Third Avenue Historic District
Welcome to the Third Avenue Historic District. The area was platted in 1856 and became known as Day’s Subdivision. The current houses were built between 1859 and 1920. All of the homes featured are two-story, either brick construction or weatherboard siding, and have some type of porch. The majority are described as Victorian or Queen Anne style. Some have had Craftsman-style updates in the 1920s-30s yet retain their original character. In some you will find Greek Revival and Italianate influences. This district also includes two former schools.
1036 Second Avenue, 1910
This two-story frame house blends elements of the Queen Anne and Shingle styles. The house has weatherboard siding on the first story and wood-shingle siding on the second story. In the front gable is a three-part opening with a concave shell form to the arch, Ionic colonettes, and a slightly projecting pent roof in front. On the north side is a complex hip and gambrel-roofed element with a polygonal attic window. The south side has an extension over the one-story bay window. A two-tiered back porch has an enclosed lower tier and a screened sleeping porch in the upper tier. Other features include 16/1 and 1/1 windows with molded lintels and a one-story framed carriage house. Leavenworth architect William B. Feth was the designer of this home as well as the house to the north.
Garrett-Cobb House, 1032 Second Ave, 1905
The house directly opposite Arch Street is also a two-story frame Queen Anne-style house. Samuel and Lettie Garrett purchased the site in 1904 and are thought to have been the builders of this home. It features a large off-center gabled dormer and a lancet-arched recess containing a double window that opens onto a balcony. The one-story wraparound porch has slender Ionic columns, a decorative balustrade, and modern fluted newel posts on the front steps. This home also features a two-tiered back porch similar to the house to the south.
Bishop Miege House, 1028 Second Avenue, 1860s
This unusual two-story frame house shows the influence of the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The one-story entry porch has a sunburst design in its gable. The 1/1 windows and the front entry have peaked lintels with petaled bosses at their centers. Note the front entry with diagonal board paneling and a glass upper panel.
In December 1865, Bishop Miege sold all of the lots except for this one, suggesting the present house had been built or planned. In 1879 the Catholic Sisters of Charity operated a school in a rented house on Second Avenue, probably this dwelling. In 1995, the house was rehabilitated into a single-family dwelling and featured on “This Old House.”
Nettie Hartnett School, USD 453
1000 Third Avenue
1923, 1990
This two-story Tudor Revival-style brick school building has a rectangular form and a flat roof behind a parapet. The projecting two-story entry bay in the center of the front (east) façade has a Tudor-arched opening. Extending across the rear (west) elevation is a two-story 1990s addition with a brick veneer that is designed to harmonize with the original Tudor styling. On the south side of the school is a playground that replaces two historic dwellings demolished in the 1990s.
An 1869 aerial perspective appears to show a school here. The original school was built in 1862, improved in 1865, remodeled in 1897, and razed in 1923. The relatively plain two-story brick building featured a belfry with rounded openings. This present building is thought to be the oldest continuous school in the district. It was known in the early 20th Century as the Congress Street School. The present building was renamed after long-time school employee, Nettie Hartnett in the 1960s. Myron K. Feth of the Leavenworth architectural firm Feth & Feth contributed to the design of the building and the school on the next block.
Bullen-Johnson House
1007 Third Avenue
1898
Beginning with the corner house directly across from the school property you will note another two-story frame Queen Anne style home. It has weatherboard siding and a steep hip-and-gable roof with flared eaves. A small front gable has decorative rake boards, diagonal strips on its face, and a three-part window. The one-story wraparound porch has Craftsman-style tapered posts on stone pedestals, square-section balusters, and screening. Above it is an inset second-story porch with tapered posts and square-section balusters.
Contractor and bridge builder, J.A. Bullen, is thought to have built this house about 1898. In 1900 it was the home of Thomas L. Johnson, a newspaper editor, printer, and justice of the peace. Johnson is also remembered for organizing a local chapter of a typographical union, one of the first trade unions in the state.
Thomas Jones House
1013 Third Avenue
1870, 1930
This two-story frame house has Craftsman-style details such as a front entry stoop on triangular brackets and 4/1 windows, indicating a remodeling in the 1920s or 1930s. A one-story porch extended across the front of the house but has been replaced by the present stoop. Bricklayer Thomas Jones is the first known occupant at this address, in 1872, although there is evidence that the house may date to the preceding decade. Jones was listed as a contractor and builder in an 1873 city directory and the Jones family lived there through the 1940s.
Leavenworth chronicler Agnes Murphy suggests that the next three houses (1017, 1021, and 1025) were built by the owner of 1029 Third Avenue, Mark Delahay. Both 1021 and 1025 are virtually identical and were likely built at the same time by the same builder. The 1017 house is also closely related architecturally.
1017 Third Avenue
early 1870s, 1920
Although remodeled in the Craftsman Style in the early twentieth entry, the house is similar to its neighbors at 1021 and 1025. One notable difference is the fact that this house has true windows at the front corner of the south side, whereas the other houses have false windows at that location. It was likely more Italianate-style in character originally. This two-story house of painted brick construction has a hip roof and a one-story wraparound porch with Craftsman tapered posts on brick pedestals. The segmented-arched 1/1 windows have protruding brick drip moldings and the segmental arch over the front entry has a covered-over transom.
1021 Third Avenue
early 1870s
This two-story Italianate-style house is of painted brick construction. The one-story front entry porch has a Craftsman tapered post on a brick pedestal with square-section balusters and beaded matchboard. The 2/2 windows have segmented arches with projecting brick drip moldings. At the front corner of the south side are first and second-story false windows identifiable by window openings with permanently closed louvered wood shutters. Also on the south side is a one-story bay window with molded panels and segmented-arched 1/1 windows.
1025 Third Avenue
early 1870s
The original outer façade of this painted brick construction is identical to the prior house. A distinct difference is the one-story entry porch with classical colonettes. The first and second-story false windows are also permanently closed with louvered wooden shutters. The integral two-story brick ell has a weatherboard frame extension with an upper level sleeping porch, and exterior stair, and a deck.
Delahay House
1029 Third Avenue
1859, 1872
This two-story house has a five-bay front, seven-course American-bond brick walls, gabled roof, and a number of notable Greek Revival-style features. Foremost among these is the one-story front porch, which stands on tapered round wood columns with rippled surfaces that evoke fluting. Against the house walls are flat Doric pilasters with the original bases with rounded-arch panels. The front entry has a Doric surround with a dentil cornice, molded jambs, sidelights, and transom. A second story entry directly above is similar but narrower and leads to the roof balcony.
The house was built by a Kentuckian named James B. Newland in 1859. In 1863 Mark Delahay, a Republican activist, who is remembered for arranging Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Leavenworth in 1859, purchased it. His wife, Louisiana Hanks Delahay was
Lincoln’s second cousin. Following the death of Mr. Delahay in 1876, Mrs. Delahay and her younger daughter, Mary, moved into the house at 1021 3rd Avenue.
Samuel and Susan Atwood House
1037 Third Avenue
1865, 1880s
This house was begun in 1865 and attained its present form and Queen Anne-style exterior by 1886. The west-facing house has weatherboard siding and hip-and-gable roof. The main front gable is ornate, with intricate gridwork including a window with a peaked lintel. The front entry has a peaked lintel, a transom, and a double-leaf door. On the south side is a two-story element with a bay window on the first story and a balcony with a bracketed overhang on the second story.
While living here, Mr. Atwood served in the Kansas House of Representatives and in local government. In 1900, Edward H. Connor purchased the house. He was chief engineer of Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company. He helped to design and build the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. His family lived here for more than 40 years.
Lucien Baker House
1036 Third Avenue
1883, 1920s
Directly across the street is another two-story Queen Anne-style house with weatherboard siding and hip-and-gable roof. The ornamental work in the front gable includes a fanfold design. The screened one-story porch has Doric columns, square-section balusters and newels, and a roof balustrade. The present porch had replaced a wraparound porch (around 1924). There is a one-story bay window on the south side with a roof balustrade.
U.S. Senator from Kansas Lucien Baker and his wife Mary were the first occupants of this house. Baker came to Leavenworth about 1870 to practice law. In 1872 he was elected City Attorney followed by election to the state Senate in 1892 and service in the U.S. Senate from 1895-1901. Baker died in 1907 and his widow sold the house in 1909. In 1910 it was acquired by Fred and Elnora Wulfekuhler, who owned the wholesale grocery firm Rohling & Company.
517 Marshall Street
1920
This house is second from the corner. It is a two-story Craftsman-style Foursquare-form house with weatherboard siding, hip roof and hipped dormer covered with modern fishscale wood-shingle sheathing. The one–story front porch stands on heavy square-section wood columns. Other features include 8/1 windows, a front entry with sidelights, and a three-part first story front window.
519 Marshall Street
1865
This two-story Victorian-style brick house has a one-story wraparound porch with a curved corner. There are segmental-arched 4/4 windows and a front entry with an elliptical fanlight and double-leaf door. The one-story west side brick wing is either original to the house or a very early addition. The brick carriage house was built with segmental-arched openings with built-out garage type doors, and star-shaped iron tie rod ends.
Ben Day School Lofts
1100 Third Avenue
1920
This two-story Tudor Revival-style school brick building is basically rectangular in form. Two slightly protruding bays near the ends of the front elevation have entries in plain stone surrounds below second-story windows with false metal balcony railings with urn finials. Other front features include sections of checkered brick and stucco frieze and octagonal stone plaques in the parapets at both ends.
The school had been known as Third Avenue School for a number of years. It served elementary students, then primary, and now early childhood programs; birth through kindergarten. In 1985, it was renamed Ben Day School Following WWII, Mr. Benjamin Day was a teacher and coach at Lincoln, an all black school, at that time. In 1970 he was appointed principal of this school, serving here until 1978. He was elected the first black mayor of Leavenworth in 1972 and served four consecutive one-year terms (most mayors serve only one term). In the 21st Century, a group of architects renovating Stove Factory Lofts in downtown Leavenworth took interest in the building. It was renovated using historic tax credits and guidance from the Kansas State Historic Preservation Office into loft rental units. Many of the living spaces still feature old classroom chalkboards.
1128 Third Avenue
1868
This two-story frame Victorian-style house with weatherboard siding and a hip roof, has a five-bay front elevation. Other features lend support to the 1868 date given by a wall plaque. The one-story front porch retains an original Gothic-inspired frieze incorporating quatrefoil motifs and a balustrade that repeats a fleur-de-lis motif. The original porch posts themselves have been replaced with Craftsman-style posts on brick pedestals. The front entry has an elaborate surround with turned corner blocks, sidelights, and transoms with a diamond-pattern under the sidelights are panels with cartouches. The 1/1 windows have molded lintels; clusters of three colonettes to a side frame the center second-story window.
Labon and Julia Hopkins House
1132 Third Avenue
early 1870s
This two-story Italianate-style brick house has a hip roof with a bracketed cornice and original or early gabled dormers. The one-story front porch has chambered posts grouped in twos and threes, a dentil cornice and a roof balustrade. The segmental-arched front entry has sidelights and a transom, and windows are a combination of segmental-arched 2/2 and round-arched 1/1. As you turn right on to Middle Street you will note the south side of the house features a two-story bay window with projecting brick heads over the 2/2 windows of the first story and a bracketed cornice with dentils. To the rear is a lower two-story wing with an entry stoop on triangular brackets that may be original.
Julia E. Hopkins purchased this site in the early 1870s and evidenced suggests she had the house erected soon thereafter. Julia’s husband Labon E. Hopkins was an attorney and city title examiner.
601 Middle Street, 1865
Across the street is a two-story Victorian-style house of brick construction. The one-story front porch has chamfered posts with molded bases and caps, sawn brackets, and a bracketed cornice. The front entry has sidelights and a transom. An original one-story brick wing extends across the back.
Vanderschmidt House, 614 Middle Street, 1890s
This two-story frame Victorian-style house with a gable roof has a two-tier front porch that features a screened lower tier with Doric columns and square-section balusters and a partly enclosed, partly screened upper tier. The two-story front wing has a round gable window in a decorative surround and a first-story bay window with a paneled apron with chamfered surrounds and a picture window that replaces the original double windows. The front entry has French doors and a transom. On the east gable end is a one-story bay window with Greek Revival-style pilasters and panels with chamfered surrounds.
Continue on Middle Street one block and you will come to a T-intersection at Middle and 5th Avenue that features three National Historic Homes on your driving tour map. They are The Nathaniel Burt House, The Carroll House and the boyhood home of the first US Supreme Court Justice from Kansas, David Brewer. The homes are described in the National Register Properties part of this booklet. From there, turn right on to Fifth Avenue and continue to Spruce Street where the Union Park District begins.
Brewer House
Burt House
Carroll Mansion
