Katy Days 2026 in Parsons, KS
Updated: May 29
Last weekend, I took the Kansas schoolhouse project down to Parsons, KS, in Labette County. If you're looking at a map, Labette is the second county west of Missouri, right on the Oklahoma state line. Parsons holds an impressive Katy Days Festival weekend every year celebrating the history of the town and the connection to the old MKT (Missouri, Kansas, Texas) railway route that passed through Parsons and was such an important part of the town's history. Along with music, food, and other activities, arts and crafts tents are set up around the Park.
Weather, again, was an issue. But, I had a day and a half to hear some stories and memories people shared about schools in that area. I met a gentleman from Montgomery County (one county west of Labette) who told me about (and later email to me) a hand drawn map of all the districts and school names in that county from the early/mid 1900s. Information like that is super helpful in piecing together even the most basic information about schools, like district number and local name. I just traveled through and photographed several schools in Montgomery county in mid March, so his map helped fill in some missing information.
Hand drawn map of Montgomery County school districts. Not dated, but likely around 1940.
