Near Willard (WIBW) - A piece of early Shawnee County history is on the short list to make the National Register of Historic Places.

The Uniontown Cemetery near Willard dates to the mid-1800.

Uniontown was a short-lived pre Civil War settlement that served as a trading post and ferry crossing for the Kansas River.

In the center of the cemetery is a circular stone wall, marking a mass grave of Potawatomi Indians who died of a cholera outbreak in 1849 and 1850.

The cemetery is one of six Kansas sites that the Kansas Historical Society's Historic Sites Board of Review nominated for the National Register. Staff from the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places office in Washington, D.C. will evaluate them for inclusion.

The McKimmons barn near Westmoreland and the Rock Island Depot in Abilene were also nominated.

More information on the nominees:

Uniontown Cemetery – Northwest Douglas Road, Willard vicinity, Shawnee County Uniontown Cemetery is a significant physical landscape remnant of the short-lived community of Uniontown, a pre-Civil War settlement that served as a trading post, pay station, and ferry crossing along the Kansas River. It reflects, in part, an important period in the early history of the area when thousands of immigrants passed through the Potawatomi reserve on their way west. The settlement, a place where Native American and Euro-American cultures converged, thrived for a short period between 1848 and 1852 and is noted in the historical record as an important river crossing and supply stop. The cholera epidemic of
1849 and 1850, coupled with the success of other area river towns like Topeka, spelled the settlement’s eventual demise. Although the settlement existed only a few years, the cemetery evolved into a rural family cemetery. Today, there are no extant buildings associated with the early settlement, and the exact location of the abandoned town site is not known.

The 1.21-acre cemetery includes three separate marked burial areas each enclosed with a dry-laid native stone wall. Two of these enclosed areas are family plots dating primarily to the 1860s and 1870s. The third area is located in the center of the cemetery and is marked by a circular stone wall that marks a mass grave of Potawatomi from the cholera outbreak in 1849 and 1850. The cemetery is nominated to the National Register for its association with the early settlement of Shawnee County.

McKimmons Barn – Kansas Highway 99, 1/4 mile south of Westmoreland, Pottawatomie County John McKimmons built this barn in about 1865 overlooking Rock Creek near where the Oregon Trail forded the creek. He arrived in Pottawatomie County from Westmoreland, Pennsylvania in the mid-1850s and settled on this farmstead in 1858. McKimmons served as the postmaster for the area and named the post office after his Pennsylvania home. Later development of Highway 99 divided the original farmstead leaving the residence and associated outbuildings on the west side of the highway and the barn, silo, and pole shed on the east. The barn is the best extant resource reflective of the early settlement of the property. The two-and-a-half story bank barn is built into a gentle sloping hill and features a stone foundation and vertical wood siding. The barn is nominated to the National Register as part of the “Historic Agriculture-Related Resources of Kansas” multiple property listing for its association with local agricultural history and for its architecture.

Shay Building – 202 South Broadway Avenue, Sterling, Rice County The Shay Building is located at a prominent downtown Sterling intersection less than a block north of the railroad tracks. Built in
1881 after a fire destroyed several downtown businesses, it is representative of commercial development in small Kansas towns during the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries. The two-story corner building assumed its present appearance in 1906 when the exterior brick was parged with a layer of stucco and a decorative metal cornice. It has served a variety of commercial purposes including clothing, dry goods, grocery, and retail businesses. Apartments, offices, a photography studio, and a Knights of Pythias hall have occupied the building’s second floor. The Shay Building is nominated to the National Register for its long association with local commerce.

Santa Fe Depot – Between Main and Smith Streets, Holyrood, Ellsworth County The Holyrood Santa Fe Depot was built in 1887 as the Santa Fe Railroad stretched west through Ellsworth County. This vernacular building has vertical board-and-batten siding with simple Victorian characteristics that include eave brackets, a projecting bay window with a gabled roof, and multi-light windows. It served as a combination depot that accommodated both passengers and freight. Although no recollections have been found noting the depot’s closure, local historians recall that freight service ended in the early 1980s. Its passenger service likely ended many years prior. The railroad line has been abandoned and removed, and a local organization is preserving the building. The depot is nominated to the National Register as part of the “Historic Railroad Resources of Kansas” multiple property listing for its association with local transportation and for its architecture.

Rock Island Depot – 200 Southeast Fifth Street, Abilene, Dickinson County The Rock Island Depot, built in 1887, is a combination depot designed to accommodate both passengers and freight on this 45-mile spur stretching from Herington to Salina. It is associated with Abilene’s second boom period after the cattle trade was forced out of town and the local economy shifted to agriculture. The depot features a standard plan with Victorian-era Stick-style embellishments. The wood-frame building includes multi-textured wall surfaces created by varying patterns of wood siding and shingles, a low-pitched gable roof with wide overhanging eaves supported by brackets, and wood windows with stained glass transoms. It is located across the street from its original location and was moved there in 1959 to accommodate the development of the Eisenhower Presidential Museum and Library. Today, the depot serves as the ticket office for the Abilene Smoky Valley Railroad Association, which operates an excursion train. The Rock Island Depot is nominated to the National Register as part of the “Historic Railroad Resources of Kansas” multiple property listing for its association with local transportation and for its architecture.

Bartlett Arboretum – Southwest corner of Kansas Highway 55 and Line Street, Belle Plaine, Sumner County The Bartlett Arboretum is located at the edge of the small agricultural community of Belle Plaine in Sumner County. Its 15 landscaped acres are situated at the southwest corner of the intersection of Highway 55 and Line Street. Euphrates Creek runs through the property making a circuitous route to the Ninnescah River two miles downstream. What began as an undeveloped, treeless parcel of land alongside the railroad tracks on the edge of town was transformed first into a recreational landscape with athletic fields, picnic areas, and a waterfowl preserve with a variety of plant and tree species, and later, an arboretum complete with a designed formal garden, nursery, and hundreds of species of plants.
Although the park ecosystem experiences rebirth and growth with each year, there were two primary phases of development. The first transformation occurred in 1910 with the construction of athletic fields, damming of the creek, planting of trees, and introduction of waterfowl and fish. The second major phase of development began in the mid-1920s with the creation of the formal garden and floral plantings and was intended to evolve and renew with each planting season. Other elements and structures have been introduced to the landscape since the 1920s, including a nursery to develop and experiment with a variety of plant species, but in a manner that enhances its intended design. Today, this designed landscape retains its historic integrity and continues to reflect these early phases of development.