When you talk to older citizens of  Seneca about the old buildings of the past there are two building that come up almost every time and they are the Gilford Hotel and the Public High School. Everyone old  enough to remember these building seem to have a special place in there memory for them. This High School building was condemned in 1968 and was demolished at that time. The Gilford Hotel was demolished in 1972.

 I spent sometime at the site of the demolition as I was buying salvage lumber for my buildings on  the farm.   It was sad to see these two building trashed. People would come as if they were saying goodbye to the passing of a loved one. Many would say this should not have happened or say they wished  someone would have prevented this and  many   felt it was not necessary.  This was difficult and even made me fell guilty as if it was something I could have prevented.   There was not enough money around and no  way to get help  in grants from the State as  we have today with the  Historic Society.

We now have a younger generation of young people who have only seen picture of these buildings and wonder why they had to be trashed and it is hard to explain.   There are still many people you talk to that will tell you they could have been saved. It really make no difference now if they could have been saved or not as it is simply too late. The time to put effort into saving these building are long past so let us put that effort into saving building that may be destroyed in the future.

There is another building that few today even knew existed however  it was the one of first outstanding building that was lost which was used by the people of Seneca for many things.. The Opera House which   was demolished in the year 1927, the year I was born  so it was not something I remember, but only heard mentioned and perhaps read of it after the fact. It is  only recently that I have understood the facts of the case after doing some research. Click on pictures to open.

The Old Dutch Mill that stood on the corner of Third and North street is one more building that is gone. However it does not fit in the grandeur of these other three but was an unusual building. It too was something that  always stood out on the rout through the city. A model of this Dutch Mill stand in my yard. More information is needed on this building.  This picture does not link.. 

The old Stone Church at Sixth and Main was constructed in 1869 with first services on July 17 1869.  In 1934 the City of Seneca purchased this Church to serve as a library.  In the year 2002 a new library was build and the Old Stone Church was   restored .

We can't save all our old buildings but we can learn from our past mistakes and perhaps not make the same mistake again.    Learning  from what we have lost  is a painful way but it may help us to see that it does not happen again.

These picture on this web site have been reduced in size  and compressed so as to load on the web page. Larger picture may be purchased at the Nemaha County Historical Society.

Gilford Hotel, was at Third and Main.
This picture is about 1920

Seneca Public High School, Seneca, Kansas
Trashed in 1968

Opera House, Third and Main.
Trashed by wealth oil man
from Okalahoma in 1927
 
 

The Old Stone Church at Sixth and Main
Restored in 2002

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