During the last week I have given a few presentations on the genealogical value of the National Register of Historic Places. Each time I start this conversation with people they
National Register of Historic Places Highlight This post is the second in a series on Garden City, Kansas, highlighting the genealogical riches that can be found in the National Register
Two men Designed and Built Downtown Garden City Then Faded Away Read More »
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) can be a goldmine of family information What is it? The National Register of Historic Places was authorized by the National Historic Preservation
This is the first of a three-part series on a 157 year-old home in Manhattan, Kansas. It was owned by two pioneering families with deep roots in Riley County. The
Stories These Stones Could Tell: The Alten Peak House Read More »
In the 1950s a woman named Marguerite Mollohan (1902-1980) owned, rented and managed several buildings in Wichita, Kansas. She asked two college students she knew if they would like to open a restaurant, explaining that an article she had seen about pizzarias and they agreed. Dan and Frank Carney borrowed $600 from their mother and opened the first Pizza Hut, so named because the words fit on the existing sign.
The Woman Whose Suggestion Led 2 College Students to Found Pizza Hut Read More »
During the previous decade one of the fasted growing industries in the United States has been craft beer. Many of the new brands have purchased rights to old names and recipes from breweries across the United States that were forced out of business when the Volstead Act and the 18th Amendment to the Constitution came into effect in January 1920. The temperance movement had won but the unforeseen consequences of prohibition included the rise of organized crime, underground movements such as speakeasies, moonshine and bootlegging, all of which led to rapid changes in cultural norms.
2019 was a great year for me. It seemed fast and furious with sixteen preservation projects including cemeteries, downtown districts, schools, apartments, banks and business houses. I get excited when I see the history of a place come alive and it helps me to imagine what life was like on this street, in this building or even this cemetery in an era often vastly different from my own.
Speaking & Events Whether I’m presenting to a society of twenty or a conference of thousands, I bring the same thing to every room: deep research, real stories, and a
As we experience the 75th anniversary of the day the Allied Forces invaded Europe it is worth noting why the day was so vital then and now. The sacrifices of the men that day were monumental. According to the U.S. Army, more than 160,000 men crossed the English Channel to five beaches in Normandy, France marking the greatest sea-borne invasion in history.[1] Nine thousand Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded. Over 100,000 of their brave comrades made it off those beaches and on to defeat Nazi Germany.
Hastings Brewery Building, Hastings, NE The Hastings Brewery Building at 219 W. 2nd Street in Hastings, Nebraska was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places on March 26, 2015.