The Koester House and Gardens, Marysville, Kansas

When we were just in the early days of planning our trip, I started looking for somewhere to go in Kansas when I stumbled across a promotional video for the small town of Marysville.  (I haven't been able to find a link to the video to show you.)  The video struck a chord with me and I thought it looked a bit like a Hallmark Channel small town, so I picked Marysville as our Kansas destination.  This was months before Dodge City was added to our itinerary.

Marysville is mostly known for its standing on the Pony Express, but in addition to that, there are other attractions.  One is the Koester House Museum and Gardens in downtown Marysville.

The entrance to the Koester House from the street

The Koester House

The Koester House Museum and Gardens is the preserved home of Charles Koester and his family.  Mr. Koester became a prominent citizen of Marysville, and helped establish the first bank in the county.  He and his wife had three children: daughters Tinnie and Jennie, and a son C.J.  His wife passed away when the children were young.  At least one of the Koesters lived in the home for many years, and the home is filled with their belongings.

Mr. and Mrs. Charles Koester

The children: Tinnie, CJ, and Jennie

The Koester family on the front porch

The family donated the home and land to the city of Marysville in the early 1970s.  It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.

The day we toured, the docent was the great-grandniece of Mr. Koester, so that added some personal insight into the lives of the family that lived there.  We spent about an hour learning about the Koester family and their role in Marysville as well as life from the 1880s through mid-20th century.  The house and belongings are well-preserved.  The daughters were both talented artists and some of their work is on display.

The walls were filled with family photos.

We've seen this style of staircase before!

This Fireplace!

This desk belonged to the son-in-law who became a judge.

If this were my book, it wouldn't be this big.

Mr. Koester kept a lot of Mrs. Koester's things out for the children to maintain a connection with their mother after she passed away.  This is one of Mrs. Koester's dresses.

This is one of the daughter's paintings.

People have been collecting shells for decades!

Now let's talk about the gardens!  The yard is full of beautiful plants and flowers and trees, plus fountains and sculptures!  Actually let me just show you.

An interesting side-note is that Laura Ingalls Wilder had a notation about the Koester House in her book On the Way Home.  The "Little House" portion of our trip wasn't going to happen for five more days, so this mention was a like a trailer!

We have seen several old homes and furnishings along our journey, but this is the most complete in terms of having actual possessions rather than reproductions or similar-to items on display.  We prefer this type of historical look into the past over those that are more "sets" (such as we saw in the Front Street part of the Boot Hill Museum).

And no worries to my children - I don't think DH and I are going to famous and have a need to preserve all our stuff.  We're still intending to do some sorting and clearing out once we get home!

~ Cindy D.