Osborne Co. Courthouse -- Osborne KS
N 39° 26.266 W 098° 42.080
14S E 525702 N 4365400
Two chimera decorate the front entrance to the Osborne Co. Courthouse in Osborne KS.
Waymark Code: WMGXNP
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 04/21/2013
Views: 8
Blasterz admit to some mystification as to the rationale for the carvings on this courthouse. A 19th-century bearded man is on the clock tower, and a lion and beheaded Medusa are on the front entrance steps. Weird -- even for chimeras ;)
Kansas Sampler is a great resource for all things Kansas. From the Kansas Sampler website, some answers on the Osborne Co. Courthouse carvings: (
visit link)
"Many unusual stone carvings grace the outside of the courthouse. The Lion represents the qualities of masculinity, strength, watchfulness, and courage. Medusa represents femininity, wisdom, life cycle and mortality. The face of an early settler John Wineland, "The Sidewalk Superintendent," is found on the south face of the clock tower. Wineland came every day to oversee the construction and irritated the stone masons enough that they carved his face into the rock." [end]
Blasterz pix of these chimeras are admittedly not great, so we asked the nice folks at Kansas Sampler if we could use their images of the chimera with a photo credit. They happily agreed, so we will say again thank you very much Kansas Sampler for helping our waymark be better :)