Chivalry for Children

Yesterday’s excursion was a bit of a Father’s Day road trip for Allen. When asked what he wanted for his Father’s Day treat, Allen immediately responded with an enthusiastic “Beck’s Farm peaches!” Since his favorite purveyor of farm ripened peaches no longer has a shop in Wichita, we packed some drinks in our trusty cooler, filled the car with gas, and headed off to their farm on the other side of Newton.

After finishing our business at the produce stand (peaches, plums and cherries oh my!) we decided to explore the towns along KS Route 4. Heading west, our first stop was the charming little burg of Marquette, Kansas. Now home of the “Kansas Motorcycle Museum” the downtown area of Marquette has been renovated and also boasts an art gallery a “down home” little bistro and a nice historical museum complex. After leaving some IOOF materials with the very helpful museum volunteer, we headed off down the street to take pictures of the Odd Fellows lodge and the Masonic building. Frankly, without the help of the museum staff, identification of these lodges would have been impossible as the exteriors of both buildings bore no markings to indicate their fraternal pasts. With an invitation to view the interior of the buildings on a future return trip, we thanked the museum volunteer and took our leave.

Our next stop on this trip was the sleepy little town of Claflin, KS. Home of Jackie Stiles, the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division I women's college basketball, Clafin is now the home-base of Miller’s of Claflin, a furniture company whose contribution to the historic downtown features turn-of-the-century façades to their complex of stores and show rooms. Amid the old-tyme theatres, hotels, banks and livery stables, it was easy to recognize Clafin’s Masonic lodge as it was easily the most “modern” building in the area.

After Claflin we once again turned west and headed to the town of Hoisington, KS. Originally named “Buena Vista”, the town of Hoisington gained national attention in 2001 when an F4 tornado tore through the center of town. Knowing about the tornado, Allen and I weren’t sure we would find any of the fraternal buildings left in the downtown area; but ever hopeful we decided to visit anyway. You can imagine our delight when we found that the city’s Odd Fellows lodge was still standing! Now tenanted on the first floor by a florist a beautiful IOOF stained glass window proudly displayed in a second-story bore testimony to the building’s original purpose.

As the hour grew late, we turned our car toward the direction of home. Deciding to make one last stop, our last visit was to the town of Ellsworth, KS. Sometimes described as “The Wickedest Cattletown in Kansas,” Ellsworth was once the home of several elaborate fraternal lodge buildings. Unfortunately, due to the lateness of the hour we were only able to make one sweep of the downtown area. Luckily for us, however, the beautiful mosaic IOOF emblem on the front of the building made the old Odd Fellows lodge quite easy to identify. After snapping several pictures of the unusual façade for our album, we stepped inside the renovated building for a look. Other than the traces of a lift on the stairway (and a rather distinctive hole in the outer hallway door) not much remains of the original lodge interior. But even so, it was good to see such a lovely old building still in use, even if it’s fraternal past is now obscured by it’s current use as an apartment complex…

To Be Continued…

Well, we had some adventures this weekend. (Author - A.L. Leddon)

We learned last week that an old and dear friend, Dwain Gleason of Liberty, MO had passed away at the age of 38. The funeral was scheduled for 1:00 PM Friday. Because of work conflicts we were unable to get away until around noon, which means, of course that we were unable to attend the funeral, but the widow had requested our presence at the after-gathering, so we went on up Friday afternoon. We had hoped to return Friday night, but our friend asked us to stick around Saturday morning to help pick-up some items from the gravesite, which also gave us a chance to pay our respects. As a result, we weren?t able to leave until afternoon on Saturday. This meant that Christine had been forced to cancel her plans to help the Rebekah Lodge in Derby with their garage sale. I hope that they will understand and forgive us.

Since we were in Liberty, we took that opportunity to visit the site of the old Odd fellows home there. We had heard about what a lovely old building it was and wanted to get some pictures. The site was posted ?No Trespassing? but there was a car in the drive, so we took the chance that it would be the owner of the site and walked up to ask permission to take photos. It turned out to be, in fact, the owner, Dr. John Bean of Liberty, who was kind enough to allow us to complete our task, and to fill us in on his plans for the grand old edifice. Dr. Bean is renovating the building and has already made good progress, replacing the windows and some of the brick and stone work, and was meeting the contractor to replace the roof. He is planning on turning it into a vineyard and winery, and already has planted some muscat and chardanelle and other varieties of grapes on the property. The main building, built in 1900, will have a tasting room and gift shop, three different dining rooms, a kitchen and meeting facilities, as well as a chapel and other amenities so the Winery can serve as a special events venue for Liberty and the Kansas City area.

Dr. Bean deserves our thanks and praise for his efforts to preserve, restore and maintain this glorious remnant of our Fraternal Past. In speaking with the good Doctor, he also mentioned the I.O.O.F. lodge on the square in Liberty, and since we were so close we decided to check it out.

The downtown square is worth checking out. I would guess that fully two-thirds of the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places, including the neat, deco style Odd fellows hall, built in 1923. It is a unique and beautiful example of art deco and well deserving of preservation. We got sucked into the Clay County Historical Museum, also on the square, where some very kind and informative ladies told us about the history of the Odd Fellows and Masons in Liberty.

Finally, we got on our way home, but one more adventure awaited.

As we cruised down I-35 toward Wichita, we passed the sign for the ?Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop? in Olathe, KS. We had passed that sign in-numerable times in the past, this time we glanced and each other and decided to see what it was.

What it is, is a very well preserved and superbly presented two-story farmhouse and the associated outbuildings, of the James "Beattie" Mahaffie family. The Mahaffie family was one of the early pioneer families to settle in the Olathe area. The Mahaffies were industrious and hard-working and the farm prospered, and as it sat on the Santa Fe Trail, the Oregon and California Trails, it was a natural site for an inn, and later a stagecoach stop. Today it remains as the only remaining coach stop on the Santa Fe Trail. The Mahaffie Stagecoach stop is one of the best small living history museums I have seen, and is well worth a stop, if you have the chance. In touring the site we found a portrait of James Mahaffie, the founder of the clan, and Christine noticed that he was wearing what appears to be an Odd Fellows Service pin (She has good eyes and seemed to be rolling 20s on her spot checks all day). Mr Mahaffie's involvment in the Odd Fellows is mentioned a couple of times in the museum displays. We thought that was pretty cool, and Chris shocked the staff by letting out a whoop! of excitement when it was mentioned in the video. The re-enactors were knowledgeable, friendly and helpful, and one of them was even an acquaintance from the SCA and Renfair.

All-in-all, our adventures did make us late for dinner, but I hope our friends will understand.

Today was a typical mid-Winter day in Kansas. With the thermometer hovering near freezing, the diffused light leaking through the leaden skies may have been great for photos, but the chill temperatures made made holding the camera steady more than a bit of a challenge.

In this trip we made a return visit to a town we had inventoried before: Winfield, Kansas. Home of the celebrated Walnut Valley Music Festival, the city's downtown area is a meticulously maintained slice of Americana. At night, the city's elaborate bank buildings and quaint two-story structures go dark, providing an impressive backdrop for the glowing splendor representated by the stained glass windows of the community's main-street Masonic lodge.

Our task today, however, was more elusive quarry: the Winfield IOOF lodge. A serendipidous find in an online photo gallery bore reference to a 1900's era IOOF lodge near the corner of 9th and Main. After committing the details of the photo to memory, we were confident that *if* the lodge still existed we would be ale to recognize it from the surrounding buildings. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the loctation specified in the photo it was obvious thnnat the lodge was gone. Disappointed but undaunted we decided that a visit to the local museum might be warranted. But even as our decision was made, it turned out to be superfulous. As we turned the corner from Main to 9th our astonished gaze fell on a spartan and spare brick building with the letters I.O.O.F. spelled out in contrasting color bricks near the roofline. Now the home of a martial arts studio and hair salon, building appeared fairly well tended despite some problems with a couple of windows near the staircase enterance. Shivering in the gathering dusk, we took pictures of the facade, and then scurried around to the side to take pictures of the cornerstone on the adjoining alley.

Despite being thoroughly chilled, however, we decided delay our return to Wichita with a short visit to the Cowley County Historical Museum, Although the curators there were not able to provide much information about the various IOOF lodges in the area; a perusal of their photo archives revealed the location of yet a third Odd Fellows lodge; a building we photographed on our way out of town.

Introducing the new Chivalry for Children Coat of Arms.   Our profound thanks(once again) to Gordon Napier for lending his superb artistic talents to the cause....