Mennonite Settler statue

Last updated
Mennonite Settler Statue
Mennonite Settler.jpg
Mennonite Settler
USA Kansas location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Newton, KS
Coordinates 38°02′46″N97°21′24″W / 38.0461°N 97.3567°W / 38.0461; -97.3567
Built1942
ArchitectMax Nixon
NRHP reference No. 98000084 [1]
Added to NRHPFebruary 26, 1998

The Mennonite Settler is a 17-foot limestone statue in Newton, Kansas, honoring Mennonite farmers and their wheat heritage.

The statue was crafted in 1942 by Topeka artist Max Nixon out of native Kansas limestone. It depicts a bearded Mennonite farmer with hat in hand, in an attitude of prayer. The sculpture rests on a mosaic tile base with the inscription "Commemorating entry into Kansas from Russia of Turkey Red Hard Wheat by Mennonites 1874." The statue commemorates the introduction from Russia of Turkey Red hard winter wheat by Mennonite settlers, which helped make Kansas the "breadbasket of America." The statue was jointly financed through a community fundraising drive and a Works Progress Administration (WPA) art project.

The statue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998 [1] and underwent an extensive three-year restoration that was completed in 2000.

The mosaic tile base is about 10 feet (3.0 m) in diameter. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hall of State</span> United States historic place

The Hall of State is a building in Dallas's Fair Park that commemorates the history of the U.S. state of Texas and is considered one of the best examples of Art Deco architecture in the state. It was designed and built for the Texas Centennial Exposition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bethel College (Kansas)</span> United States historic place

Bethel College is a private Christian college in North Newton, Kansas. It is affiliated with Mennonite Church USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russian Mennonites</span> Ethnic group

The Russian Mennonites are a group of Mennonites who are the descendants of Dutch and North German Anabaptists who settled in the Vistula delta in West Prussia for about 250 years and established colonies in the Russian Empire beginning in 1789. Since the late 19th century, many of them have emigrated to countries which are located throughout the Western Hemisphere. The rest of them were forcibly relocated, so very few of their descendants currently live in the locations of the original colonies. Russian Mennonites are traditionally multilingual but Plautdietsch is their first language as well as their lingua franca. In 2014, there were several hundred thousand Russian Mennonites: about 200,000 live in Germany, 74,122 live in Mexico, 150,000 in Bolivia, 40,000 live in Paraguay, 10,000 live in Belize, tens of thousands of them live in Canada and the US, and a few thousand live in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of agriculture in the United States</span> Aspect of history in the United States

The history of agriculture in the United States covers the period from the first English settlers to the present day. In Colonial America, agriculture was the primary livelihood for 90% of the population, and most towns were shipping points for the export of agricultural products. Most farms were geared toward subsistence production for family use. The rapid growth of population and the expansion of the frontier opened up large numbers of new farms, and clearing the land was a major preoccupation of farmers. After 1800, cotton became the chief crop in southern plantations, and the chief American export. After 1840, industrialization and urbanization opened up lucrative domestic markets. The number of farms grew from 1.4 million in 1850, to 4.0 million in 1880, and 6.4 million in 1910; then started to fall, dropping to 5.6 million in 1950 and 2.2 million in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Kansas Natural History Museum</span> United States historic place

The University of Kansas Natural History Museum is part of the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute, a KU designated research center dedicated to the study of the life of the planet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sod house</span> Turf house used in early colonial North America

The sod house or soddy was an often used alternative to the log cabin during frontier settlement of the Great Plains of Canada and the United States in the 1800s and early 1900s. Primarily used at first for animal shelters, corrals, and fences, if the prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant, free, and could be used for house construction. Prairie grass has a much thicker, tougher root structure than a modern lawn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warkentin House</span> Historic house in Kansas, United States

The Warkentin House is a house in Newton, Kansas, United States. The home of Bernhard Warkentin and Wilhelmina Eisenmayer Warkentin, it was built between 1886 and 1887. It is listed on the Kansas Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places as a splendid example of the Victorian period in American architecture and furnishings. The Victorian house offers a glimpse into the way the Warkentins lived, with 80 percent of the original furnishings remaining.

The Bernhard Warkentin Homestead, also known as Little River Stock Farm or Warkentin Farm, is a historic farm complex on East North Street in Halstead, Kansas. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It was further declared to be a National Historic Landmark in 1990, nationally significant for its association with Bernhard Warkentin, a pivotal figure in the development and wide cultivation of durum wheat in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First United Methodist Church (Highland Park, Michigan)</span> Historic church in Michigan, United States

The Soul Harvest Ministries is located at 16300 Woodward Avenue in Highland Park, Michigan. It was built in 1916 as the First United Methodist Church and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate Monument in Perryville</span> United States historic place

The Confederate Monument in Perryville is a historic monument located by the visitor center of the Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site, in the vicinity of Perryville, Kentucky, in Boyle County, Kentucky, USA. It was built in 1902, forty years after the Battle of Perryville, the bloodiest battle in Kentucky history, on October 8, 1862. In total, 532 Confederates died at the battle, but it is unknown how many of this number are buried here. A small cemetery is by the monument; local farmers had to bury the Confederate dead as the Confederate Army, despite a tactical victory, had to leave Perryville quickly, and hogs were beginning to feast on the soldiers' remains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate Monument in Russellville</span> United States historic place

The Confederate Monument in Russellville, in the middle of the Russellville Historic District of Russellville, Kentucky, is a monument to the Confederate States of America that is on the National Register of Historic Places since July 17, 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Monument in Vanceburg</span> United States historic place

The Union Monument in Vanceburg in Lewis County, Kentucky, in Vanceburg, Kentucky, commemorates the Union soldiers of the American Civil War. It is the only monument anywhere south of the Mason–Dixon line that so honors Union soldiers that is not in a cemetery done by public subscription.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alcove Springs</span> United States historic place

Alcove Springs was a popular stop along the Oregon Trail near Independence Crossing in Marshall County, Kansas. Travelers along the trail gave the springs its name. The words 'Alcove Springs', carved into the hard limestone cliff by the Donner Party, can still be seen, although some of the carving has weathered away. It is located about four miles north of Blue Rapids, along the Big Blue River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Threshing stone</span>

A threshing stone is a roller-like tool used for the threshing of wheat. Similar to the use of threshing boards, the stone was pulled by horses over a circular pile of harvested wheat on a hardened dirt surface, and the rolling stone knocked the grain from the head of wheat. The straw was removed from the pile and the remaining grain and chaff was collected. By a process called winnowing, the grain was tossed into the air to allow the chaff and dirt to be blown away, leaving only the grain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neubergthal</span> Unincorporated rural community in Manitoba, Canada

Neubergthal is an unincorporated rural community and a National Historic Site of Canada in the Municipality of Rhineland, Manitoba, Canada. Neubergthal was founded in 1876 as a Mennonite community with Russian Mennonite settlers who came from the Bergthal Colony in Russia. The historic site encompassed six sections of land and the village was laid out in traditional long narrow farmsteads. The village is famous for its traditional Mennonite housebarns and other historic buildings.

Wheat is produced in almost every state in the United States, and is one of the most grown grains in the country. The type and quantity vary between regions. The US is ranked fourth in production volume of wheat, with almost 50 million tons produced in 2020, behind only China, India and Russia. The US is ranked first in crop export volume; almost 50% of its total wheat production is exported.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spooner Hall</span> United States historic place

Spooner Hall was built in 1893-94 as the University of Kansas' first library building. The Richardsonian Romanesque structure was designed by architect Henry Van Brunt and built with funds bequeathed by William B. Spooner, a Massachusetts leather merchant who had a family connection to the university. As originally built, the building housed a reading room on the ground floor and meeting space on the upper level, with book stacks in a five-story section.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vernon County Courthouse (Wisconsin)</span> United States historic place

The Vernon County Courthouse in Viroqua, Wisconsin was built in 1880. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Pond Farmhouse</span> Historic house in Wisconsin, United States

The Daniel Pond Farmhouse, also known as Eggleston Farm, is a limestone-walled home built in Rutland, Wisconsin in the 1840s. In 1980 the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of the Transfiguration Historic District</span> United States historic place

The Church of the Transfiguration Historic District is a group of buildings associated with what was the Church of the Transfiguration Roman Catholic parish, located at 5830 Simon K in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2019.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. Reinhild Kauenhoven Janzen (June 15, 1997). "National Register of Historic Places Registration: The Mennonite Settler Statue / Wheat Memorial". National Park Service . Retrieved December 28, 2017. With six photos from 1997.