The Governor Reeder Mansion
Located at 10910 West 60th Street in Shawnee is the Governor Reeder Mansion. According to the resolution declaring the house a historic site, Governor Andrew H. Reeder “took up residence in the territory of Kansas and lived at [the] site in Johnson County, Kansas.”
Andrew H. Reeder was the first territorial governor of Kansas, and was a strong supporter of honest popular sovereignty for the decision to make Kansas a free state or a slave state. This view may have led to his removal from office. He also received several letters threatening his life due to his advocacy for honest popular sovereignty.
According to A.T. Andreas’ 1883 History of Kansas, the first Kansas territorial legislative election was held on March 30, 1855. Reeder called for a second set of elections to be held in several districts after it was found that pro-slavery supporters from Missouri had infiltrated the polls. The second set of elections was held on May 22, 1855, and there was no rush from Missouri to the ballot boxes, except in Leavenworth.
The first territorial legislation was held on July 2, 1855, and on the first day of this session, the pro-slavery legislators voted to oust the free-staters that had been elected in the second set of elections. The federal government supported the ouster. President Franklin Pierce officially removed Reeder from office later that year, under the charges that he had used his political position to acquire land in the town of Pawnee and other Kansas towns at reduced prices.
The original architectural style of the house is National Folk featuring a pyramidal roof. The house has been remodeled several times, including the removal of the ballroom on the north side.
The house was declared a historic site by the Johnson County Museum Board of Trustees on March 9, 1980. For the past decade the house has served as a restaurant. The current business is the Governor’s Meeting House and Catering Company.
--Album vol. 16, no. 3 (summer 2003)