Points of Interest in Wamego
OZ Museum
The OZ Museum features one of the largest, privately owned collections of Oz memorabilia in the world. From the earliest books of Oz creator L. Frank Baum to today’s collectibles that can be purchased in the Auntie Em's Gift Shop, visitors both young and “young at heart” will treasure a visit to the OZ Museum.
For more information, visit www.OZmuseum.com.
Schonhoff Dutch Mill
The Dutch Mill, overlooking Wamego City Park,
was built in 1879 on the Schonhoff farm 12 miles north
of Wamego. It stands 40 feet high and is 25 feet in
diameter at its base. The family-operated mill performed
custom grinding of feed and grain for a few years but
ceased operation around 1890. In 1924, a group of
Wamego businessmen conceived the idea of moving
the structure to Wamego. Prior to moving the mill, drawings were made, photographs were taken and each stone and every layer was numbered to ensure every detail was transferred accurately. The
stones and the machinery were hauled to Wamego by
horse-drawn wagons, and the mill was reconstructed at
its present location. It has become one of Wamego's most treasured icons.
 
The Columbian Theatre
The Columbian Theatre, Museum & Art Center is the
center of cultural activity in the Wamego area. It has
been artfully restored and now hosts exhibits, performances and
special events. The Columbian Theatre was built in the
late 1890s by businessman J. C. Rogers to house
artifacts he retrieved from the 1893 World's Columbian
Exposition in Chicago. The theater closed in 1950, but
was reincarnated in 1994, following a $2 million
fundraiser and complete restoration. Today, the facility
is home to six giant oil paintings (11 x 16 feet) which
hung in the U. S. Government Building in the 1893 Fair.
The paintings have been fully restored and, along with
14 other paintings discovered in the building in 1992,
are thought to be the only decorative art remaining from
the 1893 World's Fair. For more information on The
Columbian Theatre, visit www.columbiantheatre.com.
Wamego City Park
If you're looking for a good picnic spot, you can't do
better than Wamego City Park, which is listed as one of the top
10 "Favorite Kansas Picnic Spots." The park includes a
two-acre pond spanned by a 70-foot pedestrian bridge,
several flower gardens, a bandstand, a stone
shelter house, statuary from the
1893 Chicago World's Fair, and a newly built Children's train which
delights youngsters from mid-April through mid-October. A new train depot houses both the old and new trains and also provides a shaded picnic spot overlooking the children's playground. The park is the site for the Wamego Tulip Festival each year along with many other activities.
   
Museum Historical Museum and Prairie Town Village
Wamego's historical complex sits at the eastern edge of
Wamego City Park and includes a museum, a restored
one-room schoolhouse, a log cabin built in 1840, General Store, Telephone building and the first jail built in Pottawatomie County. The
museum addition which opened in the spring of 1997 is
a replica of the original Wamego Town Hall. For more information, visit www.wamegohistoricalmuseum.org
   
Ditto/Leach House
The Ditto/Leach house, located at Fifth and Poplar, was built in 1890
by Louis B. Leach, a prominent Wamego businessman. The 22-room
home was built from memory to resemble a villa in the suburbs of
Messina on the island of Sicily. The house was purchased in the mid
1980's by Bill and Rose Ditto, who have completely restored the
house and is their private residence.
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