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Museums at Whitewater, 119 South Main Street, Whitewater, KS (2026)

Name: Museums at Whitewater
Address: 119 South Main Street, Whitewater, KS, 67154, US
Telephone: +13165582896

The Whitewater Photo Museum is a collection of photos and artifacts from the City of Whitewater. Early street scenes, places of business, schools, churches, and houses are all represented from the early 1900s to the present. The 1911 City Jail is a poured concrete structure of three rooms. All of the iron work is original. The jail was restored in 2012 with period furnishings. The Museum of Walk-B

ehind Tractors shows a generous cross section of commercial tractors that were available from the 1920s through the early 1980s. These are the tractors which, literally, replaced the horse. Hear stories of the men who designed them, histories of the companies which built them, and reasons or causes which eventually terminated them. Listen to the sound of the engines, see how the tractor functions, and, perhaps, feel how the tractor operates. There is no fee for viewing these Museums. Hours are flexible. Appointments must be made in advance.

08/21/2026

The Whitewater Flour Mill and Prisoners of War

Some of this we already know but the fun part is toward the end so stay with me.

The Whitewater Flour Mill started out in 1899 with wooden building grain storage. Although labor intensive, that type of storage served well for many years. The first improvement to the milling operation was a poured concrete structure in 1932 for elevating and storing grain.

Wheat production in the Whitewater area continued to increase so that in 1944, the Mill was ready for another expansion to their grain storage. The first step in that phase was to raze an early building to make room for another set of concrete silos. Additional labor was needed for the demolition task.

By plan or coincidence, a manual labor pool was available just a few miles north in Peabody. Undoubtedly, due to the high percentage of German-speaking farm families in the surrounding area, Peabody was selected in 1943 to host a branch prisoner of war camp. German POWs were allowed to volunteer for various agricultural employment. The arrangement was a boon for the local agrarian community as well as the young German soldiers.

The Flour Mill also benefited from the foreign labor. The policy was that for every four POWs, an armed American guard would accompany them. Such a detail was sent to the Mill.

In the dismantling process, a pit under the building was uncovered. It was not just an empty pit but one well inhabited by rats. The POWs thought the best means of securing the pit was to shoot the rats. The only gun on scene was assigned to the guard. He took the challenge and began shooting at the rats. However, no rats were injured in that exercise.

One of the POWs stepped up and said he could shoot rats. The guard handed him the rifle and the POW successfully reduced the rat population. We are not told if he depleted the available supply of ammunition or totally immobilized the repugnant rodents. Regardless, once that event realized a degree of success, the POW returned the rifle to the guard and the demolition continued.

(A telling of this incident in the words of Wilbert Wiebe, a local farmer, can be found in the book: Prisoners Of War in Kansas 1943-1946, by Lowell A. May & Mark P. Schock, KS Publishing Inc., Manhattan, Kansas, 2007. Wilbert was 18 years of age at the time.)

07/22/2026

Whitewater Potpourri 2

In April of 2025, a collection of Whitewater Potpourri was posted on this site. The idea was to make mention of interesting historical data which, singularly, would not fill a page. This is the second edition of that concept.

Whitewater streets were all named when the town was first platted in the late 1880s. It was determined in 1957, for reasons unknown, to change the names of the streets. All of the names were changed except Main Street. Signs were not installed until 1961.

The Kenner Ice Company built the first refrigerated locker plant in Whitewater. The building and business were built in 1944. Clyde Stark purchased the operation in 1945. He sold to Blaine Bowlin in 1956. The business was passed to his son, Scott, in 1990 and then to Scott’s son, Grant, in 2022.

E.T Burns built the first grain elevator in 1892 near Main and Vine. For a few years, he used a tread mill (horse powered is presumed) to power the elevator. The tread mill was followed by the first stationary gasoline engine in town.

A balloon ascension was made as part of a Fourth of July celebration. The year is unknown but prior to 1935. Thomas Lankford, a plasterer by trade, lifted off from the east edge of Whitewater and descended by parachute into a pasture not far from his point of ascension.

Marion Kinney had a building wherein he manufactured brooms. The factory was located on the NW corner of the current Main and Vine streets – where new Kubota equipment is now displayed. The business was advertised in 1892 but the length of time of manufacturing is unknown.

Chet Smith moved the first business building into Whitewater in 1889. The building was moved from Annelly and rested on a foundation prepared for it on the SW corner of Main and Topeka – location of Cabin Pie Company. Mrs. Smith operated a carpet weaving business in a portion of the building in 1892.

06/20/2026

Blue Ridge Refining Company

Representatives of the Blue Ridge Refining Company came to Whitewater in February of 1921 offering stock in a proposed filling station. The estimated cost of the station was $15,000, half of which would be covered by Blue Ridge and half financed through local investment. The stock, at $250 per share, was soon sold.

Blue Ridge purchased four lots from Sam Waterfall on the NE corner of what is now Main & Central. The north two lots were empty and the Waterfall house stood on the south two lots. The Waterfalls relocated to a house on C Street (Elm). Robert Paulson purchased the north two lots and the house from Blue Ridge. The house was moved to the north lots, and Blue Ridge Refining began construction of a filling station building on the two south lots. The building showed considerable progress by the end of March.

Due to various delays in delivery and installation of equipment, the first gas was sold October 5, 1921. The agents operating the station were Walter Zuercher and Leonard Claassen. This was the first dedicated filling station in Whitewater. Previously, a few other businesses in town offered gas for sale as a sideline convenience.

On January 4, 1922, Blue Ridge Refining sold the filling station to Peter Zuercher, who was the principal stockholder. Walter Zuercher, Peter’s youngest son, and Leonard Claassen continued to operate the station, selling Derby products. Bert Karney was hired to manage the bulk fuel deliveries.

The Blue Ridge Refining Company facility was located at 39th Street and Lawrence Avenue, north of Wichita. (Lawrence Avenue was so named during the initial platting of Wichita in 1870. The road was renamed Broadway in 1933. It had already been designated as part of US Highway 81 in 1926.)

In the night of Tuesday, May 22, 1923, a tornado delivered a blow to the facility of Blue Ridge Refining Company. According to the newspaper account of The McPherson Daily Republican of May 23, “The greater part of the Blue Ridge refinery… was blown away. Four 500-barrel steel tanks were swept across the fields.” (One barrel of oil equals 42 gallons.) The total loss by Blue Ridge Refining was estimated at $25,000. Two days later, on May 25, it was reported that Tonkawa Refining Company, with interests in 21 counties in Oklahoma and Texas, had purchased Blue Ridge Refining.

Walter Zuercher purchased the Allis-Chalmers dealership in Whitewater in 1944, eventually building a new location in 1946 (the current Ravenscraft Implement site) for the sale of Allis-Chalmers farm equipment and Vickers gasoline.

Leonard Claassen moved to Newton where he became the “father” of Claassen Oil Company and Claassen Lumber Company.

05/21/2026

Kansas Highway 196

Kansas Highway 196 was recognized as a Kansas State Highway on March 29, 1937, and was established June 7, 1937, by resolution of the Highway Commission. The twenty-eight-and-a-half-mile road connected US 81, six miles south of Newton, with US 54/US 77 in El Dorado. In 1976, the west end of the road terminated one-half mile east of US 81 at Interstate 35W, later I135. In 1994, the east terminus was changed from downtown El Dorado to the junction of K196 and K254 west of El Dorado.

The early road was not hard-surfaced. It was generally considered to be an all-weather road with gravel or crushed limestone rock. The rock bed was covered with heavy oil to reduce water pe*******on and limit dust. This type of road surface could be maintained or graded as necessary and re-oiled as required.

Although there has been some speculation as to the original route, it actually varied little from the current roadway. The road across eastern Harvey County was exactly as we know it currently. One mile east of Whitewater, the old 196 continued straight east on what is now Butler County’s NW 90, past Re*****on High School, and to the large curve at Re*****on Road. Around the curve, it proceeded south one mile. Immediately north of the Missouri Pacific RR, the road turned east with another exaggerated curve, continuing past the Potwin Cemetery on the north edge of Potwin. Traffic could have turned south through Potwin or continued east to River Valley and then south. From the south edge of Potwin, the original road followed the curve of the Missouri Pacific tracks east and south to El Dorado, much as it does today.

An April 10, 1946, resolution re-routed the highway to stay south of the Missouri Pacific tracks beginning at a point one mile east of Whitewater (Butler Road) whereby the road angled southeast to eventually circumvent Potwin on the south side, meeting the original road at that point and continuing toward El Dorado.

The early K196 passed through Oil Hill and entered El Dorado from the north. A resolution on May 19, 1953, relocated the highway to the southwest so that it flowed into El Dorado from the west.

Bridges were built along the improved K196 route by the end of the 1940s decade and asphalt pavement was completed in 1950.

04/19/2026

The Page House
John Engle Page was born June 27, 1880, in Morgan County, Missouri. He moved to Whitewater, Kansas between 1900 and 1904. John married Letitia Smith in May of 1904. (Information of the local Smith family can be found in a Museums of Whitewater post from November 2025.) John and Letitia had six children, half of which lived to adulthood. The Page family lived in a large house on the southwest corner of C Street and Third, now Elm and Topeka. John operated a grocery store from 1906-1908. Letitia managed a rooming house in their residence. They moved to Missouri in 1910 but returned to Whitewater and their previous residence in January 1917. Letitia died one month later. John married Frances Root in January 1920 and continued operating the rooming house in Whitewater. John and Francis both died in 1960, he in April and she in June.

The only surviving daughter of John and Letitia, Mildred Page Walling, inherited 160 acres of Smith land, with farmstead, in 1932. This was a mile west of Whitewater along Highway 196, immediately northwest of the Whitewater Cemetery. In January 1963, the large house in Whitewater was moved to Mildred’s farm. The house was used primarily as storage for Mildred’s antiques and collections. Mildred was widowed in 1976. She died in 1999.

Forty acres, including the original farmstead, were sold in 1999. The large house was moved from the K196 address to a location 1/8 mile north of K196 on Harvest Hill Road, to the northeast corner of the forty acres. Remodeling was undertaken and a new homestead was established. The property was sold again a few years later. Continued improvements made it the comfortable and attractive homestead it is today.

Address

119 South Main Street
Whitewater, KS
67154

Telephone

+13165582896

Website

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