Lansing Historical Society and Museum

Lansing Historical Society and Museum Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Lansing Historical Society and Museum, Nonprofit Organization, 115 East Kansas Avenue/on the front lawn of what was once Kansas State Prison, Lansing, KS.
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Is dedicated to preserving the history of
Delaware Township, the City of Lansing,
Kansas State Penitentiary, including promoting historical tours and sharing local connections.

They came from across the Midwest—and from as far away as New Jersey and Texas—to step behind the walls of the historic ...
09/06/2026

They came from across the Midwest—and from as far away as New Jersey and Texas—to step behind the walls of the historic Kansas State Penitentiary.

This weekend, visitors walked these long corridors, stood before the rusting bars and entered a world once known only to the men and women who lived and worked here. Every cell has a story. Every tier holds an echo. And once you step inside, history suddenly becomes very real.

Book your tour at kansasstatepenitentiarytours.com

THE PACT WAS SIMPLE: NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO GET HURT.From left are Marvin Thornton, Larry Miller and Terry McClain—three...
09/06/2026

THE PACT WAS SIMPLE: NO ONE WAS SUPPOSED TO GET HURT.

From left are Marvin Thornton, Larry Miller and Terry McClain—three of the seven inmates who escaped from the Kansas State Penitentiary on Sunday, September 6, 1981. All three were recaptured and returned to the prison within hours.

The seven escapees had reportedly made a pact that there would be no violence. Hurting anyone, they believed, would only intensify the search.

Unfortunately, Bonner Springs police officer Doug Cansler had not yet been notified of the escape when he encountered the men inside a Bonner Springs home.

“I never shot to kill him. I just shot to drop him,” Thornton later said. “When you start leaving bodies all over the country, you’ll just draw more heat. Anybody blocking our path…we’re supposed to eliminate them. That’s the name of the game.”—Marvin Thornton, convicted murderer and escaped inmate.

Information was provided by The Wichita Eagle-Beacon.

Book your tour at kansasstatepenitentiarytours.com

Seven heavily armed inmates, including four men serving sentences for murder, escaped from the Kansas State Penitentiary...
09/05/2026

Seven heavily armed inmates, including four men serving sentences for murder, escaped from the Kansas State Penitentiary on September 6, 1981, passing through this gate beside what was then known as Tower 12.

Two of the escapees were from Wichita: Everett Cameron, 32, and Robert Bentley, 28. Both had been convicted in 1973 in the r**e of a 16-year-old bride just two hours after her wedding.

More on this tomorrow, as we mark the 45th anniversary of the Labor Day weekend breakout.

Take the tour: Kansasstatepenitentiarytours.com

At first glance, this 1981 photograph captures an ordinary lunch break at the Kansas State Penitentiary - hundreds of in...
09/05/2026

At first glance, this 1981 photograph captures an ordinary lunch break at the Kansas State Penitentiary - hundreds of inmates walking across the prison grounds. But behind this seemingly peaceful scene was a prison with a remarkable history of escapes.
Between 1967 and 1977, KSP recorded approximately 200 escapes or attempted escapes.
Looking at this photograph today, it is easy to imagine the tension behind the walls. Every movement had to be watched, because history had already shown that some of these men were searching for a way out.
Book your tour today at kansasstatepenitentiarytours.com

Photo and information were obtained from the Sept. 7, 1981 Wichita Eagle.

MOST CAR SHOWS ASK YOU TO PARK. THIS ONE SENDS YOU TO PRISON. On Saturday, September 26, drive your car through the gate...
09/04/2026

MOST CAR SHOWS ASK YOU TO PARK. THIS ONE SENDS YOU TO PRISON.

On Saturday, September 26, drive your car through the gates and onto the historic streets of the legendary Kansas State Penitentiary for the 5th Annual Behind the Walls Auto Show!

🏆 Trophies
🎸 Live music by Exit 13
🍔 Food truck
🚘 $35 includes the driver and one passenger
🎟️ Spectators are only $10 all day

This isn’t just another car show—it’s one day, one prison and an experience like no other.

Spaces are limited, so don’t wait. Preregister now at KansasStatePenitentiarytours.com.

DRIVE INSIDE HISTORY!

09/03/2026

THE GEORGIA ROAD KILLINGS
📍Rural Franklin County, Kansas •April–May 2013

CONTENT WARNING: This case involves the murder of an 18-month-old child.

On May 6, 2013, concerned friends went to a farmhouse along Georgia Road in rural Franklin County, approximately eight miles west of Ottawa, Kansas.

No one had been able to reach the people living there, and something felt wrong.

While searching an outbuilding, one of the friends noticed a tarp covering a large pile of debris. Near its edge sat a cinder block. When he looked through one of the openings in the block, he saw what appeared to be a badly decomposed face.

He immediately called 911.

The body was identified as 31-year-old Steven Eugene White, one of the men who had been living at the property.

But Steven would not be the only victim.

As investigators searched the farmhouse, they discovered two more bodies concealed beneath piles of clothing in the master bedroom.

One was 30-year-old Andrew Adam Stout, whose family owned the property.

The other was Andrew’s 21-year-old girlfriend, Kaylie Kathleen Smith Bailey.

Kaylie’s hands had been restrained behind her back with black zip ties. She was partially unclothed and had been killed by a sh***un blast to the back of her head.

Andrew had suffered several blows to his head before being shot four times, once in the face, once in the chest and twice in the back.

Investigators now had three murder victims.
But Kaylie’s 18-month-old daughter, Lana-Leigh Bailey, was nowhere to be found.

At that point, no one knew whether Lana was dead or alive.

The search for the little girl quickly expanded. Multiple law enforcement agencies and the FBI joined the investigation as authorities desperately searched rural roads, fields, waterways and bridges.

Meanwhile, investigators began looking for another person connected to the Georgia Road property: 27-year-old Kyle Trevor Flack.

Flack had been friends with Andrew for years and occasionally stayed at the farmhouse. He was known to carry a Re*****on 1300 12-gauge sh***un in a black duffel bag, sometimes even sleeping with it beside him.

Investigators located Flack in Emporia, where he was staying at a friend’s apartment.

Shortly after midnight on May 8, he was arrested.
Inside the apartment, officers found Flack’s black duffel bag. It contained a sh***un-cleaning kit, duct tape and black zip ties similar to those used to restrain Kaylie.

But Lana was still missing.

Three days later, on May 11, an Osage County deputy searching near Tequa Creek noticed discarded debris along the creek bank. Among it were shredded papers bearing the name “Bailey.”

Searchers entered the water and located a partially submerged black suitcase.

Inside was Lana.

The 18-month-old had been wrapped in her blanket, placed in the suitcase and discarded in the creek.
She had been killed by a close-range sh***un blast to her back.

Lana-Leigh had been alive for only 542 days.

As investigators pieced together the physical evidence, surveillance footage, phone records and witness statements, they began reconstructing what had happened at the Georgia Road farmhouse.

The murders had not occurred during one sudden outburst of violence.

Investigators believed the four victims were killed on three separate dates over approximately 11 days.
Steven White was believed to have been killed first, around April 20.

He had been shot twice with a 12-gauge sh***un once in the face and once in the chest. His body was then hidden beneath a tarp and debris in the outbuilding, where it remained for more than two weeks.

Even while Steven’s body was decomposing on the property, Flack continued spending time with Andrew, Kaylie and Lana as if nothing had happened.

On April 26, Andrew, Kaylie, Lana and Flack attended a barbecue at a friend’s home in Gardner.

The evening appeared completely normal.

The group grilled hamburgers, hot dogs and bratwurst. Lana played in a toy car, and Andrew and Kaylie talked about surprise gifts they had planned for one another.

Their friends later realized that Steven had not been there.

By then, prosecutors believed he was already dead.
On April 28, surveillance cameras captured Andrew and Flack together at businesses in Emporia, Ottawa and Pomona. They reportedly went bowling that evening.

Andrew was believed to have been killed around April 29.

His body was concealed in the master bedroom beneath a mound of clothing.

According to court records, Andrew had been planning for Kaylie and Lana to move into the farmhouse. The other people staying there were expected to leave by May 1.

Instead, Kaylie and Lana would become the final victims.

On the morning of May 1, Kaylie left Olathe with Lana to visit Andrew before Kaylie’s shift as a security guard.

Before leaving Olathe, she withdrew $30. After reaching Ottawa, she stopped at Burger King and purchased three meals, apparently expecting to eat with Andrew.

She then drove to the farmhouse on Georgia Road.
Investigators believed Kaylie was restrained before being forced to the floor and killed.

Lana was killed shortly afterward.

For the next several days, prosecutors said Flack remained at the farmhouse while the bodies of Steven, Andrew and Kaylie were concealed nearby.

Cell-tower records showed his phone remaining in the general area of the property from May 1 until the morning of May 3.

At approximately 10:40 a.m. on May 3, Flack’s phone registered about a mile and a half from the location where Lana’s body was later found.

Later that day, his phone began connecting to towers around Emporia.

Investigators believed Flack drove Kaylie’s Toyota Corolla to Emporia after disposing of Lana’s body.

On May 7, the day after the first bodies were discovered, surveillance footage captured someone driving Kaylie’s car into an Emporia apartment parking lot.

The driver got out and discarded a bag in a nearby dumpster.

Inside that bag, investigators found belongings belonging to Kaylie and Lana, including Lana’s baby blanket.

Workers at an Emporia recycling facility also discovered parts of a dismantled sh***un in the trash.
Forensic testing showed the weapon belonged to Flack and had fired multiple shell casings recovered from the Georgia Road murder scenes.

During two police interviews, Flack gave investigators at least eight different versions of what had happened.

At first, he claimed he did not know the victims were dead.

He later blamed the murders on supposed drug dealers he called “Omar” and “Chewie.” In another version, he blamed an unidentified man he described to detectives.

Investigators found no phone records, prison records or other evidence showing that the men Flack described existed.

As the interviews continued, Flack gradually placed himself closer and closer to the murders.

He eventually admitted participating in Steven’s shooting. In that version, Flack claimed Andrew shot Steven first during an argument over Steven living at the property without paying rent. According to Flack, Andrew then handed him the sh***un and Flack fired the second, fatal shot.

Flack also admitted helping restrain Kaylie, dismantling the murder weapon and disposing of it in Emporia. However, he continued blaming the remaining murders on his supposed accomplices.

Prosecutors argued that those men never existed.
Their position was that Kyle Flack, and Kyle Flack alone, murdered all four victims.

During a recorded jail conversation with his mother, Flack made another damaging statement:
“I’m not guilty of all of it, but I’m guilty.”

He also acknowledged giving investigators what he described as a fabricated story because they already had so much evidence against him.

This was not Flack’s first violent offense.

In 2005, he shot his former employer multiple times after being fired. Flack pleaded no contest to attempted second-degree murder, served approximately four years in prison and was released in 2009.

After his release, Andrew welcomed his longtime friend back into his life and allowed him to stay at the Georgia Road property.

Four years later, Andrew was dead.

Despite the extensive evidence, prosecutors never established one definitive motive for all four murders.

Possible theories involved drugs, money, conflict among the people staying at the farmhouse and the possibility that the later victims were killed to conceal Steven’s murder.

Prosecutors alleged that Kaylie was killed because she could have become a witness, but the sentencing jury did not find that particular aggravating factor proven.

Flack was initially charged with r**e. That allegation was later reduced to misdemeanor sexual battery, and the jury acquitted him of that charge. Although Kaylie was found restrained and partially unclothed, Flack was never convicted of sexually assaulting her.

On March 23, 2016, a Franklin County jury found Flack guilty of:
• Capital murder for killing Kaylie and Lana as part of the same course of conduct
• First-degree premeditated murder for killing Steven White
• Second-degree intentional murder for killing Andrew Stout
• Criminal possession of a fi***rm
On March 31, the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty.

The jury found that Flack intentionally killed more than one person and that Kaylie’s murder was committed in an especially heinous, atrocious or cruel manner.

On May 18, 2016, District Judge Eric Godderz formally sentenced Kyle Flack to death.

In January 2024, the Kansas Supreme Court upheld his convictions and sentence.

Flack argued, among numerous other issues, that investigators should have stopped questioning him after he repeatedly told them to “take me to jail.” The court’s majority ruled that his statements did not clearly and unambiguously invoke his right to remain silent.

Justice Evelyn Wilson disagreed. She believed Flack’s final repeated demands clearly showed he wanted the interrogation to end. However, even Wilson concluded that the evidence proving Flack murdered Kaylie and Lana was overwhelming.

Flack petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review his case.

On January 13, 2025, that petition was denied.
His convictions and death sentence remain intact.
As of August 2026, no ex*****on date has been set.

Kansas has not carried out an ex*****on since 1965.

Steven White was killed and hidden beneath a tarp.

Andrew Stout was murdered inside the home where he had offered Flack friendship and shelter.

Kaylie Bailey drove to Georgia Road carrying lunch for three people, never knowing what was waiting for her.

And 18-month-old Lana-Leigh was killed, placed inside a suitcase and discarded in a creek.

Four lives were taken at the Georgia Road farmhouse.
More than thirteen years later, the horror of what happened there remains almost impossible to comprehend.

May Steven, Andrew, Kaylie and Lana always be remembered as more than the victims of Kyle Flack.
❤️‍🩹🕊️

If you’ve been saying, “We need to take that tour,” now is the time to make plans! Only nine weekends remain this season...
09/01/2026

If you’ve been saying, “We need to take that tour,” now is the time to make plans! Only nine weekends remain this season to explore the historic Kansas State Penitentiary, and they’re filling up fast.

Walk through the cellhouses, hear firsthand stories from former correctional staff, and discover the history inside these legendary walls.

Gather your friends, choose your weekend, and book your Behind the Walls tour today!

kansasstatepenitentiarytours.com

As summer comes to an end, tours of the historic Kansas State Penitentiary continue to draw visitors from near and far—f...
08/30/2026

As summer comes to an end, tours of the historic Kansas State Penitentiary continue to draw visitors from near and far—from Paris, France, to Tonganoxie, Kansas, and many places in between.

This is your last weekend of summer. Make it a memorable one.Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of summer—and a gre...
08/29/2026

This is your last weekend of summer. Make it a memorable one.

Labor Day weekend is the unofficial end of summer—and a great excuse to get the family together, call up some friends, and do something a little different.

Spend a couple of hours behind the walls of Kansas State Penitentiary, sharing stories, exploring a place most people have only ever seen from the outside, and making memories you’ll still be talking about when summer is over.

Tours are running Friday, Saturday & Sunday—and we have LOTS of openings.

So before summer slips away… bring your people and come take a tour.

Book your Labor Day weekend tour today.
KansasStatePenitentiaryTours.com

Address

115 East Kansas Avenue/on The Front Lawn Of What Was Once Kansas State Prison
Lansing, KS
66043

Opening Hours

1pm - 3pm

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