Lanesfield

Built in 1869, the Lanesfield school is on the National Register of Historic Places, its historic location on the Santa Fe Trail, near Edgerton, close to its juncture with the Oregon Trail at Garner, Kansas.

In November 1869, the community of Lanesfield paid William Humbert $200 in exchange for land to build a school.Nine townsmen voted a construction bond of $1,000. An architect was not used. Instead, the building was built with common techniques using native Kansas limestone. In the spring of 1870, 69 students enrolled.

Lanesfield School

The arrival of the Santa Fe Railroad altered the course of history for Lanesfield. A railroad depot was constructed two miles away at Edgerton and the towns people moved to be closer to the depot. The school became a rural one. All that remains of Lanesfield today is the schoolhouse. In the years to come, rural Lanesfield school competed with nearby Edgerton and Garner for students. The school was finally closed in 1963.

Today, the schoolhouse is a museum run by the Johnson County Museum. The museum offers classes to children with a "strict teacher" in period costume teaching "penmanship, mental arithmetic, geography and spelling in a turn of the 20th century school environment". Brochure.



For more information, click here Lanesfield School (1869, altered 1904),18745 South Dillie Road – Edgerton.