Old Stone HouseAlong the Oregon Trail Conservancy
The two-story limestone Hopkins House in Tecumseh, Kansas

Eli Hopkins House · Tecumseh, Kansas

A stone witness
to a nation divided.

Begun in 1854 along the route of the Oregon Trail, this rare limestone home carries the complicated story of Territorial Kansas, settlement, slavery, war, and survival.

Enter the storyThe initiative

Photo: Ammodramus / Wikimedia Commons, CC0

1854Farmstead and construction begin
12 acresPresent historic setting
2009National Register listing
18 in.Hand-dressed limestone walls

The story

01

Not a footnote.
A crossroads.

The Old Stone House is a Territorial Kansas farmstead where national questions became daily life.

The farmstead began in 1854 as Eli and Susan Hopkins came to Kansas Territory from the Upper South. Construction of the large Greek Revival limestone house and substantial bank barn unfolded as nearby Tecumseh aligned with the proslavery side of the fight over whether Kansas would enter the Union free or slave.

The house later stood beside the Victory Highway, constructed over the Oregon Trail corridor between Topeka and Lawrence. It remains one of the clearest physical links between migration west, Bleeding Kansas, and the Civil War era in Shawnee County.

The place

02

Built from the ground beneath it.

Oral tradition holds that the limestone was quarried where the barn now stands. Hand-dressed blocks form walls roughly eighteen inches thick; polished walnut was reportedly brought from Fort Leavenworth for the interior.

I

The house

Two stories, five front bays, twin chimneys, a central hall, and the balanced restraint of Greek Revival design.

II

The bank barn

A rare surviving agricultural structure tied to the farmstead’s beginnings in 1854, built for wagon access and working-farm life.

III

The corridor

U.S. Highway 40 follows the historic Oregon Trail route that carried emigrants between the Kansas River towns.

A working chronology

03

One hundred seventy-two years,
still unfolding.

Eli Hopkins is present as Kansas Territory opens to settlement. The farmstead and construction begin.

At the end of the year, a punishing winter tests settlers, livestock, and the agricultural systems required to survive on the open prairie.

Kansas enters the Union as a free state amid the conflict that became known as Bleeding Kansas.

The Hopkins’ daughter Susan and her husband, Nesbitt Elmore, make the house their home.

A century remains to be recovered. The property’s owners, uses, alterations, and caretakers during these years form an open chapter of research.

Preservation awards recognize the work of keeping the property and its stories alive.

The Hopkins House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

A preservation initiative is forming to document the site, strengthen its future, and make its stories easier to find.

Our goal is to

Make it stable.
Make it visible.
Make it matter.

The next chapter should unite preservation, rigorous historical research, and careful public access—without asking a private historic property to become something it cannot sustain.

  1. 01

    Document

    Condition assessment, measured photography, records inventory, oral histories, and an owner-approved preservation scope.

  2. 02

    Stabilize

    Prioritize water, masonry, roof, structure, fire safety, and other work that protects the historic fabric first.

  3. 03

    Interpret

    Build a sourced public history across the Oregon Trail, Territorial Kansas, enslavement, family life, agriculture, and preservation.

  4. 04

    Connect

    Create responsible visits, school partnerships, digital exhibits, events, and a clear way for supporters to contribute.

Find the house

Between Topeka
and Lawrence.

6033 SE U.S. Highway 40
Tecumseh, Kansas 66542
Open directions

Please note

This is private property.

The site historically operated as a bed-and-breakfast but is no longer operating as such. Current booking, touring, event, and public-access information can be requested by emailing initiative@SaveTheOldStoneHouse.com. Please do not arrive without a confirmed appointment.

Access by appointment only

Read the record

History should show its work.

The working preservation goal

$250,000
to secure the next chapter.

Current known estimates total $190,000. The full effort must also account for professional assessment, contingency, preservation planning, safety, interpretation, repairs as they emerge while the work proceeds, and the future operation and conservation of the site. Our initial working goal is $250,000.

Start a conversation
Masonry stabilization
$86,000
Preferred roof system
$38,000
Driveway and access
$9,000
Bank barn
$57,000
Current known scope
$190,000