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- The Mills House |
The Queen Anne style house was designed by the famous architect, George Barber and cost $49,000 to build. It has over 7,000 square feet, 9 fireplaces, elaborate woodwork and ornamental ceilings. During the middle of the 1900s the house was allowed to deteriorate but is now being restored by State Senator Doug Walker and his family. The home is listed on the National Register Of Historic Places. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built during a three month period--October thru December, 1905, by the Kansas City Bridge Company, Kansas City, Mo. Its bid of $4,800 was the lowest of the ten companies bidding. The legend of the Jayhawk States that: "Early one autumn morning in 1856, Pat Devilin, a Free-State Irishman, rode into Osawatomie with his saddle bags laden with considerable goods. As he tied his horse in front of one of the stores, one of the men standing nearby said, 'Pat, it, looks like you have been foraging.' Pat, as he mounted the steps replied,'Yes, I have been over in Missouri jayhawking.' When asked what he meant by the expression he said that in the old country they had a bird that worried its prey before devouring it. He added that what he had been doing was jayhawking. This is the only known origin of the word." It was on May 18, 1859, that the Republican Party was organized in Kansas by Horace Greeley at the Osage Valley Hotel which stood on the southeast corner of Sixth and Main Streets. He addressed some 5,000 persons that assembled in and around the hotel for this occasion. Located at 628 Main Street. Exhibits include Black History Month in February, Women's History Month in March; April, Art; May, Alumni; June, John Brown; August, Founders Day; November, Veterans Day; December; Old Fashion Christmas. The church was built by Reverend Samuel L. Adair and his son Charles, of native stone hauled from the hills around the city. It was dedicated on July 14, 1861. Reverend Adair was many things to the community; a kind hearted abolitionist, a minister and a mental health pioneer. This land office building was built in 1854 and was used by the first mayor of Osawatomie, H. B. Smith, and his brother who were the first land patent agents in the territory. It was deeded to the city in 1954 by A. W. Youngberg as a memorial to his wife. Nowa Tourist Information Center open in the summer, it is operated by the Osawatomie Historic Society. Dedicated May 28, 1995, the Trail of Death plaque, a memorial to the Potawatomi Indians is on this site. The Creamery Bridge which spans the Marais des Cygnes River at Eight Street is one of two Marsh Arch triple span bridges located at Osawatomie. James B. Marsh patented design used rainbow arches that would expand and contract along with the bridge floor under varying conditions of moisture and temperature. This is one of only eight Marsh Arch triple span bridges remaining in Kansas. The Soldiers Monument was dedicated August 30, 1877, and was erected to honor the five men killed in the battle of Osawatomie, August 30, 1856. The monument was paid for by friends and relatives of those buried beneath it, and was planned and erected by "The Monument Association" which later disbanded and gave the ground and monument to the city. This twenty acre park was donated to the State of Kansas by the Womens Relief Corps to preserve the site of the battle of Osawatomie, August 30, 1856, when John Brown and his band of some forty men fought in what was to be one of the first battles of the Civil War. The park was dedicated August 30, 1910, by President Theodore Roosevelt at which time he gave his famous New Nationalism speech. A short distance north of the park entrance is a life size statue of John Brown. Also in the park is Adair Cabin State Historic Site and the John Brown Museum. The stone pergola houses the original log cabin used by John Brown in the Border Museum. Part of Main Building was already completed and occupied in 1869 when Dorothea Dix who was internationally known for her one-woman crusade to improve the care and treatment of the mentally ill, visited the hospital. The building, part of which has been razed and is no longer in use, was designed and built according to the "Kirk-bride Plan." |
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