Francis Adams—then president of the Union Pacific Railroad. Van Brunt had moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1887 to form the architecture firm Van Brunt & Howe with his friend Frank Howe. Most of Van Brunt’s work in this area was in Kansas City, but he did design one other Lawrence structure: Spooner Hall on the University of Kansas campus in 1894.
Register for this free program by Thursday, September 15th here. Refreshments will be provided.
If you are not able to attend the meeting, but would like to make a donation to LPA or extend your membership, you may do that here.
The Lawrence Preservation Alliance is proud to partner with historic homeowners from across our city to showcase curiosities found in the process of rehabilitating Lawrence’s historic homes. Explore a bounty of late 19th and early 20th century treasures, once lost, now found, and on display for your enjoyment in the CDC. Libations on sale, donations encouraged!
Join LPA and the Watkins Museum of History for this event at the Robert H. Miller home, honoring the stewardship and care Dennis and Judy Dailey have provided to the home for almost 40 years.
LPA Members! This is your chance to shine! Drop by to share curiosities you’ve uncovered in your basement, attic, or walls while renovating your historic property, and they may be selected for display in the upcoming, “Lost and Found: Curiosities from Lawrence’s Historic Properties” exhibit taking place in late August. All curiosities considered. The weirder, the better! Please be sure to bring the address of the Lawrence property where your curiosity was found, the year the property was built, and a short story about the curiosity that we can use in the display (these can be written down, or we’re happy to transcribe in person). We’ll have drinks and bites to keep you smiling while you bring your curiosities by for consideration! All curiosities selected for display will be returned to their owners by the first day of September.
*Can’t make this time? Email Sarah Bishop at sarah.srb9w@gmail.com to set up a time to drop your curiosities off at your convenience!
As the devastating floodwaters of the 1951 flood receded, many residents in the Kansas River basin from Manhattan to Kansas City faced the harsh reality that their homes were destroyed. How did the families of La Yarda, the Santa Fe housing complex for railroad workers, adapt and move forward to find new housing in the Lawrence community?
In January 1859, John Brown and 12 freedom seekers sought refuge at the Grover Barn. Now we invite you to join us at 2819 Stonebarn Terrace in Lawrence as the Guardians of Grover Barn and partners officially dedicate new interpretive panels at this historic Underground Railroad site. After dedicatory remarks and a benediction by the Rev. Verdell Taylor, the public will be invited to view the interior of the barn.
Parking at the site is very limited. A Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department shuttle will run from the Holcomb Park Rec Center parking lot and the Grover Barn between 12:45 and 2 PM for those wishing to attend.
This event will also be livestreamed on the Watkins Museum of History Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.
Dudley Wiggins House
840 W. 21st Street
Sunday, October 31
1:30 to 3 p.m.
Please come help us congratulate Randy and Wanda Breeden in caring for this handsome brick farmhouse in the Centennial neighborhood. Built in the mid-1860s and listed on the Register of Historic Kansas Places, it has been beautifully rehabbed by the Breedens, who just recently completed a sale of the property.
LPA saved this house from a demolition proposal in 1985 by purchasing it for $25,000, raised from personal loans given by 33 LPA members. Its condition had fallen a long way from being serviceable as a family home. The Breedens, looking for a project house, were told of its availability by LPA board member Katie Armitage. So they took the plunge and purchased it from LPA.
Their first task was to create some semblance of an upstairs bedroom for their young daughter while they turned the rest of the house into a DIY construction zone. Their initial walkthrough with a city inspector gave them a long list of critical tasks to complete. Fortunately, they had the skills necessary to do the work, as well as friends and family members to help them along the way, Randy is a professional designer and a solid carpenter; Wanda (Puderbaugh) is from a family of woodworkers and builders, including her father Perry and her brother Allen.
Now it’s 36 years later, their family has been raised with a lot of great memories, and the couple is moving on—to a place with less upkeep! But their pride in and love for the home still is evident: They just recently completed a concrete project in the basement. It’s time for a round of applause!
This is a free event for LPA members. Masks will be required inside the house, and also on the porch if many people are congregating there.
The property is set back on the north side of 21rst Street, between Louisiana Street and Naismith Avenue. We recommend parking on the 2200 block of Carolina Street, which intersects with 21rst very close to the house. An LPA sign will be posted near the street.
Please join us on October 9 for LPA’s 2021 Annual Meeting of Membership at the newly restored Winter School on Farmers’ Turnpike between Lawrence and Lecompton. We are excited to see the results of this recent rehabilitation project undertaken by members of the Winter family.
This open-house event begins at 1:30 p.m. and will be held in two sessions to allow as many members as possible to visit and congregate safely. Brief presentations by members of the Winter family will be made in the schoolhouse at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. LPA board members will be at tables in the courtyard throughout the event to visit with you and listen to your ideas and comments. Members arriving at 1:30 are encouraged to depart by 2:30 so that folks arriving later can participate.
Masks will be required in the schoolhouse and encouraged in the courtyard. Meeting materials, including president and treasurer reports and the new LPA strategic plan, will be emailed to members on Tuesday, October 5.
Winter School is located at 744 N. 1800 Road (Farmers’ Turnpike), about 1 mile west of the I-70 interchange, on the north side of the road just past Heritage Baptist Church. If you reach Berry Plastics while driving west, you’ve gone a bit too far.
Winter School, 744 N. 1800 Rd. (Farmers’ Turnpike)
Sarah Holder from PROSOCO will hold a 1 1/2-hour workshop on proper cleaning techniques for historic monuments at Oak Hill Cemetery. We will focus on monuments located in the southwest corner of Section 2. All cleaning materials will be provided. The workshop has 10 spots remaining and reservations will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis until full. Please email friendsofoakhillcemetery@gmail.com to reserve a spot and to sign waivers. Sponsored by Friends of Oak Hill Cemetery.
Location: Baker University Campus, 404 Eighth Street, Baldwin City
Presented by the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council, Baldwin City, Baker University, Baldwin City Chamber of Commerce and the Lumberyard Arts Center.
Advance Registration by July 20th. Be sure to order and prepay for box lunches by July 15th. In-person registration is available but will not be eligible for box lunches.
8 a.m. Registration will be open at the Rice Auditorium Lobby; browse information tables.
9 a.m. Baldwin City’s Downtown Commercial District, with behind-the-scenes tours of the Lumberyard Arts Center and Baldwin City State Bank. Led by Sara DeCaro, Archivist, Baker University, and Katrina Ringler, Grants Coordinator, Kansas State Historic Preservation Office. Meet at the Lumberyard Arts Center, 718 High Street.
11 a.m. Welcome by Baldwin Chamber Executive. Director Lori Trojan.
11:05 a.m. Glimpses of Barn Preservation Program in Douglas County/KBA Collaboration - Jan Shupert-Arick, Heritage Conservation Council Program Coordinator, and Steve Christy, President, Kansas Barn Alliance.
11:15 a.m. Becoming a Kansas Main Street: Benefits to Main Street Communities, Scott Sewell, Director, Kansas Main Street.
12:15-1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 -2:30 p.m. Historic Building Surveys & The Impact of the Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council’s Historic Building Survey Plan, Speakers on Panel: Katrina Ringler, Kansas State Historic Preservation Office; Michael Delaney, Douglas County Heritage Conservation Council; Stan Hernly, Hernly Associates Inc., Survey Consultant.
3 p.m.Preservation Conference Meet and Greet– Conference attendees and friends of preservation are invited. Location: The Lumberyard Arts Center/Sullivan Square, 718 High Street.
Dinner on your own/Food Truck – Downtown Baldwin City
7:30 p.m. Third FridayLive On Highat the Lumberyard Arts Center/Sullivan Square, 718 High Street.Join local singer-songwriters Eric Nelson, Chris Hudson and Kristin Hamilton for an evening of acoustic music and original songs in the round.
