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Speaker tells of historic preservation efforts

Opinion column

by Murrel Bland

Randy Greeves, a recently appointed Historic Preservation Officer for the Unified Government, was the speaker at the annual meeting of the Wyandotte County Historical Society Sunday, Nov. 20, at the Wyandotte County Museum. About 40 persons attended.

Greeves explained that the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 sets federal policy for the preservation of our heritage. The law allows federal, state and local governments to operate and cooperate in historic preservation efforts.

Greeves told about the Downtown Historic Commercial District and downtown and nearby historic churches. The boundaries of the commercial district are Sixth Street on the East, Tenth Street on the West, Nebraska Avenue on the North and Tauromee Avenue on the South.

Greeves also told of the standards used in determining historic standards. It must have physical integrity, determine who was there, how skilled was the workmanship and what were the surroundings like.

Greeves said various state and federal grants and tax credits are available to rehabilitate historic structures.

Society President Bill Hutton presented the annual awards for the society. They included Roger Guess and Dean Bridge, The Garland M. Smith Award; Mary Lew, Volunteer of the Year; the Baric Brothers musical group, the Margaret Landis Award for Regional Historical Preservation; St. John’s Catholic Club, the V.J. Lane-Organizational Recognition Award; and Special President’s Awards, Margaret Long and Murrel Bland.

The society elected three trustees to serve three-year terms. They are George Groneman, Elnora Jefferson and Brett Lovett.

Murrel Bland is the former editor of the Wyandotte West. He is a member of the historical society and Business West.

Historian tells of Sumner High School

by Murrel Bland

Chester Owens Jr. received a telephone call in about 2005 (he can’t recall the exact date) telling him that many artifacts of Sumner High School were about to be destroyed. He quickly rescued these historic items, storing many of them in the basement of his home.

This is one of several stories that Owens told Sunday afternoon, March 20, at a quarterly meeting of the Wyandotte County Historical Society at the Wyandotte County Museum in Wyandotte County Park, Bonner Springs. About 50 persons attended.

Today, there is a history room at Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences displaying many items including the rescued artifacts.

Owens, a dedicated historian of Sumner High School, came to Wyandotte County with his family from Ashdown, Arkansas, in 1946. He became a sophomore at Sumner.

Owns told of how Sumner became the only segregated high school, by law, in Kansas. On April 12, 1904, a very popular white youth, Roy Martin, was shot and killed in Kerr Park. Charged and convicted was Louis Gregory, a Black youth. Throughout the years, Black historians have argued that Gregory was trying to defend himself. The white community was up in arms. The solution was to segregate schools—all Black students would attend Northeast Junior High and Sumner High School.

Kansas Gov. E.W. Hoch was reluctant to sign the bill that made Sumner a segregated school; he did it only after being assured Sumner would be of the same quality as other buildings in the Kansas City, Kansas, School District. The law also guaranteed that Sumner faculty members would be paid as well as their white counterparts. These factors attracted faculty members from all over the United States.

The name of the high school was chosen honoring U.S. Sen. Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, an abolitionist.

Owens told several prominent graduates, faculty members and administrators of Sumner. They included:

• William Foster, president of the American Bandmasters Association and board member of the John Phillips Sousa Foundation.
• Fernando J. Gaitan Jr., senior U.S. Court Judge for the Western District of Missouri.
• John McClendon, first Black head coach of any professional sport.
• Leon Brady was band director at Sumner. His jazz band raised $25,000 from private sources so the band could attend international competition in Paris—they called the event “Sumner in Paris.”
• Col. Vernon Coffey was appointed as the U.S. Army aide to President Richard M. Nixon.

The Historical Society named Owens the “Historian of the Year.”

Murrel Bland is the former editor of The Wyandotte West and The Piper Press. He a member of the Board of Trustees of the Wyandotte County Historical Society.

Trial lawyer to examine trial of Jesus

A veteran Wyandotte County trial lawyer, John J. Jurcyk Jr., will examine the trial of Jesus in a presentation at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 22, at the Wyandotte County Museum, 631 N. 126th St., in Wyandotte County Park, Bonner Springs.

Jurcyk, a lawyer with the firm of McAnany, Van Cleave and Phillips, has presented the talk several times during the past 10 years. It is based on evidence from the four gospels and other historic facts. Jurcyk said there were six trials, or hearings.

“Roman and Jewish laws were in effect at the time,” Jurcyk said. “But these laws were broken.”

The Wyandotte County Historical Society will present its annual awards as another part of the program.

Diane Eickhoff, a Kansas City, Mo., author, will give a presentation about Clarina Nichols. Nichols is credited with influencing the all-male delegates to Wyandotte Convention to include women’s rights in the document that would become the constitution when Kansas became a state in 1861. Eickhoff has written a biography about Nichols entitled “Revolutionary Heart.”

Nichols, a Wyandotte County pioneer, will be honored as the first recipient of the “Virginia Smith Glandon Award” that recognizes women who have made outstanding contributions to Wyandotte County history. Glandon was a member of the Historical Society in the 1950s and is credited with leading the effort to build the Wyandotte County Museum during the 1950s.

Other awards will recognize individuals and organizations who have made outstanding contributions to Wyandotte County History.

The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served after the program.

For more information, telephone 913-573-5002.

– Information from Murrel Bland