Haskin House Threatened
In 1922 Samuel Brush Haskin built this second home on his farm near Lenexa Haskin was the son of pioneer settler William Pennock Haskin, who in 1865 purchased 160 acres in Johnson county and two years later married Diana Brush. In 1885 W.P. Haskin bought an additional 80-acre tract north of his original farm. When he and his wife deeded the tract to Sam Haskin in 1900, Sam built a wood frame house on the property.
Sam Haskin earned a law degree from the University of Michigan and became a prominent farmer in Johnson County. He served as a member of the Kansas Legislature, president of Patrons Cooperative Bank of Olathe, and director of the Farmers' State Bank of Lenexa. Sam's brother, E. Harley Haskin, established the Farmers' State Bank in 1904.
On the farm, a third generation followed Sam Haskin in the 1930s. Two of his sons, Sam B. Haskin, Jr. and Glenn Haskin, were born on the farm and lived in the two houses until 1993. Glenn and Sam recalled in a 1986 interview, “we both came back to the farm after we got through school, partly because it was here, and jobs were scarce, and the farm looked pretty good to us.” Their father was in the bank during the 1930s and farmed only part-time. The brothers said, “we tried a few different things as we went along,” but because of the kind of land in the farm and the proximity to Kansas city, they settled on dairying as their main occupation. The Haskin brothers operated the dairy for more than thirty years.
The Haskin house is located on a gently rolling north-south ridge at the end of a row of farm buildings facing Lack man Road near I-435. Other buildings include the earlier wood-frame house, a garage, toolhouse, henhouse, and barn. The main house is a well-preserved example of a Prairie Style home. Details typical of the Prairie Style include the broad roof overhang, the asymmetrically placed porch, and the irregular rough-faced stone masonry. The hipped roof is covered with Spanish clay tile. While the builder for this house has not been identified, the stone masonry is very much like that on other homes which were constructed by Frank Bayrel, a prominent local builder at this time.
Although the house retains excellent architectural integrity, it now stands vacant. The property is owned by the J.C. Penney Company and is threatened by modern development near I-435.
--ALBUM vol. 8, no. 3 (summer 1995)