By Bronwyn Page
From the Archives
When most people think of a museum artifact, they probably picture something tucked safely behind glass: an old photograph, a piece of clothing, a business sign or an object once owned by someone who lived here generations ago.
Working at the Reno County Museum, I am surrounded by those objects every day. But some of the largest artifacts in our collection aren’t inside display cases.
They are the buildings themselves.
Our museum sits at the corner of Walnut Street and Avenue A in two historic structures that have witnessed more than a century of Hutchinson history. The Rosemont Building was constructed in 1913, followed by the Great American Life Insurance Building, often called the Kline Building, in 1917. Today, both are listed on the Register of Historic Kansas Places.
The Rosemont began as an apartment building. For decades, people called it home, and it remained residential until the late 1970s. Today, those former residential spaces house our offices and collections, where thousands of pieces of Reno County history are cared for and preserved.
Next door, the Great American Life Insurance Building tells a different story. It originally housed the Great American Life Insurance Company and, during the 1930s, was also home to radio stations KWBW and KWBG. The building was purchased by Kline Insurance in the mid-1960s, which is why many longtime Hutchinson residents still know it as the Kline Building.
Then the stories of these two buildings became part of our own.
The Reno County Historical Society was formed in 1960, with its original museum opening in 1963. In 1968, the museum moved to Haven Township Hall, where it remained until returning to Hutchinson in 1986. The Rosemont was purchased in 1985, and the neighboring Kline Building was vacated that same year. The two were joined together, becoming the home of the Reno County Museum we know today.
I think there is something wonderfully appropriate about that. Buildings once filled with families, businesses, insurance agents and radio broadcasting eventually became a place dedicated to remembering the community that filled them.
When you work inside a building this old, it is easy to be reminded that history isn’t limited to photographs, documents and objects. It is under your feet, above your head and in the walls around you.
And I think that is something worth remembering throughout Hutchinson and Reno County.
We pass historic buildings every day. After a while, they can become simply another part of the scenery. But every once in a while, take the time to really look at one. Notice the brickwork. Look above the modern storefront. Study the windows, the stonework and the craftsmanship. When you walk into an old building, stop for a second and think about how many people have walked through that same doorway before you.
Our historic buildings are some of the biggest artifacts we have. They remind us that history isn’t always something we have to go looking for; sometimes, we are already standing in it.
Bronwyn Page is the director of operations at the Reno County Museum. She can be reached at bronwyn@renocomuseum.org.