Hotel Josephine selected for state historic register

Holton’s historic Hotel Josephine, once referred to as “the longest continuously operating hotel west of the Mississippi,” is now on the Register of Historic Kansas Places — and could soon be a part of the National Register of Historic Places, it has been reported.

The hotel, which was built in 1889 and purchased last summer by Topeka architect and developer Bryan Falk with the intent of remodeling the hotel into residential housing, was approved by the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review for listing in the state historic register at a Feb. 3 meeting of the board following a recent visit to the hotel site.

Katrina Ringler, deputy state historic preservation officer and director of the Kansas Historical Society’s Cultural Resources Division, said the historic sites review board at that time also recommended that the State Historic Preservation Office forward the hotel’s nomination to the office of the Keeper of the National Register in Washington, D.C., for recommendation.

“If they concur with the findings of the Kansas Historic Sites Board of Review, the property will be included in the National Register of Historic Places within about 45 days of receipt,” Ringler said.

If approved for the National Register, Hotel Josephine would be the fourth location in Holton and the seventh in Jackson County to be listed on the register, according to NPS records.

Ringler noted that having the hotel listed in the state and national registers would qualify the property for certain financial incentives, including grant and tax credit programs. The listing would also provide “recognition of the historic importance this place has to the community and state and assures protective review projects that might adversely affect the character of the historic property,” she added.

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