Little Stranger Church & Cemetery

16698 Stranger Road
Leavenworth, Kansas 66048
littlestrangerchurch@gmail.com

 Little Stranger Church Map

Beautiful & historic Kansas Churches

Little Stranger Church - Leavenworth Country, Kansas
Little Stranger Church
Little Stranger Church - Leavenworth Country, Kansas

Little Stranger Church in Leavenworth Country, Kansas is believed to be the oldest wood frame house of worship remaining in state of Kansas. The first service was held on May 12, 1868, though the congregation began meeting ten years earlier in a log schoolhouse 
located on Little Stranger Creek. The members of the congregation built the church with lumber sawn at a local lumberyard, from nearby cottonwood trees.

Little Stranger Church was active for 50 years, before closing during the global flu pandemic of 1919. Starting about 10 years later, the building was used by local organizations into the 1980s. It is surrounded by a cemetery of over 100 graves, which date from the 1850s to the 1960s. Many of the grave markers are in bad shape and some graves appear to be unmarked.

The church was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015 and local volunteers have been working on the church and surrounding cemetery for several years. Most of the early work has been about stopping further deterioration and the building and graves still looked very rough as of our visit in June 2019. The exterior was much improved with new siding, doors and windows, when we returned in October 2020.

Funding for the work has come from grants, particularly from the Kansas Heritage Trust Fund, and from an annual Pie Social held the first Saturday in June.


 

Outhouse behind Little Stranger Church
Outhouse


 

The photos below were taken in June 2019


 

Outhouse behind Little Stranger Church
 



Little Stranger Church Map - Leavenworth Country, Kansas
Little Stranger Church Map

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