TIMELINE of EVENTS leading to the present ENSOR PARK and MUSEUM. 1875 Bill Mc Cabe built a Cabin on the 80 acres of land he bought from the state of Kansas for $750.00. 1889 The North Barn construction was started. 1890 Work on the Main House was started. 1891 Bill Mc Cabe died of pneumonia. There were other owners before the Ensors bought. 1896 The center part of the Cow Barn construction was begun. 1898 Jacob F. Ensor and Ida DeVillebis were married and moved to Johnson County, Kansas from Maryland. Their first leased farm was near what is now 87th and Antioch. 1899 Marshall Hamilton Ensor was born. 1900 The center part of the Cow Barn was finished. 1900 First phase of main House construction was completed by owner Mr. Bill Smith. 1904 Loretta Ensor was born April 22. 1909 Jacob and Ida Ensor purchased the 120 acre farm property for $12,000. 1910 The North Basement was finished with a concrete floor. 1910 Marshall started woodworking. His cousin gave him a hand scroll saw that he used to craft miniature furniture items from cigar box wood. 1912-16 The front and back Porches were added, as well as the extended Bay Windows on the west. 1915 Marshall designed and built the Kitchen Cabinet from tree wood of the farm. It was entered in a national high school woodwork contest sponsored by the SIMOND SAW COMPANY. Of 1000 entries, he won the first prize, a Woodworkers Tool set worth over $35.00. 1916 Marshall built a communications Spark Gap Radio. It was battery operated. 1917 Marshall graduated from the Olathe High School where he had become a paid teaching assistant. 1918 Marshall was hired to teach the High School Industrial Arts. He also graduated from the Sweeney Automotive School and attended Kansas State Teachers College part time. 1920s The farm Machine Shed was built. 1921 Marshall formed a Radio Club and Leon Harris was a Charter Member. 1922 The Radio Station 9BSP was licensed at the home. The radio used batteries in the basement and was located in the kitchen. An 80 ft. tower just East of the driveway held the far end of the "Cage" antenna. 1922 Loretta played 'center' on the girls basketball team during junior and senior years. She won a Silver Cup for her performance. 1923 Loretta graduated from Olathe High School, and passed the FCC 1st Class Radio exam to become 9UA, and the Trustee of the first School Radio Station in Kansas. 1924 The 4 horsepower 1911 CUSHMAN Engine became the new motor for driving the generator. The generator charged the 800 volts lead acid batteries. 1925 Marshall began building the Radio Room onto the house at the east side of the kitchen. The wood, windows, and door came from the dismantled Eureka Baptist Church at 175 th and Pflumm. 1926 Loretta became the first American woman's voice to span the Pacific Ocean in contact with a New Zealand station. 1927 In the United States 'W' prefix was added to radio calls. Thus, 9BSP and 9UA become W9BSP and W9UA. 1929 A 2nd modified 80 foot tall Windmill Towers became support for the 246 foot long wire antenna for teaching Radio Lessons. 1929 A new powerful transmitter was built and Marshall began using it to teach radio listeners the Morse code and radio theory so they also could become Amateur Radio Operators. The American Radio Relay League sanctioned the work. Only a few stations did this free effort to gain operators. 1930 Marshall married schoolteacher and librarian, Miss Ina Dana. 1930 Marshall built the Concrete Stairs to the basement. 1932 Marshall earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Kansas State Teachers College, Pittsburg KS. 1935 Commercial electric lines came to the farm. W9BSP became 500 watts in a handsome cabinet. 1936 William S. Paley, of CBS Radio Network, began the special Amateur Radio Awards program. 1937 Marshall used several power line transformers (pole pigs) to get 2400 volts to power his new 'handmade' 1000 watt Transmitter. 1937 Marshall designed and built the first automated Sports Scoreboard used at Olathe High School. 1937 Marshall designed and manufactured a Drill Press, later patented and sold. Black & Decker produced it. 1941 Assistant secretary, A. L. Budlong of The American Radio Relay League informed Marshall Ensor by mail on February 18, of his nomination to receive the William S. Paley award of 1940 for his 10 years of teaching thousands. 1941 The Olathe Chamber of Commerce, on May 27, gave a dinner in honor of Marshal Ensor's winning the Paley award. 1941 On June 2, Marshall Ensor received the 1940 William S. Paley Award at a luncheon at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. He and Loretta Ensor because she helped, were flown there on a TWA airliner. 1942 Marshall Ensor suffered severe injuries including fractured skull, pelvis, and arm when he fell while coming down a ladder from the gymnasium roof where he had just installed a new antenna for the high school's radio transmitter. His recovery, after eight weeks, was complete. 1942 Marshall became Chief Electronics Officer at the Naval Air Station in Seattle, Washington. He taught radio operators, oversaw repairs and helped in research of RDF. He was a Lt Commander. 1946 Marshall returned to Olathe, Kansas and his teaching job at the High School. 1953 For the next several years, students of Marshall's classes won national awards in the FORD Industrial Arts Competition. 1954 Marshall and others organized the first Civil Defense group in Kansas at the Olathe City offices. 1959 The entire Woodworking Class at Olathe High School won national awards for various projects. 1963 Thomas Brown, one of Marshall's wood students made a replica of the family rocking chair and it was accepted by the J. F. Kennedy White House. 1965 Marshall H. Ensor retired from teaching and set out to put things in order around the farm so that some day it might become a place where others could see what his farm life, teaching career, and early Amateur Radio was like. 1969 In October, during the halftime of the football game between Olathe and Ottawa High Schools, Dr. Melvin Winters, superintendent of schools named the Athletic Field after Marshall H. Ensor. The Olathe Naval Base assisted in the ceremony. 1970 After 70 years of farm life, 46 years of school teaching, 3 years in the Navy and 54 years of amateur radio operation, Marshall H. Ensor died after a short illness. 1973 Loretta did not renew her Amateur Radio License for another 10 year period, content to have operated for 50 years. 1987 After considerable planning, the Ensor Farm was deeded over to Johnson County Kansas. Loretta Ensor was able to keep living on the farm even after it became a Museum. After a length of time and operating disagreements, Loretta got a legal withdrawal of the agreement with Johnson County and regained ownership. She then decided to operate the Ensor Museum with aid of hired help. She assigned 3 long time family friends and a bank to become controlling Trustees upon her death, and continued living out her life within her museum home. She showed guests around the historic site with pride. Loretta Ensor continued being her gracious self and from time to time gave interviews as well as attended social events. 1991 Loretta was plagued with deforming arthritis and aided by using a cane. Upon her death in 1991 the long enduring story of two generations of the Ensor Farm Family came to a close. Not to be forgotten, the memories are kept alive at the ENSOR PARK and MUSEUM. 1995 The Museum re-opened as the non profit Ensor Farmsite and Museum operated by Trustees. 2004 The Museum property was accepted as a Kansas Historic Place and then approved as a National Historic Site. 2006 The City of Olathe worked with the nearly insolvent Loretta Ensor Trust to assume ownership and operation of the Historic site. The source of the above information was gleaned from periodic newspaper interviews, Ensor scrapbook, contact with museum staff, and verbal recorded interview of Loretta Ensor in 1988.