Photographer and speaker J. Harvey Koehn will present “Kansas County Courthouses: Their Architecture, Features, Grandeur, Landscape, & Setting” on Monday, April 21st at 6:30 in the Cowley College, Short General Education Center. Sumner County Historical & Genealogical Society will host the free program and it is open to the public.
About twenty years ago, Koehn began photographing the exteriors of Kansas county courthouses.
“I have photographed well over half of the Kansas county courthouses,” Koehn said, “as time went on, I figured out that I needed to do more than just take photos of the outside.”
Koehn has now photographed the interiors of numerous courthouses, and includes the courtroom whenever possible. He’s visited with court clerks, employees, attorneys, and sometimes judges, to learn the story of each courthouse.
“There are some courthouses that have brochures that include photographs, and tell the story of their courthouse,” Koehn said, adding that his brochure collection is still pretty small.
Along with learning the courthouse stories, Koehn said that many times, the folks he interviewed suggested other unique courthouses for him to visit, such as when a Reno County attorney suggested he visit the Jackson County courthouse to see the marble stair railing.
Koehn said that he is beginning to research the architectural features of the courthouses he visits and plans to add that information.
“There are several Kansas county courthouses built in the Art Deco style,” Koehn said, “including the Sumner County courthouse.”
Koehn said that among the courthouses he will feature in his presentation is the often-photographed Chase County courthouse that is located in Cottonwood Falls.
“Visiting the courthouses during the holiday season is an interesting time to see how the different counties decorate for Christmas,” Koehn said, adding that they once interrupted a Christmas party in progress in the courtroom.
Koehn said that many counties went through disputes regarding which town would be the county seat and home to the county courthouse.
“There have been some interesting county seat wars,” Koehn said, “sometimes they shot at each other, too, over the courthouse.”
Koehn mentioned that the most recent historical courthouse disagreement between towns occurred in 1965. After a county-wide vote, the Logan County courthouse in Russell Springs, a town in the center of Logan County with a 2020 population of 26, was moved to Oakley, a town of about 2,000. The former courthouse in Russell Springs is now a museum.
“I will touch a little bit on some county seat wars”, Koehn said, but added that he will focus more on the buildings themselves, the style of the building and its features, rather than the fighting between towns.
“For anyone fascinated with Kansas history,” Koehn said, “there is more in terms of sights to see, things to do, and places to go in Kansas than one can imagine.”
