There’s something for everyone at the fourth annual Historic South Wichita Christmas Tour, Saturday, Dec. 15, from 4 – 7 p.m.
From a house full of antique fans to a museum of restored antique fire engines, this is an evening you won’t want to miss. Visitors can walk, drive or ride the free trolleys to seven sites, all built before 1912 and all decorated for Christmas.
Like music? Immanuel Lutheran Church, at 909 South Market, will be playing their carillon as well as giving tours. Adventurous souls can even make the climb up to see the carillon itself. And Grace United Methodist Church, at 944 South Topeka, offers a Living Nativity and Christmas music played on their pipe organ. The 1910 Church is now on both the Kansas Register of Historic Places and the National Register.
Across from the Methodist Church, at 943 South Topeka, the 1906 Randall house is owned by a member of the national fan collectors club and has several truly unique antique fans on display. Just a half block away, the Schnitzler Mansion, at 1002 South Broadway, is a turn of the century gem. Built in 1911, the interior is on the Wichita Register of Historic Places. The walls retain their original bas relief plaster designs, and the original woodwork is of a different wood in almost every room. The 1909 Kansas Firefighters Museum, 1300 South Broadway, will be open for tours as well. Visitors will be able to see firefighting equipment dating as far back as the 1880s. And the Monroe-Mahan house, at 1357 South Broadway, is an 1887 Victorian on the Wichita, Kansas and National registers of historic places. The first owners were ministers, but the third resident owned the bar in the Eaton Hotel which Carrie Nation destroyed in her anti-drinking campaign. This two story house has over 17 Christmas trees, each decorated in a different style. Also visit the tiny 1887 Franke House. Located at 1110 S. Wichita, this house was built in the vernacular Queen Anne Cottage style.
The tour is free, however tour sites are accepting free-will donations which will be split between the two churches and the Firefighters’ Museum. Free parking will also be available behind each church, across from the Firefighters’ Museum and behind Hamilton Middle School, just south of the 1357 South Broadway home. The free trolleys will stop at each site as well as the parking lots.