Weeks Mansion

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Weeks Mansion. Now, when oil money starts flowing in Wichita County, it has a way of turning into something permanent. Brick and mortar.

Columns and landscaped grounds. A statement that says, I was here, and I did well. Fred Weeks made his fortune as a lawyer right in the middle of that oil boom, and somewhere along the way he decided it was time to build.

Between 1924 and 1926, that decision took shape as one of the most elegant homes in the area. Fred Weeks was born in 1888 and lived all the way to 1977, so he had plenty of years to enjoy what he built. For the design, he reached all the way to Kansas City, bringing in architect J.

F. Louck to draw up the plans. And those plans called for something special, not just in the architecture but right down to the bricks themselves.

Specially made Kansas bricks. And the man who laid every last one of them was a local brick mason named Walter McAbee. The finished mansion sat in the middle of a thirteen-acre landscaped tract.

Thirteen acres of grounds, shaped and tended, framing this house like a painting. Inside those walls, the Weeks family hosted musical recitals. You can almost hear it, the notes drifting out across those acres on a quiet evening.

Now, the mansion outlasted its first owner's tenure in it, as grand houses tend to do. Two more oilmen would call it home after Fred Weeks. George F.

LeBus, born in 1876 and gone by 1956, and Charles H. Featherston, born in 1886 and gone by 1969. Oil built this house, and oil kept it in good company.

Some places just seem to know what kind of people belong inside them.

What the marker says

A lawyer who made a fortune during the oil boom in this area, Fred Weeks (1888-1977) erected this elegant home in 1924-26. Designed by Kansas City architect J. F. Louck, the mansion stood in the middle of a 13-acre landscaped tract. Local brick mason Walter McAbee laid the specially made Kansas bricks. The Weeks family often hosted musical recitals here. Two later owners, George F. LeBus (1876-1956) and Charles H. Featherston (1886-1969), were also oilmen.