Old Depot Museum Franklin County Historical Society 135 W Tecumseh St Ottawa, Kansas 66067 (785) 242-1250  Adults:  $3   Students:  $1 preschoolers free Tuesday-Saturday 10-4    Sunday 1-4 (verified 1/30/09)

The Ottawa Railroad Depot in Ottawa, Kansas was constructed in 1888 and served as the Division Headquarters of the Kansas City, Lawrence, and Southern Kansas Railway. Southern was a subsidiary of the Santa Fe Railway and they later merged. The depot was given to the the Franklin County Historical Society in 1962 when the Santa Fe moved into a new depot.

I wish the Old Depot Museum had focused on the railroad history, but other than a model railroad layout, it has gone more the direction of historical museums across the state, with a schoolroom, general store, dentist's office and Victorian parlor, plus native American displays and miscellaneous military items.

One of the highlights of the Old Depot Museum is a display relating to this region of Bleeding Kansas and abolitionist John Brown.

copyright 2006-2009 by Keith Stokes