They founded the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church in Wabaunsee, in a time of war between pro- and anti-slavery factions known today as Bleeding Kansas. Knowing what they were up against, they toted rifles and bibles provided with aid from preacher Henry Ward Beecher of Brooklyn. Some enterprising citizens of Connecticut came down to help sway the vote to the side of abolition. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, allowing would-be Kansans to decide for themselves whether they would be a free or slave state when entering the Union. So grab a glass of Flying Monkey Zinfandel from the Oz Winery, and stay a while. Its gravitational pull to tourists is so strong there’s now also a Yellow Brick Road they can travel on, and Oz-themed establishments. Wamego is also home to the Oz Museum, the largest public collection of Wizard of Oz memorabilia in the world (including one 8-foot Tin Man). There’s also a Historic Museum with an Old Prairie Village, and in downtown Wamego is the Columbian Theater, built in 1893 and inspired by the treasures in Chicago’s World's Columbian Exposition (the world’s fair named for Christopher Columbus).Ī few doors down on Jackson Avenue you’ll find a nod to another bit of Kansas history, Hollywood-style. That charming City Park, home to a tulip festival every April, also houses Schonhoff Dutch Mill, used to grind grain until the 1880s. Today, you can see remnants of the settlers’ pioneer spirit: The Beecher Bible and Rifle Church on the outskirts of town began as a camp of abolitionists from up North.
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