The Kansan
Gov. Laura Kelly recently announced that the Historic Sites Board of Review awarded $1,168,492 for 15 historic preservation projects across the state as part of the 2021 round of Heritage Trust Fund grants. One of those grants is headed to the Harvey County Historical Society for work on the building it calls home. We will be fixing our flat roof. It is long overdue. It is just old, and the materials are wearing away. It is time for a new one, it is time to get fixed, said Catherine Graves, director of the museum.
Roof issues are nearly as old as the building itsself. Librarians began complaining of leaky roofs as early as 1916 in a building opened to the public in 1904. The complaints increased into the 1950s despite efforts to fix the problem with rubberized roofing, then later tar roofing and eventually paint-covered metal roofing.