Previous KS Heritage Series Events

Previous Kansas Heritage Series Events

Each winter, the Wilson County Old Iron Club hosts a 3 event series focusing on a different aspect of Kansas history and heritage. The premier series was held in early 2013. These are the topics presented since the inception of the series.

Click the buttons below for more information about our most popular topics.

Dust Bowl

Orphan Train

Aldo Leopold

The 2022 KS Heritage Series:

January 30 – Land Ethics and Water Resources
In 1949 Aldo Leopold sparked the modern conservation movement with his treatise on “land ethics,” declaring that ethical individual cooperation should also consider soil, water, plants, and animals. But what role does culture play in determining the land ethics of place? This presentation explores different land ethics and how they impact our water resources through land management choices. Learn about agricultural practices in Kansas and how they compare with the indigenous land ethics of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, the Altai Republic of Siberian Russia, and Kikuyu people of central Kenya. Presented by Heidi Mehl.

Heidi is the manager for the Healthy Streams Initiative at the Nature Conservancy.

February 27 - Railroaded: The Industry That Shaped Kansas
In the 19th century, the influence of the railroad industry was vast. Some claim that Kansas was created specifically to accommodate westward expansion of railroads. Railroads brought immigrant settlers, created jobs, and fed beef markets in the East. They enabled regular mail service and the adoption of standard time. Most Kansas towns were founded because of the railroad, and few survived without it. This progress came at a cost to the Plains Indians who were forcibly displaced by this westward expansion. This presentation examines the complicated legacy of railroads. Presented by Leo Oliva.

Leo is a historian with a research focus on 19th-century Kansas

March 20 – Kansas’ Local Architecture: History, Place, and Identity
When the Ness City Bank was built in 1890, it was called the Skyscraper of the Plains because it was the tallest building between Topeka and Denver. Still a remarkable structure today, it reflects the optimism of the time when citizens looked forward to a bright future and a growing city. Corner banks as well as opera houses, gas stations, courthouses, and other forms of public and commercial architecture are found in rural towns across Kansas. While some structures have changed, many remain vital. Collectively these buildings contribute to past and present identity. Individually, they reflect continuity, resilience, and place. In this presentation, discover stories of Kansas’ everyday built environment and consider what happens to these structures over time. Presented by Liz Kowalchuk.

Liz Kowalchuk is an Associate Professor of Museum Studies Program and the Visual Art Department at the University of Kansas.

2021 KS Heritage Series Cancelled due to COVID 19

The 2020 Kansas Heritage Series:
January 26 – “Ruralpreneurs: Tumbleweeds and Talents in Kansas Communities”

Presented by Ron Wilson. Ron produces a weekly radio program and news column about rural Kansas.
How can businesses succeed in small town Kansas? The answers can be found in what we have termed “ruralpreneurs” – innovative entrepreneurs who have built successful enterprises in small town Kansas, and strengthened their communities as a result. This presentation highlights real-world examples of Kansas entrepreneurs who have built businesses and created jobs and opportunities in a rural setting. These include innovative businesses in Marysville, Garden City, Downs, Neodesha, and more. The presentation also honors the emerging role of diversity, technology, and telecommunications that have brought about so many changes in society. It also reflects the importance of a spirit of service and community. This fascinating, inspiring, fun, and informative presentation highlights rural Kansans and builds pride in our state.

February 23 – “Kansas Legends and Folktales”

Presented by Jim Hoy. Jim is a folklorist who works with the

Center for Great Plains Studies at Emporia State University.
Grasshoppers so big that cowboys can ride them to herd cattle. Summers so hot that corn pops in the field. Rancher Henry Mudge wrecking pianos, shooting sheep, and fooling European dignitaries. Kansas is a place of big skies and tall tales, but these exaggerated narratives help us understand the character of our state and its people.

March 22 – “If These Walls Could Talk: Kansas Murals” - Cancelled due to COVID

Presented by Dave Lowenstein. Dave is an artist and co-author of Kansas Murals: A Traveler’s Guid
Explore the artists, meaning, and stories behind the state’s rich collection of public murals. From the iconic John Stuart Curry murals in the Kansas Statehouse to the post office murals of the New Deal and the many murals done by townspeople across the state, these works tell us much about the people involved. Led by muralist Dave Loewenstein, this presentation explores history through a new lens and examines the organizational and technical efforts that go into capturing a community’s story in public art.

The 2019 Kansas Heritage Series:
Jan. 27, 2019 - "World War I and Wilson County - We Remember" - Jeff Fehr
Jeff is a social studies teacher at Neodesha Middle School/High School. He and his students have been particularly focused on projects and research related to World War I and local veterans. Jeff’s grandfather, Herman August Fehr, served in the 117th Ammunition Train as a member of the 42nd Rainbow Division.

Feb. 24, 2019 - Foam on the Range - Isaias McCaffery
Kansas was on the forefront of the temperance movement, eventually becoming the first state to prohibit alcohol consumption. This enforced abstinence clashed considerably with many German, Czech, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Croatian, Greek, and Jewish immigrants who had settled in across the state. Indeed, anti-foreign prejudice helped drive support for prohibition in some areas. In response, ethnic communities frequently violated prohibition laws in an effort to preserve an important expression of cultural identity. Although Kansas breweries and vineyards were forced into neglect, immigrant communities improvised and persevered.
Presented by Isaias McCaffery. Isaias is a historian and the chair of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Independence Community College.

March 24, 2019 – “The Cherokee Trail in Kansas" - Brian D. Stucky
The Cherokee Trail is a well-documented but little-known 1849 Gold Rush Trail. It began in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma, entered Kansas in Montgomery County, west of Coffeyville, passed within a mile of the “Little House on the Prairie”, into Chautauqua County within 25 miles of Fredonia, through Moline, just south of El Dorado, and joined the Santa Fe Trail near Galva. It led to Colorado and Wyoming where it joined the Oregon-California Trails, and ended in California. Brian Stucky will discuss the history and still visible parts of the trail, and efforts to mark and preserve it.

Brian D. Stucky has studied and mapped pioneer trails in South Central Kansas since 2000, including the Santa Fe, Chisholm, Kaw Trail, Osage Trail and many others. Working under the name THE TRAILFINDER, he specializes in pinpointing historic wagon trails, outlines of buildings, unmarked graves, Indian trails and campsites, or other long-lost traces of civilization. In 2012 he was invited to be a presenter at the national convention of the Oregon-California Trails Association. Brian is President of the “Friends of the Cherokee Trail—Kansas.” He has many interests, and authored the book, “Hallowed Hardwood”, the Vintage Basketball Gyms of Kansas.

The 2018 Kansas Heritage Series:
Jan. 28 – “Water in Kansas: Past & Present” - Rex Buchanan
Early evidence of Native peoples in Kansas shows that they lived near springs, seeps, and rivers. Later, European settlers moved along water sources, and eventually cities were established in areas with plentiful water supplies. Even today, demographic changes in Kansas are the result of water. Recently the state government developed a 50-year water planning vision, identifying two major issues: reservoir sedimentation and the rapid drawdown of Ogallala portion of the High Plains Aquifer in western Kansas. This presentation highlighted how water issues today define much about Kansans in the future, just as it always has.
--Presented by Rex Buchanan. rex@kgs.ku.edu Rex is the interim director of the Kansas Geological Survey and the author of books about Kansas geology and water.

Feb. 25 – “The Challenges and Joys of Prairie Living” – Jane Koger
Jane Koger, from Bazaar KS, is the owner of the Homestead Ranch in Chase County, a 4,000-acre privately owned ranch. She has turned her love of the Flint Hills into a lifelong dedication to preserving the Flint Hills’ pristine ecosystem. For more information about prairie living, check out her video, “Living Off the Grid, In Sync With Nature”. https://vimeo.com/133103528
--Presented by Jane Koger. Jane was born into a ranching family in Emporia, KS. Raised in Cottonwood Falls, she is a fourth generation rancher in Chase County.

Mar. 11 – “Water: Why Is It So Difficult to Conserve?” – Matt Sanderson
Water is the most precious natural resource, sustaining all life on Earth. Despite its value, freshwater consumption is not sustainable in many areas around the world, including Kansas. Why is it so difficult to conserve this vital resource? This presentation looked at the role of culture – our values norms, and beliefs – and consider their impact on “the water problem” and how they can help solve this issue.
--Presented by Matthew Sanderson. mattrs@ksu.edu Matthew is an associate professor of sociology atKansas State University.

The 2017 Kansas Heritage Series:

Feb. 19 – “Farming Then and Now: Changes and Constants”.
This farmer's forum provided opportunities to learn more about the agricultural heritage in our area, hear just how good the "good old days" REALLY were, and discuss the future of the agricultural way of life. It was not to be missed!
--Moderated by Mike Myers

Mar. 12 - "Angels of the Kansas Coalfields”
When coal was discovered in Southeast Kansas in the late 1860s, thousands came from all over the world to work the mines. The mix of nationalities created an ethnic geography unique to Kansas that came to be known as the Little Balkans. Miners faced hazardous working conditions, poor pay, and discrimination. In 1921, thousands of women marched on the coal mines in support of striking miners. The New York Times dubbed them the “Amazon Army”. This spirited act linked men and women together in one of the most dynamic pages in the history of American labor. Presented by Linda O’Nelio Knoll.
--Linda is an educator, author, and historian who researches the local history of southeast Kansas.

The 2016 Kansas Heritage Series:

Jan. 31 - Jim Gray, ‘Head ‘Em Up, Move ‘Em Out” The early days of ranching and trail driving required stamina and determination. The drover of yesteryear had little choice but to face the elements placed before him if he was to get his wild cattle to market. A thousand miles on the trail brought him into contact with all that nature could throw at him: lightning, flooded rivers, hail, tornadoes, and stampeding cattle were constant challenges. Today’s massive beef industry owes its beginnings to the mend and women who were bold enough to “head ‘em up and move ‘em out.”
--Jim is an author, speaker, promoter of cowboy heritage in Kansas, and executive director of the National Drover’s Hall of Fame.

March 6 - John Bayles - local history

April 3 - Conservation District Program - Toronto and Fall River Dam Basins

Fall River Dam

The 2015 Kansas Heritage Series:

Feb. 8 - Jeff Davidson, singer, songwriter, poet, and historian, sharing “Western Music that Celebrates Western History”. Combining a unique blend of songs, historical facts, and pictures, Jeff revisited the history of the west and its tremendous influence on the shaping of the U.S. economy, ideology and heroism.

March 8 - Reunion of Maple Grove School students. This rural school, established in 1871, was one of many in Wilson County. Historical information about Kansas, Wilson County, and early rural schools was also presented. The Maple Grove Rural School C-7 closed in 1969 due to school consolidation.

April 19 - “Green Fire” - an award-winning documentary film about Aldo Leopold, legendary conservationist.

The stage screen from the Maple Grove school is currently on display in the Town Hall at the Rollin 'Red' Vandever Memorial Park

Two structures that Maple Grove students attended

The 2014 Kansas Heritage Series:

Jan. 26 – “Orphan Trains in Kansas” Amanda Wahlmeier, from the National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia

March 9 – “Kansas Women, Work, and the Civil War” - Diane Eickhoff
“During the Civil War, employment opportunities for women opened up, from nursing (which had been an all-male profession until then) to army laundresses to spies. Women assumed clerical positions in the U.S. government; turned their homes into cottage factories to make blankets, bandages, and uniforms; and even disguised themselves as men in order to serve as combat soldiers on the battlefield.”

April 6 – “The Work Culture of Food in Early Kansas” - MJ Morgan
“Looking at Flint Hills communities founded before 1900, this talk explores early food production, preservation, and preparation and how those are closely linked to both culture and labor. Assumed familial roles in food preparation, the evolution of food culture when Old World practices were adapted to a new environment, and the way that labor practices required for food culture left traces behind in the land itself will be discussed. Surviving ice houses, spring houses, common pastures, community slaughterhouses, and whole-community canning events illustrate the rich food culture of early Kansas.”

Orphan Train Riders

The 2013 Kansas Heritage Series:

Jan. 27 - A Kansas Day Celebration

March 3 - “19th-Century Rural Kansas Women at Work” by Dr. Isaias McCaffery of Independence Community College

April 14 - “The Dust Bowl: Can It Happen Again?”, featuring an excerpt of “The Dust Bowl: the Greatest Man-Made Eco Disaster in U.S. History, as told by Ken Burns” and held on the anniversary of the infamous Black Sunday Blizzard of April 14, 1935.

The Dust Bowl