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St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church near Colwich. Historically, the church is considered the Mother Church of Catholic churches in Sedgwick County. Some of the limestone used in the construction of the building was originally used in Wichita Watch Factory. (April 4, 2012)

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Jaime Green / The Wichita Eagle

For generations, members of Calvary Baptist Church flocked to the brick building at 601 N. Water in downtown Wichita. The church was constructed in 1917 and used until 1975, when the congregation moved to a new building at 2653 N. Hillside. The old building is now the site of the Kansas African American Museum. (Thursday, Apr. 5, 2012. )

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Mike Hutmacher / The Wichita Eagle

Wichita Community Theatre building, originally Temple Emanuel, at Fountain and 2nd street. Congregation Emanu-El was founded in 1885 and is now located at 7011 E. Central. In 1922, the Congregation built a temple where the Wichita Community Theatre now meets at 2nd and Fountain. (Thursday, Apr. 5, 2012.)

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Mike Hutmacher / The Wichita Eagle

The Beecher Bible and Rifle Church in Wabaunsee was formed by a group of settlers from New Haven, Ct., who came to Kansas to try and keep Kansas from becoming a slave state. Although it wasnÕt dedicated until May 1862, the Beecher Bible and Rifle Church has a rich "Bleeding Kansas" history as its legacy. Before the Civil War, residents in the Kansas Territory struggled to decide whether Kansas would be admitted to the Union as a slave or free state. (File photo) On the East Coast, a group of anti-slavery people decided to uproot themselves and their families for the Kansas Territory to ensure Kansas would be a free state. Henry Ward Beecher, an abolitionist minister from Brooklyn, pledged his congregation would give money for rifles if others would do the same. More than $625 was raised to purchase rifles and a box of 25 Bibles. The "Beecher" rifles were placed in crates marked "Bibles" so they would not arouse suspicion.

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Travis Heying / The Wichita Eagle

St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral in Wichita, Kansas. By the turn of the 20th century, Wichita had become the center of Arab settlement in Kansas, with more than 200 Syrian residents. At the same time, Orthodox Christianity was beginning to become a part of Wichita's cultural traditions. Traveling Orthodox priests held services in private homes until Wichita's first Syrian Orthodox Church, St. George, now located at 7515 East 13th, was founded in 1918. (File photo)

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File photo / The Wichita Eagle

The Nazareth Convent and College in Concordia, Kansas. The gothic five-story building, started in 1902. Constructed of limestone and brick. Best known for its corner minarets, the rose window of the chapel wing and the central tower. The tower has a pyramidal roof with four opposed dormers and is topped by a cross. (File photo)

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Travis Heying / The Wichita Eagle

The Campbell Chapel AME Church is Atchison, Kansas. Revival-style architecture. Historically significant because of the role the church played in the growth of AtchisonÕs African-American community. Many of the founders were former slaves. The church was founded in 1865. (File photo)

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File photo / The Wichita Eagle

Alexanderwohl Mennonite Church, a mile north of Goessel on K-15, was built by Mennonites in Kansas who are descendants of German immigrants from Russia in the 1870s and 1880s. The building is constructed in the Dutch Mennonite style; the interior is built so worshippers surround the worship leader, reflecting the idea of community. (File photo)

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Mike Hutmacher / The Wichita Eagle

Place of Meditation Chapel at the Eisenhower Center in Abilene, Kansas. In 1962, nationally known stained-glass artist Odell Prather, originally of Wichita, was commissioned to do the windows in the chapel at the Eisenhower Center in Abilene. She was asked to do something abstract so as not to offend a person of any faith. She based her artwork on the Kansas Plains. The chapel is where the nationÕs 34th president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and his wife, Mamie, along with their first-born son, Dowd, are buried. (File photo)

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Mike Hutmacher / The Wichita Eagle

St. Patrick's Mission Church, east of Chapman, Kansas. The simple limestone church was built in 1861 by the Irish Catholic community of Chapman. Original windows and doors were brought by ox cart from Leavenworth. (File photo)

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Mike Hutmacher / The Wichita Eagle

St. Fidelis Catholic Church, better known as the Cathedral of the Plains. William Jennings Bryan nicknamed St. Fidelis Catholic Church the "Cathedral of the Plains" when he visited the town in 1912. The church, considered the largest west of the Mississippi when it was completed in 1911, can seat more than 1,100 people. It was built by Volga Germans who settled the area in the late 19th century. Built in the Romanesque style, the church is known for its twin towers, which soar 140 feet above the plains, and its stained-glass windows. (File photo)

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File photo / The Wichita Eagle

St. Catherine's Catholic Church in Catherine, Kansas. The town is named after Catherine the Great of Russia and was settled by Volga Germans more than 125 years ago. The church holds pieces of a large wooden cross used by immigrants to mark a site of outdoor worship before the church was built. Work on the church began in May 1890. Parishioners quarried and hauled limestone from as far as 15 miles away. (File photo)

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File photo / AP

Members of the Hebrew Congregation gathered at Kansas and English, where the congregation built its first synagogue at a cost of $3,500 in 1930, after years of meeting in homes and other buildings. Now, the art deco building is home to the First Metropolitan Community Church. (Thursday, Apr. 5, 2012.)

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Mike Hutmacher / The Wichita Eagle

Members of the Hebrew Congregation gathered at Kansas and English, where the congregation built its first synagogue at a cost of $3,500 in 1930, after years of meeting in homes and other buildings. Now, the art deco building is home to the First Metropolitan Community Church. (Thursday, Apr. 5, 2012.)

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Mike Hutmacher / The Wichita Eagle