Grinter Place State Historic Site

04/24/2025

We are NOW open for the season!!!!!!
Come on down to Grinter Place Historic Site.

02/10/2025

The Kansas Historical Society is looking for an alternate at Grinter Place State Historic Site in Kansas City. This position is responsible for operating the site in the absence of the site administrator or assisting with school tours/events. This person must be able to work weekdays/weekends when required and handle all aspects of running the site, including but not limited to: opening and closing procedures, answering phone calls daily and emails when needed, collecting admissions, greeting visitors and conducting tours, interpreting the history of the site, operating the gift shop, and monitoring the physical site. A basic knowledge of computers and the ability to learn and operate our TAM retail system is required. For more information and how to apply, go to bit.ly/kshsgrintersitealt

02/10/2025

The Kansas Historical Society is searching for a site administrator for Grinter Place State Historic Site in Kansas City. The site administrator performs specialized work directing the operations of a state historic site. Work involves managing the operations of a state historic site by developing and conducting programs; providing information to the public; conducting primary and secondary research on the site; serving as a liaison in the community; supervising support staff and volunteers; identifying the need for preservation treatment for historic objects and structures; and maintaining site property and grounds. Work also includes participating in short and long-range planning and promoting community involvement in site activities. This is a seasonal position from mid-April to mid-October with approximately 32 hours weekly Wednesday through Sunday (1/2 day). For more information and how to apply, go to bit.ly/kshsgrintersiteadm

01/29/2025

Happy Kansas Day!

Happy Kansas Day from Constitution Hall in Lecompton!

On this day in 1861, President James Buchanan signed the bill approving the Wyandotte Constitution, making Kansas the 34th state in the Union.

12/03/2024

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving from your friends at the Grinter Place!

While it is unknown if the Grinters celebrated Thanksgiving in the mid-19th century, many other Americans in fact did. In October 1863, about a year after the Grinters moved into their new brick home, President Abraham Lincoln signed the holiday into federal law, making Thanksgiving a national holiday. Their celebrations during the 1860’s would have included dinners, dances, and visiting family, not unlike our practices today.

(Image is a lithograph scene from an 1858 issue of Harper’s Weekly, titled “Thanksgiving Day-The Dinner”)

10/12/2024

Tomorrow, October 13th, will be the last day of our regular seasonal hours. We are still open today 10-5, and tomorrow 1-5.

Stop in and see the historic Grinter home for yourself before we close for the winter!

09/13/2024

Stop by from 10-4 tomorrow for our Artist fair!

09/11/2024

In 1831, Moses Grinter was the first Euro-American to settle in the area known as the Delaware Crossing (Wyandotte County). He was also the first to conduct a ferry business in Kansas. Moses and his wife Annie built a two-story brick house north of the crossing. This drawing shows the Grinter ferry on the Kansas River and the Grinter house on the hill. It was in this area where the first non-military post office was established in 1850.

09/04/2024

Join us next Saturday, September 14th, for our fall artist and maker fair!

Artists and nonprofit groups from in and around Wyandotte County will be setting up booths to sell their art and art supplies, and to help educate about local history and historic artforms. Some artists will be preforming demonstrations on their craft throughout the day.

The fair will be open 10-4
The historic Grinter home will be open 10-5

08/15/2024

07/11/2024

Here in eastern Kansas, we are used to hail storms, thunderstorms, tornadoes, and the occasional flood, but what about earthquakes?

Well, on July 11th, 1872, the Wyandotte Herald newspaper covered an earthquake that was felt right here at the Grinter's home in the community then referred to as Secondine:

"On Monday evening last [July 8th] the inhabitants of Secondine were startled by an earthquake. The shock occurred about 10 o'clock P.M. and traveled from Southeast to Northwest. But one shock was felt which lasted from four to five seconds.

William H. Grinter [Moses and Annie's oldest son], from whom we glean the particulars, says that the shock was as severe as the one felt here in 1867. He informed us that the stock on his father's farm was greatly excited, the dogs set up a pitiful howl, the horses neighed and snurted and the cattle ran bellowing in every direction.

He says he sat looking out the window leaning his arms on the same and felt the house vibrating under him. A young man sleeping in the same room was awakened by the trembling of the house and thought some one was trying to pull the bed from under him. We have not heard whether the shock was felt at any other
place."

*Photo of the east bedroom of the Grinter house, as it could have looked in 1872*

07/03/2024

We now have a new site sign at the Grinter Place!

Stop by and see it for yourself this weekend, and take a tour of the historic house while you’re here!

*The site will be closed Thursday, July 4th in recognition of the federal holiday, but will be open regular hours the rest of the week.

05/08/2024

When visiting Grinter Place SHS, you may notice a variety of hidden features that help us to understand the whole history of the home. One of these features, and a favorite to many, is this pair of exterior bricks signed almost 160 years ago.

They were both signed: “Mr. A Zane, May 7th 1865”.

As most sources point to the home being completed by 1865, these bricks are commonly thought to have been a part of an early repair to the northeast corner of the house, possibly completed on or around the signed date of May 7th, 1865.

The Zanes of Eastern Kansas belonged to the Wyandot tribe, who arrived in the vicinity around 1843, and resided nearby to the Grinter home and the surrounding Munsee-Lenape/Delaware communities on what was then part of the Delaware land reserve. Since several Kansan Wyandot men during the 1860’s had the name A. Zane, as recorded by Louise Barry’s index to KSHS publications, the man who signed our bricks could be a mystery.

One possibility may however be a Mr. Alexander Zane, a Wyandotte County resident who served as a Quartermaster Sergeant in the 15th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment during the civil war; the same unit that the Grinter family’s oldest son, William H Grinter, also served in.

(Photo of signed brick at NE corner of the Grinter home. “A. Zane May 7th 1865)

04/17/2024

Grinter Place State Historic Site is officially open for the 2024 season!

Hours of Operation are:
Wednesday-Saturday, 10:00am-5:00pm
Sunday, 1:00pm-5:00pm

Come see one of the best preserved mid-19th century homes in Kansas for yourself, and learn about the remarkable Grinter family that lived here for nearly a century!

*Pictured are KSHS volunteers dressed in 1860’s clothing, as the Grinters would have worn after moving into their home in 1862, standing in front of the Grinter house during a living history interpretative program in 2023.*