This is a very interesting museum. They have the typical exhibits of city and county history - they have a new display for the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War and the part that Lawrence played in that struggle. The museum's strength is if you are a researcher. Several years ago I was able to access their resources for a paper on the Quantrill's Burning of Lawrence. They had old newspaper clippings and first person accounts of the Raid that were invaluable.
From the Museum's website:
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"The Douglas County Historical Society, a non-profit organization established in 1933, preserves the heritage of Douglas County and encourages civic engagement by sharing stories of the people and events that have shaped our communities. Since 1975, the Society has operated the Watkins Museum of History. The Watkins Museum, housed in the 1888 Watkins Land Mortgage and National Bank Building, provides educational resources and activities, programs and public events, and changing exhibits that explore the heritage of Douglas County and connect the past with issues that affect our communities today."
From the National Register application on the building:
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"The two and one half story Watkins National Bank building has a combination hip and gable roof with three dormers, on each side, a small dormer, on the back, and a large one in the front. The second story is penetrated with many evenly spaced windows with a single continuous stone sill to strengthen the horizontal movement. The first story is plain with its arched windows making no significant impression, A strong horizontal line is produced by a wide band of contrasting rough-cut stone which pulls the eye around the building to the dominant feature, the massive semi-circular stone archway entrance. The half floor below the stone line is plain with uninteresting windows and no ornamentation.
The building measures 75 feet by 117 feet and has foundations which measure 12 feet across at the lowest point and taper up to the required basement wall thickness. The exterior plan is symmetrical about the longitudinal axis except for the archway. This single exception again tends to emphasize the importance of the entrance.
The Watkins National Bank building was erected in 1887 for a Lawrence financier, Jabez_B. Watkins. Watkins moved to Lawrence in 1873 and established himself as a lawyer and loan agent. He successfully solicited funds in the east to lend to farmers in Kansas and surrounding states. His company was incorporated in l883 as the J. B. Watkins Land Mortgage Company with branch offices in London, New York City, Dallas, and Lake Charles, La. This company was one of the largest of its kind.
The second floor of the Watkins Building served as the home office of the mortgage company, and in 1888 the Watkins National Bank was established on the ground floor. Watkins also owned a local newspaper, the Lawrence Record, and controlled the Lawrence Canning Company, said to be the largest vegetable cannery west of Baltimore, Md. .
The economic depression of the early 1890's brought disaster to many mortgage companies, and Watkins' firm went into receivership in 1894. The building continued to serve the Watkins bank until it was left vacant by a bank merger in 1929. Mrs. J. B. Watkins then donated the building to the city of Lawrence, which used it as the City Hall until 1970.
Presently city officials and citizens interested in the building's preservation are searching for a way in which the building may continue to serve the community.
The Watkins National Bank building is a classic example of the Romanesque influence on Kansas buildings."