Virtual Tour Carriage House

carriage house exterior
The carriage house showing double garage doors.

NPS Photo

The carriage house was used to house a buggy, wagon, or some other vehicle. This building was constructed after the Jones' occupancy roughly after 1910 when it was the Benninghoven Ranch. With the family's transition from horses to the use of tractors, it is feasible that the building was used to store a tractor or automobile. Records indicate that Curt Benninghoven owned a Farmall tractor and received his alloted war-time gas rations for farming. In the late 1990s two underground gas storage tanks were removed just outside this building, indicating that it was a common location used to gas vehicles.

 
buggy in barn
This buggy may have been stored inside the carriage house.

NPS Photo

This buggy was found in the barn when the National Park Trust purchased the property in 1994. Oral histories state that the hired hands intentionally dismantled the buggy to prevent its sale when the Z Bar Ranch sold in 1986, because they felt is should always stay with the ranch. On a few occasions it was driven in the local parade. After the ranch auction, the buggy was reassembled and is now on display in the barn.

 

Last updated: February 26, 2022

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2480B KS Hwy 177
Strong City, KS 66869

Phone:

620 273-8494 x270

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