Brookville Hotel Removed From Historical Register

KSAL Staff - Thu 05:00 PM 01/24/2013

The historic Brookville Hotel is no longer on the National Register of Historic Places.

According to the Kansas Historical Society, the Brookville Hotel was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 for its local significance in the area of commerce.

The building was built in 1870 during a local boom period when Brookville served as a railroad division point on the Kansas Pacific Railroad and one of the terminals for the cattle drives from Texas. The hotel was famous for many years for its family-style fried chicken dinners.

Due to declining business and problems with a failing septic system, the restaurant relocated to Abilene in 1999.

The building in Brookville has been vacant since the move. According to the historical society, an attempt was made to renovate it. These renovations have negatively affected the historic integrity of the building, and it no longer qualifies for listing in the register.

Also removed National Register of Historic Places is the Krueger Building (Opera House) in Hays, which was torn down this summer.

The Kansas Historical Society has added six new building to the National Register of Historic Places listings. They include include two former hospital buildings, an early 20th century photography studio, a public school complex, a former railroad depot, and a Jewish cemetery. They are:

St. Thomas Hospital – 210 S Range Avenue, Colby, Thomas County

St. Thomas Hospital was constructed in 1941 through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal program that funded the construction of 130 new hospitals nationwide and improvements to 1,670 more. There were only two new hospitals in Kansas constructed with WPA funds, one in Colby and the other in Oswego. The three-story Colby hospital was designed by Kansas City architect Joseph Radotinsky in the Georgian Revival style utilizing brick salvaged from the old high school on the same site. The facility was expanded in 1948, under the supervision of Wichita architects Overend and Boucher, to include a four-story addition housing a new polio ward and emergency facilities and a two-story chapel. It was nominated as part of the New Deal-Era Resources of Kansas multiple property nomination for its significance in the areas of health and medicine.

St. Margaret’s Hospital – 263 S 8th Street / 759 Vermont Avenue, Kansas City, Wyandotte County

Saint Margaret’s Hospital sits atop a hill in a residential neighborhood approximately two miles south of the downtown commercial center and about three blocks west of Interstate 70. The board of Saint Margaret’s Hospital, founded in 1886, constructed this building in 1954 to replace their older sprawling hospital complex. The Sisters of the Poor of Saint Francis managed the private hospital for more than 75 years, helping it to grow into one of the largest modern hospitals in the area. Designed by Minneapolis architect S. C. Smiley and built in 1954, Saint Margaret’s Hospital exhibits Modern Movement architectural treatments, including masonry banding and rectangular massing. The concrete building has buff brick walls with limestone and dark brown brick accents. The building was constructed during a period of extensive hospital improvement projects throughout the country and reflects the design changes adopted nationwide following medical advancements made during World War II. It was nominated for its significance in the areas of health and medicine.

Marysville High School & Jr. High School Complex – 1110-1111 Walnut Street, Marysville, Marshall County

The Marysville High School/Junior High School Complex is located in a residential neighborhood two blocks south of the historic Marshall County Courthouse and approximately two blocks southwest of Marysville’s business district. The complex occupies 12 acres; three buildings (the high school, junior high school, and transportation building), one structure (the stadium), and two objects (the stone gate piers) contribute to the historic significance of the property. The stadium and playing field were constructed near the center of the property in 1937, followed by the Art Deco high school designed by Louis H. Spencer at the northeast corner of the property in 1939. Both were constructed as part of the Works Progress Administration. The junior high school was built in 1963 just to the west of the high school, and the two buildings were connected by a small addition in 1993. The complex was nominated as part of the New Deal-era Resources of Kansas and Historic Public Schools of Kansas multiple property nominations for its local significance in the areas of education and architecture.

Beni Israel Cemetery – 1301 E 2100 Road, Eudora, Douglas County

Established in 1858, the Beni Israel Cemetery near Eudora is the only surviving property associated with the Jewish community in Eudora, which flourished briefly from 1857 to 1867 before moving to Lawrence. Jewish settlers were among the first Eudora residents. Of the 29 heads of families who arrived in Eudora in 1857, approximately seven were Jewish. Many of Eudora’s early Jewish family names, such as Urbansky, Cohn, and Katzenstein, grace the headstones of the Beni Israel Cemetery. In 1868, the Jewish community in Lawrence organized as the Society of Beni Israiel under the leadership of seven trustees and assumed responsibility of the cemetery. Burials continued at the cemetery until the late 1920s and then remained largely idle until it was reactivated in 1978. Over time, the cemetery came to represent the Jewish community in Lawrence and Douglas County and remains today as a reflection of their collective history and religious and ethnic identity during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was nominated for its local significance in the areas of early settlement social history.

Eureka ATSF Depot – 416 E 5th Street, Eureka, Greenwood County

The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe (ATSF) Depot in Eureka was built in 1917 during a period of economic boom in south-central Kansas after the discovery of oil in Greenwood and Butler counties. This second-generation station was located on the Howard Branch, a 75-mile section of the ATSF line that connected Emporia in Lyon County to the north with Moline to the south in Elk County. It functioned as a combination depot that served both railway passengers and freight customers. The depot’s passenger service ended in the mid-1950s, and its freight business ended in 1971. The Prairie and Craftsman-style station is a one-story brick and stucco building trimmed with decorative wood corbels and has a tile roof. It was designed by ATSF architect E. A. Harrison and chief engineer C.F.W. Felt – both of Chicago. Harrison designed many impressive buildings while working for the railroad, several of which are listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The only other Kansas depot designed by Harrison that is listed in the National Register is in Newton. The Eureka ATSF depot was nominated for its local significance in the areas of transportation and architecture.

Gray Photography Studio & Residence – 116 N Main Street, St. John, Stafford County

The Gray Photography Studio and Residence is located at the southern edge of St. John’s commercial district. This building was built in 1900 to serve as a photo gallery and residence operated by O. C. Haworth. In 1905, Haworth sold the building to photographer William R. Gray, who would live and work at this building for the next 42 years. During his career, he was a member of the Photographers Association of America, Kansas Professional Photographers Association, and Southwest Kansas Photo Club. Three of Gray’s children worked in the photography business, including his daughter Jessie who, after completing college at the Southern Branch of the University of California (now UCLA), returned to St. John in 1940 and partnered with her father in his business. She continued there until her retirement in 1981. The one-and-a-half-story building is wood-frame construction with wood clapboard siding and a gable roof clad in asphalt shingles. It has a parapet front wall that extends above to conceal the gable roof creating a traditional false-front façade. The building’s most striking feature is a large sloping window that provides natural light into the interior. It was nominated for its local significance in the area of commerce and its association with Gray.

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