It's time for Positively Kansas.

Coming up, a new museum for a new generation honors Kansas's most famous aviator.

It's the grand opening of the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum.

We'll take you there.

Also, the Kansas governor's mansion has been closed down for public tours since the pandemic hit.

But we got our own private tour and we'll show you what it's like in there if you've never had the chance to see it.

Plus, we'll take you to some crumbling old Kansas places filled with ghosts from the past.

And in our Kansas Wild Edge report, we'll go searching for minks in the great outdoors.

Im Sierra Scott, a half hour of information and inspiration is coming your way on this edition of Positively Kansas.

It's a new development in a famous ongoing story.

It's 86 years since Kansas aviator Amelia Earhart vanished while attempting to become the first woman to fly around the world.

Now in her hometown of Atchison, a new museum opens that examines her life and achievements in new ways.

Jim Grawe brings us a first look at the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum.

Next to the Wright brothers and Charles Lindbergh, Kansan Amelia Earhart may be the most famous aviator of all time, famous for her daring accomplishments-- Lady Lindy slides into a perfect land with two records-- the first woman to fly the Atlantic, and the first person to fly it solo.

And even more famous for the mystery surrounding her final flight.

This was to have been her greatest achievement.

A sky dash of 28,000 miles.

Then to a waiting world came news of disaster as the plane failed to reach tiny Howland Island in the Pacific.

Earhart's courageous life has inspired generations of female pilots.

Among them, Nancy Cullen of Wichita, who is building her own airplane.

She had a great sense of adventure.

By bucking the system, she also put people off.

I think a lot of times, but she just knew what she wanted to do and did it.

In Earharts hometown of Atchison, a new interactive, innovative museum is all about her life and its continued impact on aviation.

It tells the story of Amelia, but it also helps adults and kids understand all of the things that they should about being a mechanic, being an aviator, all of those things.

At the center of it all is the only surviving Lockheed Model 10E Electra.

That's the same kind of plane Earhart flew on her final ill fated flight.

Buying this plane and displaying it in Atchison was the dream of local pilot Ladd Seaberg.

It was my husband's vision.

His widow, Karen, is board president and mastermind of the new museum.

My husband met the person who restored this airplane in the eighties, and he wanted this plane back in Atchison.

He got a rare neurological disease and was very sick when the plane got here in 2016.

But he got to see it come and he could still put his thumb up and say, I see it.

After his death, Mrs. Seaberg took her husband's idea and blew it up into something that is truly one of a kind.

He would never have figured this.

Never.

I hope he's looking down and he knows.

She says it's the only aviation museum in the world that integrates history with STEM.

STEM is an educational acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.

Bombardier, Boeing, Lockheed and FedEx are among the donors that helped make the $17 million museum a reality.

Adults are going to love this museum.

But kids, girls and boys, we need aviators.

Everybody knows that today because things are happening.

We need mechanics.

We don't just need college kids.

We need people who can actually go out and build these things.

Dimensional innovations of Overland Park designed, built and installed this collection of hands on interactive exhibits.

Visitors are greeted in the lobby by Amelia herself in virtual form.

Then they walk into the expansive hangar to experience all these exhibits that are related to Earhart's life and accomplishments.

You can dress up like her electronically and you can also take her place in the pilot's seat.

You can't get on the plane, obviously.

So over here, we have a replica of the inside of the plane with all the same dials.

And you can see how tough it was to sit in this little tiny cockpit for 18 hours from New Guinea going towards Howland.

Experience how she had to navigate by the stars.

Learn about the major impacts she and other women have had on aviation.

And learn how Amelia inspired First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to get her student pilot's license.

And they went up with their gowns on and flew.

One night after a big dinner and her husband then finally went, That's it.

You are not going to be a full pilot.

Visitors also experience the technology and mechanics of flight by riveting a wing and seeing how an engine works.

We have a compare and contrast of the Pratt Whitney 1340 engine that's on this plane with the jet engine of today.

A flight simulator lets virtual pilots attempt Amelia's final flight.

And then we decided we had to put in the mystery because that's what everybody's so interested in.

You can explore the six plausible theories about Amelia's disappearance and then vote on which one you believe.

Those are just some of the things you can see and do at this one of a kind place that celebrates the life and legacy of this dimensional early 20th century heroine.

I think what excites me the most about her is even though she was this adventurous, very competitive woman, when she was in the Powder Puff Derby, she came in third.

And the reason she came in third is one of her friends crashed and she stopped to help them and didn't come in first.

And to me, it tells me so much about her character that she reached for the stars.

She was very adventurous, but also compassionate.

Lessons in life intersect with adventure and technology.

The Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum is bold and cutting edge, like Amelia herself.

In Atchison, Im Jim Grawe for Positively Kansas.

Boeing, Bombardier and Lockheed Martin are among the museum's sponsors.

Smithsonian magazine lists the Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum among America's most anticipated museum openings in 2023.

Now we go to the capital city and the more elegant side of state government.

Stately old Cedar Crest has served as the Kansas governor's mansion for more than 60 years.

Public tours have been suspended ever since the pandemic hit, and Jim Grawe recently visited there and shows us the old home has never looked better.

In Topeka, there's a grand estate that stands on a hill overlooking the Kansas River Valley.

Cedar Crest.

That's a beautiful place.

Cedar Crest was originally the country home of newspaper publisher and editor Frank MacClennan.

MacClennan became a rich man, turning the Topeka State Journal into one of the state's most influential newspapers.

He's really a product of that same time that brought us William Allen White and Henry J. Allen and Rolla Clymer and the Murdochs and so forth, that this was at a time when a newspaper editor was a significant leader in the community to a degree that we don't see today in modern media.

Also, a banker and hotel owner, MacClennan spent $60,000 to have this home built in 1928.

It was designed by the prominent Kansas City architecture firm, Wight & Wight.

This is a great example of a stream of architecture called academic eclecticism that came out of the late 19th century into the 20th century.

And the impulse for that is what they call the bozar, the school of the bozar in Paris.

And they focused on the study of buildings and the sketching of buildings.

And they focused on doing every kind of style that was possible.

They made basically symmetrical plans.

But the exterior could be like the Cedar Crest, which is a kind of French Norman country house.

Mr. MacClennan lived in Cedar Crest for just six years before he died.

Upon the death of Mrs. MacClennan in 1955, the property was willed to the state of Kansas for the express purpose of becoming the executive mansion.

It was a great thing for the family to give to the state of Kansas because the old governor's mansion was falling apart.

224 acres of the estate were to be open to the public as a park.

The home and 20 acres were to be reserved for the governor and state business.

However, over the next seven years, Kansas had three governors, none of which wanted to live at Cedar Crest.

But the interesting fact is that it wasn't until 1962 John Anderson, a governor at the time, was willing to move out to Cedar Crest because at the time it was seen as too far from the capital.

The mansion was five miles out in the country.

Streets were unpaved and there was no quick way to get from there to the Capitol building.

It wasn't the easy eight minute drive that it is today.

Fortunately, Governor Anderson and his four children had Shetland ponies, and so they loved having the large space for the kids to bring their ponies and be able to kind of have that idyllic country life.

Street improvements around this time also shortened the commute.

Kansas governors have lived and entertained here ever since.

When you enter the foyer, one of the things you're going to see first off is the state seal rug.

Much of the first floor interior is still original to the MacClennans.

When you walk in, it's a dramatic experience because all that paneling has been kept, the flooring has been kept, and a lot of the furniture is the same.

If you walk into the living room, you'll see kind of an expansive space.

It does have Mr. MacClennan's 1500 books and you'll see the native limestone fireplace.

All of that is a very inviting, warm place.

When you go to the right, that's where you see the dining room.

Of all the furniture that we have here.

The dining room probably has the most historic furniture.

That was Governor Schoeppels as governor in the forties and that furniture he donated and came from the former governor's residence.

You'll see on the ceiling it's a raised Italian relief motif.

In the hallway, these are the portraits of Madge and Frank MacClennan.

In the library, this was where Mr. MacClennan had his desk and probably spent quite a bit of his time.

Around the ceiling, you will see items that he personally designed or asked to be included in the home.

It has wonderful paneling and lots of wood carvings and lots of bookmarks and printer's marks from many different printers from England.

Updates through the years have maintained or improved upon the home's comfort and elegance.

I would say for most of the first families, they always kind of want to leave it better than they found it.

Pretty much each governor that I know has lived here has wanted to leave it a little bit in better condition or do something to enhance it.

I know Governor Finney was the first one that wanted to try to make the sunroom into an all weather room.

There is a hutch in there that was was designed by Hutchinson artist Mike Livingston.

And that's something we use for entertaining.

You also see a Tiffany like lamp and then Governor Sebelius put in the pavilion above the patio to make it a little bit more conducive for entertaining.

And then the Brownback's they redid the hardwood floors on the second floor.

The second and third floors are where the first family sleeps and enjoys more casual private space.

In the late 1990, as First Lady Linda Graves raised half of the $4.4 million from private donations for a major renovation that helped ensure the home's future.

For many more governors to come.

This home was taken back every floor from the basement to the third floor was taken back to the studs.

New heating, plumbing, cooling.

Then the house was put back together to maintain its original 1928 style, which was a departure from earlier grandiose institutional style mansions.

The architecture itself, though it is part of this cottage movement in the years of the early 20th century, there is a moving away from the grandiose houses to what's sometimes called the small house movement, or even if it's a substantial home, something that looks more cottage-like, less imposing, more brought into the landscape, if you will.

And this was at a time when Tudor revival was extremely popular.

And that cottage look then seems informal, homey, but also rooted in tradition.

At 6000 square feet, this is said to be the smallest governor's residence in the country.

I think it surprises the governors.

I think it surprises people that come tour is how small the house is, even though it looks so huge and expansive from the outside that when you get in here, sometimes it's a lot more...

It's a lot cozier.

It's a lot more limited in space than you would anticipate.

Cozy to live in.

While stately and elegant enough to serve as a proud landmark and symbol for our state.

I think that this home is like the people of Kansas.

This home.

It's our way of kind of presenting ourselves to visitors.

It's kind of a showpiece.

I think it's a perfect place for a governor of Kansas who's an important person to us.

Perfect setting, wonderful landscaping.

There's not going to be another one because this one is as good as you can get.

Public tours of Cedar Crest are expected to resume soon.

You can contact the Kansas Historical Society for more information.

Cedar Crest is featured in a new PBS Kansas documentary, Historic Buildings of Kansas Part III.

DVDs are available by contacting PBS Kansas.

The Kansas Historical Society estimates there are some 6000 ghost towns across Kansas.

These are settlements that once thrived.

But for one reason or another died out.

Chris Frank shows us why these lost communities are so interesting.

There's a lot to learn about our Kansas history by looking into Kansas ghost towns.

Many of those ghost towns left no visible trace of their existence on their former town sites.

In Kansas.

Ghost Towns Part II, we find and explore more of the interesting stories from town sites with or without visible urban remains.

It may be difficult to visualize now, but before Wichita became the state's largest city, it faced stiff competition from another Sedgwick County town.

That competing town was Park City.

No, not the present day Park City.

Situated just north of Wichita, but even the name of present day Park City was inspired from Old Park City.

The Ghost Town.

Old Park City wanted to be everything Wichita became, but failed.

Park City was located about five miles west of Valley Center An old map locates the town where 77th North and Maize Road intersect with the Arkansas River.

There are no visible town remains here to be found.

More than 150 years of farming has hidden whatever town layout there was.

This is the only known photograph remaining of Park City.

The town popped up in 1870, the same year Wichita Incorporated.

A couple of known former Park City structures remain.

One of those is in the town of Sedgwick.

This museum on Sedgwicks Commercial Street was originally Park City's Dram Shop Saloon in 1870.

It was moved here in about the 1880s from the original Park City town site.

Park City was about eight miles southwest of Sedgwick.

The building was a physician's office and drugstore in Sedgwick for decades.

Perhaps the most knowledgeable person on historic Park City is Sandra Wiechert.

Wiechert, originally of Wichita.

Now lives in Lawrence.

In 1966, she wrote her K-State Masters history thesis on Park City, how it lived, why it died.

Oh, there's a picture at the invitation of PBS Kansas, Wiechert Visited the former Dram Shop Building in Sedgwick and the old Park City townsite.

Wiechert says in her research, she found that Park City town organizers didn't have the business sense to build a successful town.

They did not seem to be sound.

That is, they would advertise these wonderful things were going to happen.

It was going to they were going to have a beautiful park with lots of beautiful trees.

As soon as the trees were planted, which, of course, they never were.

So there was really nothing to see there.

There was no proof that they were doing much.

After two years of striving against Wichita, it became clear to Park City leaders their town wasn't going to be the county seat, get the cattle trail or become a railroad hub.

So the town folded.

Its post office closed in 1876.

The town's wood frame buildings, like the Dram Shop, were moved to other towns and farmsteads.

Park City was soon dropped from county maps, though the Park Township remained.

There are plenty of ghostly looking towns to be found.

In Chase County, three towns in a row along the Cottonwood River-- Elmdale, Clements and Cedar Point-- were once busy with life, but the same Cottonwood River, which powered this historic gristmill in Cedar Point, also brought destructive floods to those communities.

Still, the fading towns have sights to see.

One such site is the Drinkwater & Schriver Mill, which was completed in 1875.

There is an effort to restore it.

Another gem is this Stone Arch Bridge near Clements.

The bridge hasn't had vehicular traffic for decades, but foot traffic is allowed.

Both the mill and the bridge are on the National Register of Historic Places.

There are many locations in Kansas with historical significance, but which have no visible evidence remaining to be seen by a passer by.

One such location was Cale in the southernmost part of Cowley County, four miles south of Arkansas City.

Cale was one of those state long border towns where pioneers gathered in anticipation of the September 1893 Oklahoma land run.

No building structures remain here for even the loneliest of ghosts to hide.

Other significant Kansas-Oklahoma border towns include Hunnewell in Sumner County and Cameron in Harper.

Both swelled in population during the lead up to the Cherokee strip land rush.

All these dying towns make chapters in our state's history, helping us to understand how Kansas was settled with lessons to be learned about city building.

This is Chris Frank for Positively Kansas.

Look for Kansas Ghost Towns Part II airing soon on PBS Kansas.

In this week's Kansas Wild Edge, Mike Blair shows us why the mink is such an interesting and elusive creature.

It's a lucky glimpse to see a mink in daylight.

These handsome mammals, known to most through legend and lore, are mainly nocturnal, hunting the edge of water and land under the moon and stars, they lead mostly secretive lives, at least until their youngsters get hungry.

Then no one gets any sleep.

Young minks are active now, fresh out of the dens and learning to hunt.

It makes no difference that daytime temperatures reach well above 100 and that the sun is fiery, bright in the sky.

After all, a dip is always waiting and there's just too much to explore after being confined in the nursery den.

Minks are curious creatures cautious, but largely unafraid.

They are roughly the size of fox squirrels, but they're skilled and deadly hunters.

They live wherever good water is found.

Streams, marshes, lakes and reservoirs.

Their diet covers a wide range of prey, but they skip all the vegetables.

For them, it's meat only.

And that includes ducks, muskrats, fish, crustaceans, birds, whatever they're big enough to tackle.

Early summer, mom takes them hunting.

A few weeks earlier, she's busy finding food for her litter, which averages about five young.

That takes constant work.

But once the young are able to tag along, she plays the role of supervisor.

Leading them to good hunting grounds, she's content to rest in the shade while the kids play.

And for young minks, that means hunting.

Today, she brings two youngsters from her stream side den, up and over a road to a small lake lined with rip rap.

The jagged rocks make a labyrinth of tunnels and chambers to explore and hunt.

The fertile lake is full of food.

It's a perfect training site.

Her young son needs no prodding.

For him, nothing's better than to run free.

Investigating every nook and catching anything not fast enough to get away.

When successful, he follows the natural mink way, bringing the meal to a den or special holding area where it can be eaten later.

Mink commonly kill more than they can eat, placing it in a special place known as a cache.

Then they eat it later.

Today, he's doing nearly all the hunting for mom and sis.

While they wait in the dense shoreline thicket of water willow, he runs back and forth over a 100 yard area, taking them food.

This effort, carried on at the speed of the bounding youngster, conditions and strengthens him, sharpens his hunting skills and gets him ready for the time he'll break away from the family group in late summer.

For him, it's a good time.

He hunts equally well on land or in water.

He's already an excellent swimmer, and rounding a rock, he may surprise a group of spawning green sunfish along the shallows.

They know all about minks and they watch for such danger.

At the first flash of movement, they scatter and escape.

But not all are so lucky.

Often he grabs the fish that move too slowly.

Underwater, only a sudden ripple tells the story.

And then it's back to the cache and off to another hunt.

Crawdads are a favorite now.

The big crustaceans make a tasty meal, and the young mink easily avoids their sharp pinchers.

Crawdads are plentiful in the lake and the lucky ones are well entrenched under shaded rocks.

But others move freely among underwater cracks and crevices.

They are the targets of the hunting mink, and he seldom goes more than 15 minutes without catching one.

When he stops to dine, he'll often eat the head and claws first.

By mid-afternoon, even this enthusiastic hunter needs a nap.

Things quiet down along the shoreline as he joins the others in the shaded retreat.

But it won't be long until he's at it again, being a mink and loving it.

And for us, providing a rare daytime look at these special animals.

I'm Mike Blair for Positively Kansas.

Well that's a wrap for this week.

We always appreciate your story ideas.

I'm Sierra Scott.

Thanks so much for watching.

We'll see you again soon.