The Old Stone Church
Tour Stop
Directions: The Old Stone Church [ Waypoint = N38 30.015 W94 57.070 ] is located at 311 6th Street in Osawatomie, Kansas 66064.
- You should be able to walk to the Old Stone Church from your current location. It's a little over two blocks north of Main Street on the east side of 6th Street.
Description: The markers in the front of the church have the following text:
The Old Stone Church was begun in the mid 1850's and completed in 1861, by Rev. Samuel Adair. Rev. Adair was the brother-in-law to John Brown, the famous abolitionist.
“One of the first churches in Kansas, this church was built by a Congregationalist group and is typical of the church structures built during pioneering days in Kansas. It was dedicated to public worship in 1861, and its first pastor was the Reverend Samuel L. Adair brother-in-law of John Brown, the famous abolitionist.”
Samuel Lyle Adair (April 22, 1811 – December 27, 1898) was originally from Ohio. He received his ministerial degree at Oberlin College, a leading abolitionist school in Ohio. This is where he met Florilla Brown, John Brown's half sister. Samuel married Florilla November 24, 1841. In 1854, the Reverend Adair was looking for support to set up a missionary in the newly formed Kansas Territory. He obtained support from the American Missionary Association and set out for Kansas with his family in the fall of 1854. Reverend Adair finally decided to settle in Osawatomie, Kansas. He and his family arrived there in March of 1855. The Reverend Samuel L. Adair organized the First Congregational Church of Osawatomie with just seven members on April 13, 1856. Adair's home in Osawatomie was a station on the Underground Railroad for fugitive slaves. The eleven slaves liberated from Missouri in 1858 by John Brown stopped at the Adair cabin on their way to freedom in Canada. Reverend Adair, with the help of his son Charles, built this church using native stone obtained in the hills around Osawatomie, Kansas. They were finally able to complete the church and dedicated it on July 14, 1861. You can learn more about the Samuel L. Adair when you visit the John Brown Museum which is located at the John Brown State Historic Site.