May is National Historic Preservation Month. There are 1,679 properties and districts officially listed as National Register of Historic Places in Kansas. Thirty-four sites are in Johnson County.

Two local National Historic Places are 19th century one-room schools that taught students from the 1870s to the early 1960s.

One is the Lanesfield School Historic Site, 18745 S. Dillie Rd., Edgerton, which was designated a National Historic Place in 1988.

The historic site is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the second Saturday of every month. Admission is free. The site also features a robust field trip program serving from than 2,000 students a year.

The schoolhouse is the last remaining structure in the bygone town of Lanesfield. Following a public vote in May 1869 to issue $1,000 in bonds, the school was built of limestone. The first school term began in 1870, serving students through the eighth grade. The schoolhouse had an average attendance of 51 students, spanning multiple ages from 5 to 20.

After closing in 1963, the school was purchased for $1 from the Edgerton School District and reopened as a museum in 1967. The historic site is managed by Johnson County Museum, a part of the Johnson County Park and Recreation District.

The Virginia Schoolhouse, near Mize Elementary School, 71st Street and Clare Road, Shawnee, has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 2004. Constructed in 1878 and closed in 1962, the schoolhouse is an educational landmark rather than a historic site with regular public operating hours.

Managed by the National Park Service, the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966. It serves as the official list of structures, sites, objects and districts that embody the historical and cultural foundations of the nation.

Learn more about Johnson County’s 34 National Historic Places.