Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Whiting, Kansas early on Saturday June 27, 2009

On this particular Saturday I headed with my sister and niece to help out with the makeover of the Whiting Cafe in Whiting, Kansas - Whiting being located in northern Jackson County, north of Topeka. The Kansas Sampler Foundation had designated this 25-year old business for help and had sent out the word across the state.

The cafe had closed on 2PM, Thursday, June 25th, and volunteers began gathering to aid in the renovation. The work continued through Friday, and the next morning we arrived in town. First we took a quick tour of the community.

One of those things you just might notice once in a while is the perchant in Eastern Kansas for round-tank watertowers, compared to the can-shaped tanks of the watertowers in the western part of the state.

Whiting has easily one of the most unusual grain elevators of any community - almost castle-like.
The Whiting Baptist Church displays interesting architecture not normally seen on such structures.


Another great Explorer Extra to see in Whiting is the pet cemetery in the east half of town. But our brief tour of Whiting is over; its now time to get to the Whiting Cafe and start on why we're here - to renovate the Cafe!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi, my family originally moved to Whiting in 1887. My grandfather Lloyd Lentz, Great Uncle Frank Lentz and Great Aunt Catherine Lentz owned the lumber yard and the grain elevator. The elevator pictured here was built in the 1950's after the previous elevator burned to the ground. We were in town visiting the night the elevator caught on fire and I can still picture it in my mind. The elevator was sold to the Co-Op probably in the late 1970's I would guess. Closed now. I spent a lot of time over there when I was a kid as you might expect. Jim Lentz