What once looked like the rest of Kansas was instead shaped by mining, immigrants with their own traditions, and a will to survive by any means necessary.
Museums
Miners Hall Museum
Showcasing immigrant & coal mining history, MHM is on the site of the 1921 women’s march known as the Amazon Army, which inspired national labor/social reforms.
Big Brutus
World’s largest electric shovel (16 stories) honors the region’s mining heritage. Admission charged. Hours vary by season.
Carona Train Depot & Railroad Museum
Open air museum includes depots from Carona & nearby Boston, Mo., numerous working rail cars & folk art. Indoor railroad memorabilia seen by appointment only.
Crawford County Historical Museum
The largest museum in the area. Thousands of pioneer, mining and bootlegging artifacts. Visit authentic one-room school and grocery store. Living History events.
Girard History Museum
Three buildings on site, including 1888 Episcopal Church with original stained glass windows; on National Registry of Historic Places.
McCune-Osage Township Library & Museum
Local museum includes the story of 2 local brothers who played basketball for Phog Allen, won national championships at KU, & both went on to win Olympic gold.
Osage Mission & Neosho County Museum
A remote Indian Mission, 30 miles west of the Missouri – frontier border, became one the most influential towns in early Kansas and the 4-state region.
Architecture
Cato Historic Stone School House
The site of a still standing one-room country school built in 1869 of native stone has been turned into an open air museum. Includes log cabin and marker.
Colonial Fox Theatre
Built in 1919 as one of several theaters anchoring downtown entertainment & nightlife. Italian Renaissance Revival architecture. See its restoration firsthand.
Crawford County Courthouse
Built in 1922 in a Classical Revival-style courthouse built in 1922. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009.
Downtown Girard Square
Founded in 1868 and built around a traditional courthouse square, several plaques provide a brief history of the community.
First Presbyterian Church of Girard
Built in 1888 in a Romanesque Revival Church style with rectangular massing and Romanesque details including rounded-arch windows and red brick exterior.
Frisco Depot
Frisco Freight depot built in 1902 is now an event center. A depot has been on the site since 1876. It’s the last of six Frisco depots built in Pittsburg.
Fun Zone Depot
Now a family entertainment center. Opened in 1880. Town’s 2nd oldest brick non-residential. Used as train depot, rail car repairs, & more. Largest building in town during Jefferson Highway era.
Girard Carnegie Public Library
On the National Historic Register. Built in 1906. It’s believed Girard was the smallest city in the world to have a Carnegie Library at the time.
Girard History Museum
Three buildings on site, including 1888 Episcopal Church with original stained glass windows; on National Registry of Historic Places.
Hotel Besse
Seen from miles away, Pittsburg’s skyline has been defined by this 12 story Late Gothic Revival architectural ornament building since 1926.
JE Raymond House
On the National Register of Historic Places.
Jimmy B’s Saloon
Built in 1904 to sell tombstones & monuments. Includes hand carved stone figures of prominent folk heroes including Mark Twain and Carrie Nation.
JJ Richards Band Shell
Outdoor brick band shell amphitheater built by WPA in 1937. On the site of a Jefferson Highway designated campsite.
McCune Veterans Memorial
Dedicated in May 2011, the McCune Veterans Memorial is located on the west end of the McCune Cemetery.
Memorial Auditorium
Open since 1925, was designed during the excitement of the excavation of King Tutankhamun’s Tomb so is a rare example of Egyptian Revival Style architecture.
Pittsburg Public Library
A rare Andrew Carnegie library without his name & minimal ornate decorations. Both were compromises with area miners angered with his involvement.
Saint Aloysius Church Historic Site
Two churches built in Vernacular Gothic Revival. Original building built in 1881. Larger building built in 1907, but destroyed by fire in 1982. Marker tells legend for why this site was chosen.
Saint Mary’s Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church
Parish formed in 1881. Small frame church built on site in 1883. Current Gothic style structure with Carthage, Mo. stone built in 1904. Renovations in 1969 & 1991.
SW Supply Company
Founded in 1923, manufactured metal grave markers, then chick feeders, hand feeders, golf distance markers, and nursery markers.
The Stilwell
Hotel built in 1890 in a Richardsonian Romanesque style of Romanesque Revival architecture. Pittsburg’s center of social activity for many generations.
Timmons Chapel
A gothic design features stone walls, a slate roof, bronze bells cast in Holland, and a pipe organ.
Memorials
Girard Veterans Memorial Park
On the site of the publishing company for a worker rights newspaper & the Little Blue Books (1907-1978), a stage & picnic area are now used for Veterans events.
Located in Girard, this memorial includes a granite wall inscribed with the names of all 777 Kansans who lost their lives in Vietnam, a UH-1H Huey Helicopter and flags of the five branches of the military, a POW-MIA flag, Kansas flag and an American Flag.
McCune Veterans Memorial
Dedicated in May 2011, the McCune Veterans Memorial is located on the west end of the McCune Cemetery.
PSU Veterans Memorial
Includes a half-sized Vietnam Memorial Wall that once toured the nation.
Transportation Related
Buck Run Creek Marsh Arch Bridge
Single lane Marsh Arch (Rainbow) bridge built in 1925 on Jefferson Highway.
Franklin-Arma Historic Sidewalk
Believed to be longest sidewalk connecting two communities. Built in 1936 by the WPA along old Jefferson Highway to allow students to safely walk to school.
Hudgeon Bridge
A 100 foot long, single span, reinforced concrete arch ring bridge (masonry arch) built in 1923. On National & Kansas State Historic Registry.
West Fork Dry Wood Creek Truss Bridge
A one lane, ten panel, riveted Parker through truss bridge built in 1925 on Jefferson Highway.