Papes Barn

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

From the record

One of 21 National Register listings published here for Ellis County · listed in 2015 · category: Building.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 890 Ellis Ave., Ellis, 67637
When was it listed? October 2015
Category. building
Also known as. Agriculture-Related Resources of Kansas MPS
Township. Big Creek township
National Register reference number. 15000689 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

12 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 12 fires within 5 miles of Papes Barn between 1996 and 2020, burning about 7,769 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Equipment and vehicle use	5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	3
Natural	2
Arson/incendiarism	1
Debris and open burning	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
15 September 2015	Equipment and vehicle use	2.0 acres	Kansas Forest Service	15-0156
15 September 2015	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Kansas Forest Service	15-0158
13 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Kansas Forest Service	254
4 July 2020	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Kansas Forest Service	not named
10 July 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	50 acres	Ellis County	017-195
25 May 2017	Natural	1.0 acres	Ellis County	017-137
2 April 2015	Natural	3.0 acres	Kansas Forest Service	15-0052
11 April 1996	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	7,600 acres	Ellis County	not named

Every fire recorded in Ellis County

Storms near this property

60 of 164 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Ellis, the town this property stands in, in 164 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 78 hail, 47 thunderstorm wind, 15 heavy rain, 13 tornado. The reports record 1 injury. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 2008	Tornado (EF1)	Ellis	1 hurt	This tornado produced EF1 damage to outbuildings, a storage tank, power poles and houses in Ellis. A female was injured when she went out to get her horse and was hit by flying debris from the tornado.
June 2003	Hail	Ellis	$1,500,000	no account filed
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	$500,000	The city manager reported multiple buildings destroyed and numerous buildings with partial damage. Forty percent of the headstones in the cemetery were turned over by the high wind. Also, big trees were snapped.
April 2001	Tornado (F2)	Ellis	$150,000	A tornado moved in from Trego county at 2209 and moved into Rooks county at 2238. It took out 50 power poles in Ellis county and damaged 13 farms. Roofs were removed on several homes and there was extensive damage done to several outbuildings and trailers. Two semis were overturned on I-70 west of Ellis causing several minor injuries. Reports of the infamous "roar" were noted in the Ellis community.
May 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	$40,000	A silo was destroyed and power lines down.
April 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	$30,000	Two semis overturned on I70
July 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	$15,000	no account filed
May 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	$1,500	A roof was blown off a medium sized utility building and a power pole was snapped in half.
August 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	A public weather station KKSELLIS46 recorded a 68 mph wind gust.
May 2025	Hail	Ellis	-	Public report of 1.75 inch hail.
August 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts in Ellis.
August 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	A wind gust was estimated to be around 60 MPH.
May 2021	Hail	Ellis	-	A public report relayed by the television media.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
May 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	A tree was blown down by the high wind.
May 2019	Heavy Rain	Ellis	-	Rainfall of 3.76 was reported.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be at least 60 MPH.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	A power pole was blown down by the high wind.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Large branches and a fence were blown down by winds estimated to be 70 MPH.
August 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 60 to 70 MPH.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Eight inch diameter tree branches were broken and a shed was blown down.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	There was significant damage done to a school roof and power lines were blown down.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Power lines were blown down.
July 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be at least 60 MPH.
May 2018	Flood	Ellis	-	Street flooding was reported.
July 2018	Heavy Rain	Ellis	-	Rainfall of 2.68 inches was measured.
September 2017	Heavy Rain	Ellis	-	Rainfall of 4.75 inches fell during the previous 24 hours.
April 2016	Flood	Ellis	-	Water was covering several roads in the Ellis area with a few washed out.
June 2016	Flash Flood	Ellis	-	Water from the Big Creek Basin flowed over some of the local roads and as much as 18 inches deep.
May 2016	Tornado (EF0)	Ellis	-	This was a brief and apparently weak tornado.
September 2016	Heavy Rain	Ellis	-	Rainfall of 5.56 inches was observed.
June 2014	Flood	Ellis	-	Water was over the roads at many locations.
June 2014	Flash Flood	Ellis	-	Heavy rain flooded most streets in Ellis and some county roads outside of town.
June 2014	Flood	Ellis	-	Flooding was observed northwest of Ellis near I70.
June 2014	Heavy Rain	Ellis	-	Rainfall of 4.27 inches was reported.
June 2014	Heavy Rain	Ellis	-	Rainfall of 4.50 inches was reported.
June 2014	Heavy Rain	Ellis	-	Rainfall of 4.52 inches was reported.
August 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	A small shop had some roof damage and also part of a brick wall. Large trees were blown down in town.
August 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 70 MPH.
August 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
May 2013	Tornado (EF1)	Ellis	-	This small tornado damaged some power poles and trees.
April 2013	Hail	Ellis	-	Hail pea to dime sized was covering the ground.
June 2013	Heavy Rain	Ellis	-	Heavy rainfall of 3 inches was reported near the intersection of 160th and Buckeye roads.
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	A porch roof was blown off and another roof was peeled back on a trailer house.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	A tree was uprooted and several large tree limbs were blown down.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH. Hail also fell but the size was never determined.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	There were several semi trucks blown over on Interstate 70 from winds of at least 60 MPH.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 60 MPH.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	A semi was blown off Interstate 70.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Large tree limbs were broken, a power pole was blown down and the roof was torn off a tin building.
June 2010	Flood	Ellis	-	Law enforcement reported major street flooding in Ellis.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 65 mph.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 70 mph.
June 2010	Hail	Ellis	-	The hail started out as golfball sized then became quarter sized. All window in the farm house were broken out. Several wheat fields in the area were destroyed.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Trees were blown down at several farms in northwest Ellis county.
May 2010	Tornado (EF0)	Ellis	-	The tornado passed across pasture land and did not strike anything.
May 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Ellis	-	Winds were estimated to be 70 mph.
August 2009	Hail	Ellis	-	The majority of the hail ranged from pea to nickel sized.
May 2008	Tornado (EF0)	Ellis	-	This tornado moved north and then northwest. No damage was reported.
May 2008	Tornado (EF0)	Ellis	-	This was a brief tornado.

Every storm recorded in Ellis County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 15000689 in Record Group 79.
Ellis County	All 21 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.