The Baldwin City Railway Station - also known as the Santa Fe Depot - was constructed in 1907 at the west edge of town. It was designed by the Office of the Architect of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. Passenger service to the station was discontinued in the mid-1950s, and the men's waiting room was converted into additional freight storage space. Freight service ended in the 1960s. The City of Baldwin City bought the largely-intact depot building in 1977 and completed some rehabilitation while retaining much of its historical design. The one-story buff brick building features limestone detailing and a hipped roof. The Baldwin City Railway Station was listed in the Kansas Register in 1982 and in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.
Case Library is a native limestone structure built from 1904 to 1907 near the southwestern corner of the Baker University campus, facing Eighth Street. The building was designed by a professional architect from Vincennes, Indiana; the plans were altered by a Baker professor before construction. The two-story, semi-rectangular neoclassical building's hipped roof is hidden by a parapet wall. The building's central three-bay pedimented pavilion projects from the nine-bay main façade. Lighter-colored limestone is used for the water course, belt courses, the pavilion's base, and part of the entablature. While the outside of the building retains a high degree of architectural integrity, the interior basement and two floors have had many alterations, including a major renovation in 1969.
This gymnasium and auditorium was an addition to the Baldwin City School funded by a 1942 Works Progress Administration project designed to provide employment during the Great Depression. The school itself was constructed in 1922 and the new gymnasium and auditorium cost $72,000 to build and features the Streamlined/ Art Moderne style of architecture. Minor changes were made in the late 1980s. The main entrance faces south toward Chapel Street and the north edge of the Baker University campus. The Old Baldwin School Gymnasium and Auditorium was listed in the National Register in 2015 as part of the multiple property nominations of Historic Public Schools of Kansas and New-Deal era Resources of Kansas, along with the associated neighboring former high school building which is now home to the Schoolhouse Lofts apartments.
Parmenter Hall's distinctive tower above its mansard roof makes this Baker University building easy to spot from Dearborn Street, tucked behind a modern campus building. Also known as Parmenter Memorial Hall, the building was constructed from 1865 to 1871. The building's claim to fame is that President Abraham Lincoln donated $100 toward its construction; this is supposedly the only such donation Lincoln made. On display on the second floor is the Baldwin State Bank ledger from President Lincoln's donation toward the construction of the building. Parmenter Hall was listed in the National Register in 1977. The second floor is now the campus art gallery.
Old Castle Hall became the first building on the campus of Baker University in 1858. Old Castle was used for classes until 1871 and later served as a mill and then a dormitory. The building was restored in the 1950s, added to the National Register in 1971, and today serves as a museum. The museum interprets the history of Baker University and the surrounding town and vicinity. Next to the building is a replica of a log cabin, the Kibbee Cabin. It represents the meeting of Methodist ministers where founding of the college was discussed; the meeting was in what was called then the town of Palmyra (later renamed Baldwin City). On the opposite side of Old Castle Hall stands the former general store and post office building of Palmyra. The wood frame building was moved here in the 1970s to preserve it. Blood's Grocery served as a stop on the Santa Fe Trail in the mid-nineteenth century.
Baldwin City's Palmyra Masonic Lodge building is one of the most distinctive structures on High Street and was the second building constructed for the fraternal organization. Chartered in 1859, the Masons of Baldwin City originally met in the Castle Hall building at Baker University in their early years. After a wood-frame structure built for the lodge in the late 1860s was destroyed in an 1891 fire, this structure was completed in 1894. The first floor was designed to hold commercial and retail space while the second floor served as the lodge's headquarters. The building was modified to industrial uses in the 1940s. It now holds an insurance agency and a cooperative education agency. The second floor held the lodge hall (south end) and dining room (north end) and was later used for meetings of the American Legion who owned the building from 1919 to the mid-1940s. The second story now contains Palmyra Lofts after the building's 2014 renovation converted the building to apartments.
Black Jack Battlefield, 3 miles east of Baldwin City, is the location of the first armed battle in the United States between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions. The June 2nd, 1856 battle along Captain Creek was the first in a series of armed conflicts that were part of "Bleeding Kansas" and hinted of the upcoming conflict that would tear apart the nation. The park is composed of four parcels under different management. Features that were relevant to the battle are preserved, including creeks, topographic features and unbroken prairie. Black Jack Battlefield was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 as about 20 acres; a boundary increase was approved in 2005 which added 39 acres. The battlefield became a National Historic Landmark in 2012. The battlefield is significant for its association with events in the history of Kansas and the nation and for its association with John Brown, a previously-unknown person who would become a key figure in the abolitionist movement.
This Tour is a Driving or Biking Tour.
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Begin at the town's early 20th-century railroad depot and drive by historical buildings at or near Baker University before heading to the Black Jack Battlefield and Nature Park east of town.
