Finding the History Within: The Graham Rogers Home
The Graham Rogers home, located at 6741 Mackey Road in Overland Park, KS is an example of how some of the earliest homes of our area, those built by the Shawnee Indians, can still be found today.
Graham Rogers, a member of the Shawnee Indian Tribe, first came to this area around 1828. He trained at the Shawnee Methodist Mission in Wyandotte County as a carpenter. In 1838, the mission relocated to what is now Fairway, and Rogers worked as an independent contractor on the construction of both the main brick buildings and log outbuildings. It is likely that Graham Rogers chose the site for his own home shortly after this time. For himself and his family, Rogers built a two-story structure, consisting of two log buildings with a roofed “dog trot” between them. The impressive house measured approximately 42 feet in length, with a stone chimney at each end.
By the mid-1860s, Graham Rogers had developed a prosperous farm and had served several terms as Chief of the Shawnee. However, the land of the Shawnee reservation had been opened to all settlers a decade earlier and many members of the Shawnee tribe were preparing to move to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma.) In 1868, Graham Rogers began to sell his farmland in preparation for the move. Henry Coppock bought 800 acres of Rogers’ land including the house, and named the property Oak Park Farms. Sometime before 1874, the log exterior was covered with siding. Eventually, Coppock built a new home for himself on the property, but the old home remained, housing various tenants.
Memory of the old Rogers house faded over the years. By 1952, the building was dilapidated and in need of rehabilitation. A front section of the home was removed, revealing the two-story hand hewn log walls of the main structure. Some area residents remembered the old house’s link to the Coppocks, but evidence linking it to Graham Rogers did not resurface until the 1980s when an 1859 sketch of the Rogers home was found. With the striking similarities of physical features, the house’s location and its ties to the Coppock family, many became convinced that the old house on Mackey Road was the original home of Graham Rogers. The structure was officially recognized as the Graham Rogers House on August 27, 1988 when it was placed on the State Register of Historic Kansas Places.
--ALBUM vol. 18, no. 1 (winter 2005)