Kirk, Sennett and Bertha, House

About this property

Sennett and Bertha Kirk House is a 1913 Colonial Revival house in Garnett, Kansas, United States. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 2005. In 2017, the house is operated as The Kirk House, a bed and breakfast. A banker for more than half a century, Sennett Kirk was cashier of the Garnett State Savings Bank from the time his father, Lester K, Kirk, opened it on September 6, 1889 until Sennett Kirk became bank vice-president in 1947. Sennett Kirk also served as secretary of the Garnett Mutual Loan and Savings Association organized in October 1894. The Garnett State Savings Bank moved into the northwest room of the Kirk Building in 1901. Sennett Kirk married Bertha Mellen of Garnett on June 12, 1901 and they lived on Fourth Avenue their entire married life. Bertha was born January 11, 1873, in Greeley, Kansas, the daughter of William and Emma Mellen. She attended the University of Kansas and graduated from the Tulton and Trueblood School of Oratory in Kansas City, Missouri. She taught in the State School for the Deaf in Jacksonville, Illinois, and then in the Kansas School for the Deaf in Olathe. Bertha Mellen Kirk was a member of the Congregational Church. Sennett and Bertha Kirk's first child, Leta was born November 19, 1903. Another daughter, Bertha, was born January 4, 1906. A son, Sennett Kirk, Jr., was born September 14, 1909. Because of their wealth, education, and social connections, the Kirks were influential in the local Garnett community. Sennett Kirk's father, the Hon. Lester K. Kirk, was elected on April 4, 1870 to be the first mayor of the city of Garnett when it was granted third class status (in Kansas this means it had a population between 2,000-5,000). When Lester Kirk died on July 4, 1902, he was known as a prominent attorney and "one of the foremost citizens of Anderson. County." He also served as county attorney, state representative and state senator. A long-time friend Manford Schoonover wrote in Kirk's obituary, "there are a score or more of men in Anderson County who owe their start in life to his help financially, and by council and friendship." Martha Lindsay Kirk, wife of L. K. Kirk, died April 7, 1908. She was well known in Garnett and Anderson County and had been prominent in social and church circles since the early days of settlement. Bertha Kirk's father was William H. Mellen, one of the oldest and best known businessmen of Garnett and Anderson County. He taught school at Greeley in 1871 and was elected Register of Deeds of Anderson County. Mellen then finished an unexpired term as County Treasurer. His wife died in 1889, and after that time he lived with his three daughters. In an obituary September 29, 1899, William Mellen was described as "a highly educated man, a poet of merit, and a progressive man in business circles."

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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