A sod house appears in two different historical presentations in Lane County: the Lane County Historical Society & Museum displays a replica, while a painting of the same subject hangs in the courtroom of the Lane County Courthouse. Both details lead to a story that touches on building methods and everyday life, as well as the county’s economic development. Geographically, Lane County lies in the physiographic regions of the High Plains and Smoky Hills; its history stretches from early dwellings to the landscapes of the Playa Lakes.
Exhibits on everyday life and development
The permanent exhibit at the Lane County Historical Society & Museum presents the county’s early history and covers grain, cattle, and oil production. The cattle drives are also part of the story: in those days, Texas Longhorn cattle were driven through Lane County. A country store and post office exhibit recreates a scene from around 1920. This presents another facet of everyday life alongside the topics of agriculture and regional development.
Arle and Josephine Boltz’s Indian Artifact Collection includes artifacts from Lane County, among others. The sod house exhibit includes a replica based on a photograph of an early home in the county, built by the N. R. Owens family. The exhibit also explains the role windmills, barbed-wire fences, and railroads played in the region’s early development. Another exhibit about the Lane County Bachelor is housed in a dugout made of sod on the museum grounds. Together, these topics offer different ways of exploring the past: through objects, reconstructed spaces, and the building methods that shaped life in the region.
Buildings with a distinctive style
The Lane County Courthouse was built in 1931 of yellow brick with limestone trim in the Modern Eclecticism style. Two limestone bas-reliefs beside the main entrance depict the town’s cultural heritage. The courtroom also contains a large painting of a sod house, created by local artist Mary A. Bosley in 1961 for the state’s centennial. The Dighton Opera House has a different architectural feature: built in 1908, the building has an L-shaped floor plan that wraps around the former Old Bank Gallery.
At Lane County Community High School, carved bas-reliefs of bison flank the entrance; striking geometric ornaments are rendered in bright red and blue. The school’s stadium is built of local limestone and was a WPA project from 1937. The details on the entrance and stadium create different effects: colorful geometric shapes and bison motifs here, limestone as a building material there.
Playa Lakes and prehistoric traces
At a Playa Lakes site in Lane County, members of the Clovis culture hunted mammoths, camels, prehistoric horses, and other game more than 10,000 years ago. The county’s largest playa is also located at this site: a depression covering 136 acres. The measurement gives a concrete sense of the landform, while the prehistoric hunting context tells a very early story of the region. The Playa Lakes are also used by ducks and other waterfowl, connecting the landscape with another natural history perspective.
An unusual structure along the way
The Grain Bin Scale House combines several functions in one structure: Vance and Louise Ehmke’s grain bin also serves as a scale house and living quarters. From Dighton, drive west on K-96, then south through Eagle and west on Road 130. Check road conditions before setting out. The trip there adds an example in which a grain bin, scale house, and living quarters are combined to the historical exhibits and buildings.
Explore more destinations: Dighton, Shawnee County, Saline County, Thomas County, Sumner County, Butler, Sherman County, Harvey County.
For the broader travel overview: Kansas.
