“When Houses Became Homes” Tour Map

H.D. Lee Wholesale Mercantile complete force, 1924

In the fall of 1889, a Pullman car rolled into Salina carrying Henry David Lee. He arrived with a complete office and executive staff of people from Galion, Ohio, mainly people who had worked with him at Central Oil Company. With a paid-up capital of $100,000, he selected this town as the site of the Lee Mercantile Company, an exclusive wholesale grocery house, the only one of its kind between Kansas City and Denver. During the years that followed, Lee developed several more businesses around the parent company: The Lee-Warren Milling Company, the Kansas Ice & Storage Company, the Farmers National Bank of Salina, and the Lee Wholesale Hardware Company. All of these concerns were incorporated separately, but all were directed and controlled by H.D. Lee. For a period of nearly thirty years, Lee, as president of five businesses, employed the largest work force in the city of Salina.

Next Stop: Proceed west across 8th and 9th Streets to 122 South 9th.

Campbell House, 122 South Ninth Street

Alexander M. Campbell, one of Salina’s town founders, and his wife Christina (Phillips) had been in Salina for thirty years by the time H.D. Lee arrived in 1889. As a Salina founder, Alex Campbell was one of the three men to drive the first stakes for the town survey. His wife Christina, then an unmarried woman, joined her brother William A. Phillips and her future husband just five months later in the summer of 1858. Like H. D. Lee, the Campbells owned and ran a mercantile business, and in the early years purchased much of their merchandise from Leavenworth, hauling it in by ox and wagon. Salina was a centrally located outpost for the frontier region of hunters and settlers. In their store at the corner of Santa Fe and Iron, the Campbells often dealt in hides and produce as a medium of exchange. A slab of buffalo meat could buy flour, coffee and other necessities. They welcomed Native Americans, westward-bound travelers and gold seekers heading for Pike’s Peak. In 1872, they built this frame Victorian Italianate residence at 122 South 9th and raised their children here. The home remained in the Campbell family until 1959.

Next Stop: Proceed south on South 9th Street to West Walnut. Cross to the southeast corner of 9th and Walnut.

315 West Walnut Street

When George R. Cowden and his wife Genevieve (Rice) moved into this residence at 315 Walnut about 1905, they were living almost in his parents’ back yard. Their Dutch Colonial Revival style home was popular here in the early 1900s. It boasted an up-to-date, fully equipped bathroom that was featured in the Salina Plumbing Company’s advertising book. Genevieve Cowden enjoyed a remarkable singing career in the Salina and Kansas City areas.

Cowden went to work for Lee Mercantile Company after attending Salina High School in the 1890s. He rose from stock boy to food salesman, to furnishings manager. About 1911, he became manager of a garment division that started in a small factory on the second floor of a farm implement and machine shop. The first fifty sewing machines made overalls under the “Jumbo” brand. According to George Cowden’s obituary, he convinced Lee that the company should manufacture work clothes and later coined the name “Union-Alls,” a one-piece garment, made primarily for auto mechanics. Sales for the Union-alls increased year by year, the count aided by the number purchased by the U.S. military during World War I. About 1916 the Cowdens moved to Kansas City where the both the grocery and garment operations were expanding.

Next Stop: Proceed east on Walnut to 8th Street.

204 South Eighth Street

When Henry David Lee came to Kansas seeking a semi-arid climate, he brought a friend and business associate with him. Daniel W. Cowden was a young man in his thirties, when he partnered with Lee to establish the Lee Mercantile Company in 1889, and later became one of the founders of the Lee Hardware Company. Daniel, his wife Rosa (Ruhl) moved into this impressive house about 1904. It is an interesting example of a modified Americana Foursquare with Colonial Revival details. Note the cut limestone porch that curves around two sides.

When Daniel Cowden retired as vice-president and general manager of the Lee enterprises in 1919, he and Rosa moved to Kansas City to be with their sons, George and Jay. Daniel helped the younger Cowdens found the Cowden Manufacturing Company, which made work clothes. From 1919 to 1968 the house was lived in by one or more of four Cummerford sisters—Mary, Catherine, Teresa and Margaret—and a brother, Tom. Ownership passed to Harry Sinsabaugh in 1972 at an estate sale. Currently, it has become a children’s day care center.

Next Stop: Proceed to the house next door south.

208 South Eighth Street

Upon his marriage to the girl next door (or across the street) Lelah Lyter, daughter of W.O. Lyter, vice-president of Shellabarger Mills who lived at 150 South 8th, Jay Cowden moved into the house at 208 South 8th next door to his parents. Like his brother George, he began working for H.D. Lee as a teenager in the mercantile company, starting as a stock clerk and working up to notions (pins and needles and things) after that division was added to the wholesale grocery business. He followed his brother George to Kansas City in 1918.

At the close of World War I (1919), the Cowden family decided to sell their Lee stock and go into business for themselves. Using their experience and know-how gained with H. D. Lee, they established a successful business, making overalls and work wear, garments that had gained popularity during the war.

Next Stop: Proceed north across Walnut St. and then east across 8th Street to 153 South 8th.

Lee Flats (Marianna Apartments), 153 South Eighth St.

This apartment house at 153 South 8th was built around 1912. It was originally called the Marianna Flats and occasionally “Lee Flats” unofficially. The building housed a number of Lee employees over the years who lived here temporarily before moving to more permanent residences. In 1913, two dwellers in “Lee Flats” were Ward Harris who rose to be the long-time treasurer for Lee Hardware, and Edward H. Merrill who joined the Lee team in 1910. Merrill worked largely in the wholesale grocery and carload produce departments until he was sent to South Bend, Indiana, as a Sales Manager in the garment division. Currently, the facility provides halfway house services for the public and is adjunct to the Ashby House rehabilitation center that sits across the street. The Victorian Italianate residence at 150 South 8th was originally built about 1881 for James W. Rice (Genevive Cowden’s father) and later became the home of John B. Shellabarger of Shellabarger Mills. W.O. Lyter (Lelah Cowden’s father), vice-president of Shellabarger Mills, made this his home from 1899 to 1934. The property was deeded to Christ Cathedral Parish in 1943.

Next Stop: Proceed east on Walnut to 200 South 7th Street.

Lee/Flanders House, 200 South Seventh Street

When H.D. Lee arrived in Salina, William and Isabelle Flanders were building this Victorian Queen Anne house on a double lot on the southwest corner of 7th and Walnut. The couple had been Salina residents since the fall of 1867. Like Lee they had engaged for a time in a mercantile business called Flanders and Marlin. Later William Flanders became a bookkeeper for Western Star Mill and may have (based on oral accounts) kept books for the Lee Mercantile Company until his death in 1906.

Upon his arrival in Salina, H. D. Lee always boarded with the Flanders, who became close friends. Lee purchased the residence about 1914 and considered it his home even after he sold it to his nephew Charles Lee in 1917. Charles and Grace (Moses) Lee lived at 200 South 7th until their deaths.

A Colonial Revival porch was added about 1900. The two-story brick carriage house was built between 1906 and 1911. Both structures were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. The house is also a Salina Heritage Commission landmark and listed as an historical site by the Kansas State Historical Society.

Next Stop: Proceed south on 7th Street to Mulberry, walk west to 8th Street and proceed south on 8th to 321 South 8th (east side).

321 South 8th Street

The first few years of the 1900s, most residential streets were still unpaved. People walked or rode in horse-drawn buggies. Many people employed live-in maids. Grocery stores delivered purchases to customers’ homes. H. D. Lee employee William Federhen and his wife Lillian, lived at 321 South 8th in this Dutch Colonial Revival. He was a bookkeeper for the mercantile business. Along this quiet street prominent merchants, salesmen, doctors, educators, carpenters, undertakers, and pharmacists (to name a few) lived with their families. They were middle class Salinans who contributed to the stability of the community.

Next Stop: Proceed south on 8th Street to 333 South 8th.

333 South Eighth Street

Salesmen were a vital part of the Lee wholesale enterprises. In 1915, Elijah Mull lived at 333 South 8th. By then, Mull had been a traveling agent for the Lee Mercantile for over twenty years, mainly traveling by train, visiting one or two small towns a day and spending nights in hotels. During his early career he sometimes missed trains and, if unable to hire a livery team, he walked to the next town, lugging the large sample trunks that carried dry goods, clothing and shoes. Mull enthusiastically embraced the use of the “new-fangled” automobile in plying his trade across Kansas because he could count on eating almost every evening meal at home.

Next Stop: Proceed south across South Street (the southern boundary of the original town of Salina) and cross to the west side of 8th Street to 414 South 8th.

414 South Eighth Street

The houses on the South 8th Street were built gradually over several decades and represent a variety of architectural styles that reflect individual taste. This modest Victorian Italianate residence at 414 South 8th and the one next door to the south at 420 South 8th are possibly the oldest homes in this neighborhood. Both were built in the early 1880s. T. D. Fitzpatrick, who owned 414, was a business contemporary of H.D. Lee. Originally the house had two porches. The wrap-around porch was added about 1910.

Next Stop: Proceed south to 448 South 8th.

448 South 8th Street

Various details distinguish this house at 448 South 8th Street as one of the most dramatic and individualistic examples of Colonial Revival style. It was built about 1898 by Layton Peters, who was a carpenter, for his wife Isadora and their six children. He sold the home after a few years and became a traveling salesman, possibly for H.D. Lee. The hip roof has flared eaves and cresting. A dormer projects over an arched oriel (bay) window on the north. The foundation and porch pillars are cut limestone. The front porch is two tiered and is similar to the house at 515 South 8th in this respect.

Next Stop: Proceed across the street to 513 South 9th.

Rebecca Morrison House, 513 South Eighth St.

Built by Clifton and Marie Dodge in 1912, this house at 513 South 8th was a single-family home for over fifty years. For a time, it was the residence of the Sisters of St. Joseph. In 1993, the house was established as a Heartland Hospitality Home called the Rebecca Morrison House. It is a guest residence for those living outside Salina who have a family member as a patient at Salina Regional Health Center or Salina Surgical Hospital. It is also for patients receiving treatment at the Tammy Walker Cancer Center. The addition to the north of the original house was completed in 2002.

Next Stop: Proceed south on South 8th Street to 211 West Prescott Avenue.

The Prescott and Highland Neighborhood

In the early 1900s, H.D. Lee built the following four residences in this pleasant neighborhood and then rented them to members of his middle management team:

- 129 West Prescott Avenue

- 115 West Prescott Avenue

- 611 Highland Avenue

- 615 Highland Avenue (razed ca.1980)

The houses have sat in the shadow of the attractive Prescott/Foley home for many decades and provided comfortable living for families.

Prescott/Foley House, 211 West Prescott

This property that once stretched from Highland Avenue to 9th Street complete with a small pasture, set the tone of this neighborhood when the Victorian Italianate Villa residence was built in 1884 for Judge John H. Prescott and his wife Mary and family. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was constructed at a cost of $10,000 (the most expensive in town), and it represents the optimism of the 1880s building boom in Salina. The gates on the driveway are from Oakdale Park and were added after the entrance gateway to the park was widened in 1933. The house was made into apartments during World War II. Jim and Martha Foley bought the house in the 1950s and saved it from being razed and the property from being turned into a parking lot.

Next Stop: Proceed east on West Prescott Avenue and turn south on Highland Avenue. Cross the street to 611 Highland Avenue.

611 Highland Avenue & 615 Highland Avenue (razed)

This is the first of the four houses built by H.D. Lee for his employees. Lloyd and Ada Potter moved into 611 Highland about 1902. Lloyd began employment with H.D. Lee in the 1890s as manager of the tea and coffee department for the Mercantile Company and worked into the position of secretary. Son Ralph Potter also worked for Lee joining in the late 1890s and continuing on its sales force until his retirement. When the new Lee Wholesale house was built in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1916, Mr. Potter moved his family there to superintend development of the large plant. His time with Lee Enterprises ended the following year, however. While on a visit to the Salina offices, he suffered a major stroke that paralyzed him and made him an invalid for the next twenty years.

Fred and Mae Abel lived next door (south) to the Potter family at 615 Highland. The home was also one of the four house owned by H.D. Lee. It was razed about 1980. Fred was hired in 1897 as a salesman for the mercantile company. Later, he transferred to the Lee Hardware Company when it formed in 1902 and became a stockholder. He rose to be treasurer and later vice-president and director of that company. He also was the secretary of the Kansas Ice and Storage Company.

The Abels had one son, Curtis, who was memorialized by Dr. Seuss on the last page of his children’s book, I Can Read with my Eyes Shut. Together Ted Geisel and Curtis Abel attended Ivy League Dartmouth College where they were almost expelled for involvement in an “Easter-gin-party purge.” For his life-long friend, Dr. Seuss included in the book a picture of a road sign that reads, “Salina, Kansas Birthplace of Curtis A. Abel 2376 miles.”

Next Stop: Proceed north to the corner of Highland and West Prescott.

129 West Prescott Avenue

The first couple to live at 129 West Prescott Avenue was Leonard Staples and his wife Charlotte (Lee) who was the niece of H.L. Lee. Staples came to Salina as a young man with Lee and others at the time the wholesale grocery business was founded. He served successively as bookkeeper, credit man, buyer, secretary, treasurer, vice-president and finally president of Lee Mercantile Company, upon the death of H. D, Lee in 1928. When Charlotte Staples’ father (William Lee, brother of H.D. Lee) died, the Staples moved into the house on the southwest corner of Santa Fe and Prescott avenues (where Bank of Tescott sits in 2012).

Then Charlotte’s brother Charles and his new wife Grace moved into 129 West Prescott. Charles came to Salina in 1893 to join his uncle, H.D. Lee. He held different positions during his long career: bookkeeper, credit manager, directory of the Mercantile Company and president of the Kansas Ice and Storage Company, which was established in the late 1890s to handle the large shipments of perishable foods from their wholesale grocery business.

Next Stop: Proceed east to 115 West Prescott.

115 West Prescott Avenue

Next door (on the east) to the Staples and then the Charles Lees, Walter Clark, a bookkeeper for the mercantile company, and his wife May lived at 115 West Prescott* from 1902 to 1908. Like many loyal employers, as Lee’s enterprises grew (especially the garment division) the Clarks left their Salina positions in order to help establish business in other locations across the country. As the years passed, Walter and May probably remained associated with the Lee businesses in some capacity, as well as maintaining their Lee friendships. Years later after both their spouses had died, May (Prior) Clark and Leonard Staples married and lived in “the Walnuts,” exclusive apartments on Wornall Road in Kansas City.

* The house numbers for this location appear different over the years, namely, 123 West Prescott and 111 West Prescott.

Next Stop: Proceed to South Santa Fe Avenue and then north to Iron Avenue. Take West Iron to 636 East Iron.

636 East Iron Avenue

The National Register home at 636 East Iron was built in 1875 by Alphonse J and Aggie (Geis) Schwartz, With its Mansard (French) roof, it is an eclectic blend of Renaissance, Second Empire, and Italianate. A.J. Schwartz, who was on track to become a prominent influence in the city’s commercial endeavors, most notably hardware, died four years later at the age of 31. His widow and three children, as well as other Schwartz and Skelley relatives continued to live in the home at one time or another.

In 1897, the two Schwartz brothers, Charles and Norbert, then 21 and 18, respectively, left a job and schooling in the East to come back to Salina and 636 East Iron Avenue. Their intent was to dispose of the family’s hardware store after an uncle’s death. The brothers found the business thriving and decided to stay and reorganize. For several years they ran a retail store and a wholesale operation as J.N. Swartz and Company. When business slowed in the early 1900s, the brothers approached Farmers National Bank for loans. As president of the bank, H.D. Lee took notice and asked them if they would be interested in getting into the wholesale business the right way. The brothers said yes. The Lee Hardware Company was chartered on October 20, 1902.

Both founders of the Lee Hardware Company, Charles eventually became president and Norbert, secretary. When the brothers married, they moved from this address. For many years their sister and brother-in-law, Alice and James A. Skelley, occupied the home. In 1911, Charles and Ethel Schwartz built the house next door to the west at 630 East Iron. It is a Colonial Revival and said to be the first stucco-covered house in Kansas.

This is the final stop on the tour. Proceed back to the Smoky Hill Museum to check out the exhibits, or just have fun exploring Salina!