Spotlight on 312 Broadway

by Betty Jane Wilson, society president

Spotlighting 312 Broadway.

For many years the address for a variety of businesses and merchants including the First National Bank from 1920 to 1931. The Valley Falls Vindicator ended 24 years of residency in 1971. Other tenants housed in the building were Eli Evans, merchant, and the Mason Art Gallery (photographer) and a studio for hometown photographer and painter Alice Gardiner Sennrich.

Long a vacant lot, following the razing of the 312 building, the area will soon become the new home for the historic little Shrine Church — famed first Lutheran Church built west of the Missouri River on Kansas soil in 1857. The little church will become neighbor and companion showplace with the historical society museum next door, housed in the 1884 Geo. McCommon Building, 310 Broadway.

The little church was originally located in the area of 500 Elm Street followed by its present location at Hwy. 16 and Elm Street. The next door arrangement of the two historic buildings, contents, and interiors and artifacts illustrate the pioneers' struggles and determination to establish an educational and religious community.

The Valley Falls Historical Society Museum will be open at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 17. 

This city lot at 312 Broadway is vacant now and was deeded to the Valley Falls Historical Society. It will soon be the new home for the Historical Shrine Church—the first Lutheran church west of the Missouri River on Kansas soil built in 1857—now located on Elm Street and Highway K-16. The rock building pictured housed numerous businesses over the decades, including the newspaper office that moved in 1971.