It’s always such a pleasure to see history being preserved. The Keene Road Conference Center is doing just that with the beautiful country home of William and Alice Sells. The color photograph is a recent photo from their website and the black and white photograph is a picture postcard which I bought several years ago. The house was built in 1910 and the post card was postmarked that year. It’s a card from Mrs. Alice Sells to her daughter Ava Sells, who was a student at Country Day School in Kansas City, Missouri. Ava had a beautiful singing voice and after attending Country Day, she went on to the Kansas City Conservatory of Music.

The sells family were wealthy farmers from Ohio and moved West to Maple Hill expecting to make their mark in the ranching and cattle industry. All went well until the Great Depression when like so many others, they lost most of their wealth and land.

Losing his property and wealth cost William Sells his life and after his death, Alice and Ava Sells had to move out of their beautiful home and into a small, one-story tenant house where they raised chickens and managed the remaining land.

They sold the “big” house to Alexander and Helen Adams, who remodeled it extensively. My father, John “Tim” Clark was a cowboy working for Alex Adams both on the Sells Ranch and on the XIT Ranch in western Kansas. My Dad was very fond of Alex and Helen and loved working with them. They had big outdoor game dinners at the Sells Ranch and they would send my Dad on the train to the western Kansas ranch to hunt game. Dad would then bring it back in a refrigerator car and Alex and Helen would have men from Kansas City come out and prepare the meal.

Alex Adams died suddenly and his widow Helen sold the ranch and moved to Topeka. After that time, my Dad worked for Alice and Ava Sells and we lived in another tenant house on the Sells Ranch. Dad enjoyed working for Alice and Ava, who were very gentile lades and didn’t know about farming and ranching. They were able to save about 900 acres of the original 3000 where they raised crops and cattle.

I used to love walking over to their little tenant house, where Alice Sells always had a fire in their kitchen wood range and cookies in the warming oven. The milk seperator was in a building near their house and I would go over to help turn the crank on the big seperator. The rich cream and milk was divided between the Sells and my Dad, and we used the milk to drink and the cream to make butter and wonderful desserts. I enjoyed both Alice and Ava Sells and always felt sorry for them having to go through the heart break of the Great Depression.

Alice and Ava Sells were very active in the American Legion Auxilliary during their lifetimes. They also attended the Maple Hill Community Congregational Church and participated in various activities there.

I wish the owners of the Keene Road Country Estate and Conference Center every success!

http://www.travelks.com/listings/Keene-Road-Country-Estate-and-Conference-Center/6046/