09/19/2022
The Historical Society sent us the write up on our home for the Vintage Home Tour. This is a great teaser. Hope you can take part in the tour! The information in our home is as follows:
On property at 623 Seneca, originally owned by well known pioneer cattle dealer, Joseph B. Insley, resided several individuals who left their mark in the chapters of Leavenworth history. The earliest of these was Jennie Leeper, sister of Harriet Cushing, who was the founder of the Home of the Friendless after the Civil War, which later became Cushing Hospital. Mrs. Leeper was a teacher at the Maplewood School and from the home on Seneca, also offered students instruction in French, German and English. She served as the director of the early day Merchantile Library in Leavenworth and was a charter member of the Art League, Saturday Club and the Social Science Club, all early women’s clubs organized in Leavenworth.
Other residents included Herman Epsen, another early Leavenworth settler. A tinner by trade, Epsen owned a hardware store and was married twice but had no children. When he died a widower, his estate was distributed among his own few blood relatives here and many relatives of his deceased wives, who were all made happy beneficiaries of his wealth.
A resident in the early 1900s was a local dentist, Dr. S. J. Renz, whose father was the great-grandfather of world-renowned newscaster, Walter Cronkite. During the residence here of Monica and Thomas Medill, Monica served as the president of the Leavenworth County Equal Suffrage Association when Kansas women were granted the right to vote in 1912. The Leavenworth chapter hosted the state women’s federated club district convention in October of the following year, with Cora Wellhouse Bullard, of Tonganoxie and a nationally recognized woman’s rights advocate, staying at the Medill home.
The longest resident however, was the Thomas Larkin family, who were listed at this address in the 1915 city directory when Thomas was a coal dealer with the firm owned by his wife’s family, J.B. Welch & Co. Later, he became Leavenworth County Sheriff. Thomas was one of six sons born to Winifred and Andrew Larkin (both born in County Clare, Ireland), who came to Leavenworth from Illinois in 1884. Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth had two daughters, Blanche and Florence. The sisters, who never married, resided in the home into the 1970s.
This 1870 Italianate home has been lovingly restored by the current owners. Their process of preservation has been documented in detail, with before and after photos, on their “1870 Italianate Preservation” page: https://www.facebook.com/italiananate.
Preservation of our 1870 Victorian home in historic Leavenworth Kansas. This is my wife’s dream ho
