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Tom visits Kenyon Hall

5 Comments on Tom visits Kenyon Hall

In his “Dispatches from Kansas” column today, Tom Parker of Blue Rapids writes about touring the creepy Kenyon Hall with Dave: A Familiar Darkness.

And be sure to keep following Tom’s home page for the daily post on his Winter Solstice Project, which includes photos of Kenyon Hall.

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5 Comments

  2. The pictures of Kenyon Hall were sad, heartbreaking. You can see its former magnificence. Why oh why can’t we fix that building up?

    Who owns that building? I’m not blaming anyone, just curious who owns it.

  3. Mitchell-Markowitz Builders own the building. And they went through the long drawn-out process to get tax credits from the state. (I don’t understand the process.) But, anyway, now that the economy has tanked, there are no investors willing to put up the money. The plans were to turn it into an apartment complex, but renovation costs, several years ago, were something like $7 million. So, I think, that’s where it stands.

    Meanwhile, determined kids break windows and enter the building. The owners keep boarding up broken windows on ground level and are doing what they can to keep the trespassers/vandals out.

  4. William Allen White’s funeral was held in this building at the end of January 1944. If Kenyon is lost the sense of C of E campus will be lost to generations of alumni. I dearly hope it can be saved and re-purposed. Mitchell-Markowitz Builders are doing the right thing to make things happen to save the building…the times are confounding these efforts.

  5. @Cheryl
    Mitchell Markowitz Construction is the owner of the building. With the name Markowitz found in both, there is often a confusion between the two companies. The intent to restore the building to a useful purpose has always been the focus, however the process is long and costly and time may be running out on available tax credits. It would be amazing to be able to restore the building without the help of tax credits and investors but the reality is without large amounts of cash at hand nothing can happen-even demolishing the building is extremely expensive. It holds interesting history and is an impressive structure that will hopefully be recognized and restored for the future.

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