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 of Historic Places. The J.H. Stevens-C.L. Thompson Block Historic District was listed in the NRHP on June 17, 2024.[1] The historic significance of the district was researched and written by the author.
The J.H. Stevens/C.L. Thompson Block Historic District is an excellent representation of the work of Garden City architects J.H. Stevens, C.L. Thompson and Howard Blanchard. Blanchard designed the modern J.C. Penney Building at 409 N. Main in 1954. Stevens and Thompson designed the Carter Bros. Building at 401 N. Main and the J.A. Stevens Building/Masonic Hall at 407 N. Main in 1885-1886.
Stevens and Thompson were in business in Garden City at least from the spring of 1885 through late 1887 and designed four buildings on the west side of the 400 block of N. Main during that time. They designed and built the Carter Bros. Building at 401 completed in 1885 and the J.A. Stevens Block and Masonic Hall at 405-407 in 1886.[2] They also designed the former Stevens Opera House at 409 in 1886 and the Windsor Hotel at 413 in 1888. Advertisements promoted them as “architects, contractors and builders” specializing in stone buildings. While there were multiple building contractors in Garden City during the 1880s boom years, the team of J.H. Stevens and C.L Thompson was one of only a handful of architects in Garden City.[3]
Some of the buildings they designed they also constructed but given the volume of activity, some construction was completed by others. For the Buffalo Hotel and the Carter Bros. Building, Stevens and Thompson used limestone quarried from Kendall, in Hamilton County, Kansas. This type of stone had less chalk, appearing whiter than Flint Hills limestone, and was often called marble.[4] The stone was quarried, cut into large pieces, and hauled to Garden City on flat rail cars for refinement.[5] They also used locally made bricks in their construction. A local newspaper reported the firm had purchased 112,000 bricks from the Garden City firm Kelsh and Wylie for spring projects in 1886 alone.[6]
J.H. Stevens was born in Centerville, IN, October 21, 1845.[7] He was educated at Earlham College in Richmond, IN and enlisted in the army in August 1861, serving three years.[8] An early newspaper biography reported that Stevens met Thompson in Topeka and together moved to Garden City.[9] The first mention of the new firm in Garden City was in May 1885 when they were soliciting bids for the construction of the Carter Brothers store, a building they had developed plans and specifications for.[10] Given the commonality of his name, Stevens’ movements following the bust years of the 1890s is unclear. In October 1887, Stevens had a visit from his wife who had remained in Indiana, so it is possible that he returned to his home state, but no evidence was found to determine whether he remained in the building trade.
Charles L. Thompson (1842-1927) was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts in 1842 and was educated there. He joined the Navy at age twenty, serving three years of the Civil War.[11] In 1871, he opened a furniture store in Cawker, Kansas where he may have learned stone masonry. In the 1880 federal census Thompson lists his occupation as stone mason.[12] In 1889 Stevens and Thompson were awarded a contract for a building in Salt Lake City. Thompson went to oversee the project and stayed.[13] Afterwards he moved to Seattle where he died in 1927.
A December 1886 article in the Garden City Daily Herald called Stevens and Thompson “principal contractors in this city”[14] The firm reportedly constructed twelve residences valued at $50,000 in addition to their public and business commissions, in 1886 alone.[15] Known residences by Stevens and Thompson include: the Gibson Brothers, Dr. Cole and a large stone home for ATSF land agent I.R. Holmes.[16] Other known buildings by Stevens and Thompson include the following structures. Those listed in the National Register are noted with the date.[17]
| Year | Name | Year Listed in NRHP |
| 1885 | Carter Bros. Building | 2024 |
| Jones Block and the Buffalo Hotel | 2008 | |
| J.P. Cloverdale Block | ||
| First stone school house | ||
| Jos. Southard stone building on Main | ||
| 1886 | Stevens’ Block & Masonic Hall | 2024 |
| Stevens Opera House | 2024 | |
| 1887 | Voorhees Hotel-Stevens County, KS | |
| South-side School | ||
| Arthur H. Burtis Building | ||
| 1888 | Windsor Hotel | 1972 |
Stevens and Thompson were land developers as well as architects, platting two additions to the city. The preponderance of mentions of the pair through the final decade of the 1800s are real estate foreclosures. No evidence was discovered that either man trained as an architect, rather they learned stone masonry and design on their own accord. Records show both worked in other professions before moving to Garden City. The pair were prolific during their short three-year tenure in the early days of the city. Their design aesthetic and stone masonry are remarkable and their indelible mark on the town has remained through the ages.
Stevens and Thompson’s story is one of many that the National Register of Historic Places has to tell. You might not think your ancestor had any reason to be linked to the NRHP, but given that Stevens and Thompson spent such a short time in Garden City, their descendants may be missing out on the rich resource and quiet, but enduring legacy the two men left to a Kansas town.
[1] The nomination to the National Register of Historic Places can be found at https://khri.kansasgis.org/.
[2] Garden City Irrigator. 2 July 1885, 5 and 2 Jan 1886, 3.
[3] Architect G.D. McDonnell was the first advertisement found in 1879 (Garden City Paper, 24 Jul 1879), followed by Lewis & Wood, builders and architects in 1885 (Garden City Sentinel. 8 Jul 1885) and Hillyor & Green (Daily Sentinel, 18 Jul 1886, 3).
[4] Christy Davis. Buffalo Hotel, 8-8.
[5] Carol Hagen. Preservation and Planning Project: An Inventory of Historic Properties in Garden City, Finney County, Kansas. Garden City, 1995. 7, as quoted in Christy Davis, Buffalo Hotel, 8-8.
[6] The Daily Sentinel. 4 Apr 1886, 4.
[7] Most mentions of the architect and builder are to “J.H.” There is conflicting evidence to whether his first name was John or James. No confirmed records were found in Indiana.
[8] Garden City Irrigator. 2 Jan 1886, 3.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Garden City Sentinel. 13 May 1885, 3.
[11] Garden City Irrigator. 2 Jan 1886, 3.
[12] “C.L. Thompson.” U.S. Federal Census, 1880; Cawker, Mitchell, Kansas; ED 180, Roll: 389, 66B. Accessed at Ancestry.com. 1880 United States Federal Census. Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.
[13] “Charles L. Thompson.” Special Schedules of the Eleventh Census (1890) Enumerating Union Veterans and Widows of Union Veterans of the Civil War. The National Archives. Washington, D.C. Series M123; Record Group 15. Accessed online at Ancestry.com. 1890 Veterans Schedules of the U.S. Federal Census. Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.
[14] Garden City Daily Herald. 6 Dec 1886, 1.
[15] Garden City Daily Sentinel. 20 Feb 1887, 1.
[16] Garden City Daily Sentinel. 7 Oct 1885, 7.
[17] Garden City Daily Sentinel. 13 May 1885, 3; 16 Sep 1885, 6; 28 Oct 1885, 6; 27 Aug 1886, 4; 20 Feb 1887, 1; 22, 24, & 27 May 1887, 4; Garden City Irrigator. 2 Jan 1886, 3; and Garden City Daily Herald. 20 Jun 1887, 4.