In 1906, entrepreneur William Strang completed the Kansas-Missouri Interurban Railroad, which ran from Rosedale, Ks to Olathe Ks. The Strang Line, as it came to be known, connected what was then the largest city in Johnson County, Ks. with Kansas City, Ks. and Kansas City, Mo. In an effort to create customers for his new rail line, Strang help found towns along the route, most notably Overland Park in 1906. The community of Washita grew up around the Strang Line station built at 47th and Washita in today's Roeland Park, Ks. Washita was most famous as the location of the clubhouse for the Old Mission Golf Course, which served the community from 1929 to 1955.
What is now known as Roesland Elementary School has served this community for over 150 years. It's origins stretch back to the years after the Civil War, when a small community called Red Clover grew around the old Shawnee Methodist Indian Mission. There a one-room school house called the Shawnee Mission School was built on the site of today's St. Agnes Church in Roeland Park, Ks. As the population of the area grew, the school was moved to its current location in 1914 on land purchased from the Roe family, hence the new name Roesland School. The new Roesland School District built a modern 8-room school, which has been torn down and rebuilt several times since.
The building now known as the Buena Vista Art Studio has been part of the Roeland Park community for nearly 100 years. In 1925, Kansas City grocers Harold and Peggy Bown moved to the then village of Southridge, a stop on the Kansas-Missouri Interurban Railroad, the "Strang Line." Here they built the Southridge Market, which provided groceries, vegetables and meats. It is the oldest commercial building in Roeland Park and has served the neighborhood in a variety of capacities over the decades.
This is the location of the Southridge Station on the Kansas-Missouri Interurban Railroad (the Strang Line). In 1906, entrepreneur William Strang purchased completed his Kansas-Missouri Interurban Railroad (the Strang Line), which ran from Olathe, Ks. to Rosedale, Ks. He purchased tracts of land along the route in order to found communities, which would help support his railroad. The first of these was Overland Park, founded in 1906. The Second was Southridge, founded in 1909.
The Shawnee Baptist Mission was founded in 1831 by Isaac McCoy and his son-in-law Johnston Lykins near what is today 49th and Nall Ave in Roeland Park, Ks. Unlike the nearby Methodist and Quaker Missions, the Baptists sought to help the Shawnee and other tribes become self-sufficient through a gradual change to western Christian society without abandoning their culture. To this end, they promoted teaching in individual villages and operated a day school at the mission, which never totaled more than 40 students at a time. There was an emphasis on teaching in the Shawnee language. When the Shawnees signed a new treaty with the federal government in 1854, a fund was created for their education. This fund was awarded solely to the Shawnee Methodist Mission. Moreover, the treaty resulted in the majority of the Shawnee moving to a reservation in what it today Oklahoma. Without financial support from the government and with few pupils, the Shawnee Baptist Mission was closed and abandoned in 1855. The mission buildings were burned during the Civil War.
In 1929, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) organization placed a stone commemorating the Shawnee Baptist Mission at what is today 55th and Walmer St. in Mission, Ks. It was placed here by mistake, since the actual mission site was near 49th and Nall in neighboring Roeland Park. However, this was the location of the mission's church and graveyard. The church was built in 1848 adjacent to an existing Shawnee graveyard by Dr. Francis Barker, the last superintendent of the Shawnee Baptist Mission. Here he lead a congregation of Shawnees, freed former enslaved people, who worked at the mission and the white missionaries and their families. When the Shawnee Baptist Mission closed in 1855, the church remained but was destroyed during the Civil War.
Quaker missionaries first established a mission and school among the Shawnee Tribe in Ohio around 1808. After the Shawnee were compelled by the federal government to move to their reservation in present-day Johnson County, Kansas, tribal leaders invited the Quakers in 1834 to establish a new mission. The Quakers arrived in 1835 and leased 320 acres from the tribe for the planned school and farm. The mission operated at first out of log homes, and later, a three-story log schoolhouse was built at this location. In 1923, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a stone here to recognize the historical significance of the mission school, which was located approximately at the modern-day intersection of 61st and Goodman Streets in Overland Park. The Shawnee Quaker or "Friends" Mission operated through 1869.
Now part of an interchange connecting Johnson Drive and Roe Boulevard to Highway 169, this was the location of the home of John and Mary Roe, namesakes of Roeland Park. The home was known locally as the "Cedars of Merriam" and was built in 1890. The estate was a fixture in the area until it was demolished in 1958 to create the highway interchange. The Roe family sold 280 acres to developer Charles Vawter in 1937. Vawter named his development Roeland Park, and fourteen years later, that name was chosen for the newly incorporated suburban city.
In 1896, Bohemian Immigrant John Tesar and his wife Magdelina purchased a 50-acre property at the southern end of what is today Roeland Park, Ks. Here they operated a dairy farm for decades. The Tesar family became prominent in the nascent community of Southridge (today Roeland Park). They were founding members of the Southridge Presbyterian Church and John was on the board of Roesland School. The Tesar home, built around 1896 is the oldest surviving home in what is today Roeland Park. It has been renovated and expanded multiple times over the years.
This small cemetery includes the grave of Reverend Thomas Johnson, the namesake of Johnson County, along with his wife and numerous descendants of the Johnson and Wornall families. The cemetery also includes the graves of missionaries and teachers who worked at the nearby Shawnee Indian Mission site and is maintained by the Kansas State Historical Society.
This is the site of the former home of Pa-Ka-tas-Ka-Kah, commonly known by his American name, Chief Captain Joseph Parks, who was one of the most influential members of the Shawnee Tribe living on their reservation in what is now Johnson County. In 1833, in accordance with the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Parks led about 400 members of the Hog Creek Band of the Shawnee Tribe from their former reservation in Ohio to their new reservation in the Indian Territory in today's Johnson County. In 1845, he built a large log home just west of Westport on the Santa Fe Trail. He became an influential Chief of the Shawnee Tribe and a prosperous businessman. The Chief's reputation grew nationally, and his home was a frequent destination for travelers on the trail. In 1854, Parks helped negotiate a new treaty that granted each member of the tribe 200 acres of the reservation that they could keep or sell as they wished. The treaty also granted 1310 acres to Parks, with land in today's Rosedale, Westwood, and Westwood Hills communities. After his death in 1859, the land was divided amongst his descendants, who gradually sold all of the land in sections to developers.
An iconic green-and-white gas station at the corner of 47th Avenue and Mission Road in Kansas City, KS, has been an essential Kansas City barbecue stop since 1997. Jeff and Joy Stehney originally opened this barbecue joint that year as the second restaurant in the Oklahoma Joe’s franchise, which they co-founded with Joe Don Davidson in Stillwater, OK. But when Davidson sold his business, the Stehneys bought his share of the company and started Joe’s Kansas City BBQ, a new and unmissable part of Kansas City’s long barbecue tradition.
This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.
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Explore sites associated with the history of Roeland Park, Kansas. This tour traces the area's history from its beginnings as part of the Shawnee Indian Reservation through its pioneer period and suburban settlement in the early 20th century.
