By MICHAEL STRAND

Salina Journal

It must say something when two of the "8 Wonders of Kansas Architecture" are in one small town, but that's what happened Monday when the Kansas Sampler Foundation announced the results of the first of eight similar contests to highlight the state's best attributes.

Abilene's Lebold Mansion and Seelye Mansion were among the eight to make the list of architectural wonders statewide. Others were the Chase County Courthouse in Cottonwood Falls, the Fromme-Birney round barn in Mullinville, Holy Cross Church in Pfeifer, the state Capitol building in Topeka, the Ness County Bank building in Ness City and the Cooper Barn in Colby.

"Abilene has an amazing history," said Larkin Mayo, who owns the Lebold Mansion with Gary Yuschalk. "It's not surprising that it has so much coming out of it in terms of such recognition."

"It's truly an honor," said Terry Tietjens, owner of the Seelye Mansion.

Tietjens has owned the mansion for more than 20 years, buying it from Helen and Marion Seelye, daughters of original owner, Dr. A.B. Seelye; they were small when the house was built, and both lived there into their 90s.

That means the home didn't go through numerous changes of hands, and the fixtures and even the furnishings are original, Tietjens said.

"When you go to even most antebellum homes, the guide will tell you most pieces are period pieces," representing the style of what was originally in the home, but not the actual pieces themselves. "When (Helen and Marion) passed away, nothing left the home."

Kansas explorers

"This is a good thing for Kansas, and for Abilene," Mayo said. "All of these cultural artifacts belong to the public, and it's their awareness that keeps them going.

"I think it's great that Marci has found a way to create public awareness of the state and its culture. I think she's spot-on."

"Marci" is Marci Penner, director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation and author of "The Kansas Guidebook for Explorers."

When Penner and her father, Mil, were travelling Kansas researching what would become "The Kansas Guidebook for Explorers," they kept getting the same answers.

"People were always saying, 'We don't have anything -- try the next town over,' " Penner said Monday.

So instead of asking the general, "What's going on around here?" they instead drew up a list of "eight things every town has," and used that as the basis for their interrogations of the locals in preparing the book.

"When we asked, 'Tell us about your architecture,' it gave people something to zero in on," and they started getting much more useful answers, Penner said.

Penner's now turning that same technique of breaking attractions into categories, such as architecture or history, before asking the public to help pick the most popular.

Open for public tours

The goal of the Kansas Sampler Foundation is to promote tourism, Penner said, by informing people of interesting places to visit that might be off the beaten track.

Because of that, Penner said, "Places that don't do public tours are not likely to be considered."

That's one reason, she said, that the St. Fidelis Catholic Church at Victoria wasn't in the running for this contest.

The Seelye Mansion is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. The Lebold Mansion is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.

The foundation plans to run similar contests over the next few years, with each running for about four months.

Active within a few days will be the "art" contest, Penner said. For about a month, people will be able to nominate art from around the state via the foundation's Web site, www.kansassampler.org. After the nominations, the foundation will pick 24 nominees, which can then be voted for online.

After that contest will be similar ones for commerce, cuisine, customs, geography, history, and people.

Besides the honor, Mayo hopes such contests will stimulate visits to the places recognized.

"In the current economy, museums are the first thing to go when people are worrying about their pocketbooks," he said. "When the public comes, we survive. When they don't, we don't."

n Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by e-mail at mstrand@salina.com.

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