LPA Acts to Save Historic Urban Stable
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We are excited to be launching a new project to save a historic Lawrence building! And we need your help to do it! A 2025 sale of the old mobile home park property north of Lawrence Memorial Hospital, on the western edge of the Pinkney neighborhood, has given LPA the opportunity to negotiate a creative plan to rescue an urban stable steeped in Lawrence history.
The Walruff/Byrd stable, a two-story stone structure at the north end of Maine Street with ties to both German and Black Lawrence history, is the only building remaining of a major commercial complex that from 1870 to 1939 supported the successful enterprises of the Walruff Brewery and later the Kansas Robe & Rug Tannery. But by 1964, when modern use of the property began, the stable became an out-of-context anomaly that has received little to no historic-sensitive maintenance since that time.
The park itself was also desperate for an overhaul, which the new owners, the Niemann Investment Group, have extensive experience in doing. Their work since the purchase is creating a night and day difference. However, major repair of a historic masonry structure like the stable was not in their operational toolkit.
That’s where LPA comes in. Niemann Investment Group has entered into an agreement with LPA that will allow us to lead a structural repair program at the stable and place it on the Register of Historic Kansas Places—without LPA having to take ownership of the property. It’s time for LPA members and the Lawrence community to seize this opportunity to save the Walruff/Byrd Stable!
Historic Stable-ization Project
What’s the history?
McCarter Byrd
In 1867 Joseph Walruff, an immigrant from Prussia, built a brewery on the site, which at that time was on the northwest edge of Lawrence. After a major fire in 1870, Joseph brought in his brother John for investment and operational help. They developed a five-acre complex centered on a three-story building, with the brewery in the basement and drinking parlors upstairs. Their annual output of 2,000 barrels was aged and stored in a tunnel system under the property, where ice blocks harvested from the river could keep the stored beer at a moderate temperature. The brothers’ virtual monopoly on the local market was unstoppable until Kansas passed its prohibition law in 1881. John Walruff fought to keep the company afloat until 1887, when it was closed and he moved to Westport, Missouri, to manage a brewery there.
The next occupant of the property was Byrd Tannery. McCarter Byrd, born into slavery in North Carolina in 1845, became an expert in the tanning of animal hides and by 1889 was renting the old brewery complex for his operations. He soon purchased the property outright and by 1905 his business was known as the Kansas Robe and Rug Tannery. His was the only tannery operating in Kansas, and the company filled orders throughout the nation. When McCarter died in 1918, the business was continued by his son George and daughter Mittie until its closing in 1939. The building has seen little use since then.
Byrd Tannery (Former Walruff Brewery) showing stable at far right
What’s the plan?
LPA has signed a three-year lease with the Niemann Investment Group that will give LPA access to the property to perform a comprehensive exterior repair program. Early in the negotiations, LPA realized that buying the stable property, from re-platting expenses to there being no water or sewer lines to wondering who would buy it at project’s end, would not be a viable option. Instead, LPA will oversee the work on Niemann Investment Group’s behalf.
Terms in the newly-signed lease allow LPA—once the stable is listed on the state register—to receive state historic tax credits to help with repair costs. Once the project is complete, a protective covenant held by LPA will ensure that the stable can’t be torn down without LPA consent, even by future owners.
Most of the work will involve desperately needed masonry repair. A major reason for the current degree of masonry failure is soil displacement from around the foundation, so new soil will be brought in and graded to an appropriate slope once masonry work is complete. In addition, the original front doors of the stable are long gone, and historically compatible new wood doors will be fabricated and placed.
Two freestanding history panels—one for Walruff and one for Byrd—will be placed on city park property near the stable’s front side. When the project is complete, the LPA lease will be terminated and the stable will be returned to the Niemann Investment Group as a functioning, rehabilitated storage structure.
How can I help?
Our community has waited decades for something positive to happen to the historic Walruff/Byrd Stable. Thanks to the generous response of the Niemann Investment Group to negotiations with LPA, the opportunity to revive and rehabilitate this historic structure has arrived.
LPA , a 501c3 nonprofit, intends to raise $70,000 to cover the project cost. LPA is actively seeking lead donors at the $2,500 to $5,000 levels. To focus community attention on this project, the LPA Board unanimously passed a motion to place all unrestricted donations and membership renewals received through the end of 2026 into the project fund. This extraordinary action was taken just once before—with great success—to benefit the stained-glass windows and exterior brick rehabilitation project at St. Luke AME Church in 2020.
LPA members, when you receive your membership renewal notice in a few weeks, please do your best and remember that 200 of us acting together can create a major impact.
If you are not currently a member, now is a great time to join LPA. If you wish to support just this project, please make a donation at lawrencepreservation.org or send a check with ‘stable’ in the memo line to LPA, PO Box 1073, Lawrence, KS, 66044.
LPA appreciates the research of historians Judy Sweets, Amy Van de Riet, Melanie Byrd, Richard Rice and Cindy Higgins for this project.