Pottawatomie Baptist Mission Building 🇺🇸

Located off West 6th Street in Topeka, Kansas, the Pottawatomie Baptist Mission Building offers you a profound look into Midwestern regional history. Constructed in 1849, this remarkable structure stands as one of the oldest buildings in Kansas and the state's only surviving historical structure from pioneering Baptist missions. You can explore a powerful past here; the mission was originally established to serve Pottawatomie Native Americans who were forcibly removed along the 1838 Potawatomi Trail of Death from Ohio to a reservation on the Kansas River.

Missionaries Robert Simerwell and Reverend Johnston Lykins arrived from the Shawnee mission to support the community, with Lykins designing the site. As you admire the architecture, you will notice its original three-story layout built from ashlar stone, measuring 85 by 35 feet, which once featured 12 rooms and 60 windows and doors. The facility closed in 1861 due to its ties with the Southern Baptist Convention and Confederacy during the Bleeding Kansas period.

Later, Robert I. Lee purchased the 320-acre property and converted the school into a race horse barn. Now maintained by the Kansas Historical Society as a museum component, this National Register site provides an essential connection to early American history.

What to see at Pottawatomie Baptist Mission Building

• Built in 1849 as a three-story ashlar stone structure with 12 rooms and 60 windows and doors
• The only surviving historical structure of pioneering Baptist missions in Kansas
• Established to serve Pottawatomie Native Americans following the 1838 Trail of Death
• Later repurposed into a race horse barn on a 320-acre property
• Preserved by the Kansas Historical Society and listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Visiting tips

Look for the historic mission off West 6th Street, situated one-half mile west of Wanamaker Road in Topeka.

How long: 1-2 hours · Best time: Daytime

How to get there & what’s nearby

Pottawatomie Baptist Mission Building is easy to reach on Topeka’s public transport, and pairs naturally with Kansas Historical Society and Topeka Zoo. For where to stay, the weather and full itineraries, see our Topeka travel guide.