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Beecher "Bible & Rifle" Church, Wabaunsee, Wabaunsee County, KS

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Beecher "Bible & Rifle" Church, Wabaunsee, Wabaunsee County, KS

description

Summary

Significance: This church was organized in 1857 by settlers from New England and the building was dedicated in 1862. The Congregationalist church took its name from the "Beecher Bibles" (in reality Sharp's carbines) which were furnished to free-state settlers who came to Kansas to combat pro-slavery sympathizers. The famous abolitionist preacher Henry Ward Beecher collected money for the arms, which were shipped to the Kansas Territory in boxes labeled "Bibles."

The building is a good example of early Plains vernacular style, with qualities similar to the New England churches of the 1830s. Its walls were constructed with native limestone. This is one of the earliest permanent church buildings in Kansas.
Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-10
Survey number: HABS KS-14
Building/structure dates: 1862 Initial Construction
National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 71000334

date_range

Date

1933 - 1970
person

Contributors

Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
Banks, Robert
Beecher, Henry Ward
Jarvis, Gary R, field team
Beckman, Morris H, project manager
Childres, Mary F, delineator
Heckman, Bruce W, delineator
Seyfert, Don M, delineator
Smith, Corydon, delineator
McCleery, Douglas, photographer
Noffsinger, James P, historian
von Riesen, David, photographer
place

Location

create

Source

Library of Congress
copyright

Copyright info

No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html

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