Constructed between 1869 and 1880, Olathe's Martin Van Buren Parker House is a two and a half-story wood frame Victorian stick style mansion. The home was restored in 1981 and still features the original iron cresting on the rooftop. However, the original window shutters were too rotted to be reused and were not replaced. Other missing or rotted wooden elements were replaced with items milled using the original for reference. The mansion was listed in the Register of Historic Kansas Places and the National Register of Historic Places in 1988 for its significance in architecture and commerce.
The house at 562 W. Park Street was built in 1901 for Franklin R. Lanter, a local businessman who dealt in lumber and coal. The architect was George P. Washburn of Ottawa, Kansas. The late Victorian, two-story frame house is transitional Queen Anne/ Free Classic style. Lanter, who served as mayor and postmaster of Olathe, lived here until the 1910s. At one point the house was divided into apartments. While the Lanter House was listed in the Register of Kansas Historical Places in 1985, it was not added to the National Register until 2007. The beautifully restored home is a private, single-family residence once again and was nominated by its owners in 2007 for its architectural significance.
The Isaac O. Pickering House has overlooked West Park Street since the 1880s and took ten years to build. The Italianate style home has Queen Anne and Second Empire architectural elements including its tower above the main entrance and Eastlake decorated front porch. Pickering was a Civil war veteran and prominent local lawyer and politician who lived in the house until his death in 1923. His descendants owned the home - called "Old Liberty Hall" - until 1960. The wood frame house was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The house was gutted and neglected and came close to being condemned before a new owner in 2011 began restoring the building. He finished restoring the exterior in 2015 and turned his attention to the interior.
This bronze sculpture is dedicated to all of the children whose lives were lost due to the harsh conditions on the overland journeys westward. A pioneer boy, a girl and their dog run through an arch. It was sculpted by Kansas City artist Kwan Wu. Rocks in the fountain beneath them represent the streams that children crossed on the overland trail. Sculptor Kwan Wu was born and trained in China, but since immigrating to the United States and settling in the Kansas City area he has sculpted two major works depicting the western trails for Olathe, Kansas.
The Museum of Deaf History, Arts, and Culture is the only public museum in the US dedicated to the experience of being Deaf and telling the story of Deaf history. It began as a small collection of William J. Marra, a teacher at the Kansas School for the Deaf. The collection was first housed in the basement of a hall at the school, and eventually grew large enough to move into its own facility across the street. The William J. Marra Museum was located inside the Deaf Culture Center, which opened in 2005. The building has since been renamed the Museum of Deaf History, Arts, and Culture.
The Albert Ott House, at 401 S. Harrison Street, is a Victorian home built in 1894 in what later became the Millbrooke neighborhood. The house was built on a large tract of land that contained his father's mill business and his father's home. The Queen Anne style house is wood frame construction on a limestone foundation. Albert Ott and his bride had the house built and were still living in it in the 1940s. Albert and his brother, Charles owned a dry goods store in Olathe and helped run the roller mill. The Albert Ott House was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 for its significance in architecture.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
Get a QR Code for this tour
Begin at the Martin Van Buren Parker House, across W. Park Street from Calamity Line Park (location where a railroad was built in 1872) and saunter east along W. Park Street to peek at other Victorian mansions, a sculpture dedicated to children, and a museum of deaf culture. Final stop is a detour south a few blocks to another Victorian mansion on the old Ott family mill tract.
