Hidden History: Help stop the spread of disease – swat flies, build a tight outhouse
The 1910s was a period of great growth in the infrastructure of communities in the United States. Public policy initiatives…
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Hidden History of Osage County: Zimmerman twins tag team boxing as labor of love
Americans love their sports entertainment. And there’s something about rooting for the little guy that captures the heart of an…
Hidden History: Small town girl stands up to small-minded scorn
A family photo of Peter and Kate Peterson and sons, Roy, Clyde and John. Wendi Bevitt collection. History becomes hidden…
Hidden History: Burlingame firemen fight to keep town from extinguishing
Burlingame was the earliest, lasting community within Osage County, Kansas, and was also the site of the first county seat….
Hidden History: Not forgotten, Klan congregated prejudices to fuel flames of hate
A photo of an unnamed Osage County town shows unmasked Klansmen riding horses in a parade. Osage County Historical Society…
Hidden History: On a quest for a place to call home, all roads lead to Osage County
The Elmer Duff family at their cabin in Montrose County, Colorado. In the 1870s, with the expansion of railroad lines,…
Hidden History: Santa Fe Trail charts course for railroads, highways across Kansas
An American family travels using a common mode of transportation during Santa Fe Trail times and later, a covered wagon….
Hidden History: Working for freedom in Osage County coal mines
Drawing of Kansas Exodusters by Solomon Eytinge, 1833-1905, Harper’s weekly, v. XXIII, No. 1181, August 16, 1879. Source Library of…
Hidden History: Superior townsite fades away with founder’s Kansas dreams
Superior School, Osage County, Kan. Photo by Wendi Bevitt. The very first attempt at a settlement in what is now…
Hidden History: Osage County farmer women hated weeds, politics and men
In the 19th century women’s roles in the home and workplace were often limited to household management and family responsibilities….
Hidden History: Early inhabitants wove the fabric of Osage County’s past
Every property has a story, every house has a story, woven by the individuals that make their mark at that…
Gravestone specialist teaches preservation techniques at Burlingame Cemetery
Participants in cemetery preservation workshop gather at Burlingame Cemetery. Photos by Wendi Bevitt. Fifty people gathered at Burlingame Cemetery, June…
Hidden History: Deaf education helps early settlers cope with silence on the prairie
Photo of the printing class from History of the Kansas Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, 1893….
Hidden History: Kentuckians seek Kansas townsites to escape bigotry of their homeland
At the time Kansas Territory was opened for settlement in 1854, there were two prime spots on the Santa Fe…
Hidden History: Barclay, Osage County’s forgotten Quaker community
A Quaker influence has been in Osage County since the state was opened for settlement in 1854. Even before that…
Hidden History: Newspaper ad reunites Uncle Wash with family more than a century later
When he was an octogenarian, “Uncle Wash” was observed as being a “pleasant faced appearing old man, whose gray eyes,…
Hidden History: Doodlebug, the little train that touched ‘every person’s life’ in Melvern
Photo of the Doodlebug M.177, in 2011, at Los Angeles, Calif., by Jd from RR Picture Archives.Net. When Leona Knight…
Hidden History: Young Kansas invites young Americans to settle as agrarians
As Kansas emerged, first as a territory and then a state, early pioneers sought to create towns to entice additional…