The Dalton Gang's hideout site was converted to a tourist attraction in Meade, Kansas

Dalton Gang house, Meade, Kansas.Photo byBrylie, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

It's so crazy this house still exists. The Dalton Gang Hideout and Museum at 502 South Pearlette Street in Meade, Kansas is a tourist site. The museum and gift shop are on the second floor of the barn located near the house.

This historic house was owned by the outlaw Dalton Gang brothers' sister and brother-in-law. According to a passed-down story, this house was the gang's hideout.

In 1941, the property was restored by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the National Youth Administration.

The house is also known as the John N. and Eva Dalton Whipple House and Meade Historical Park. On January 7, 2015, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. According to World Population Review, the population of Meade is 1,421.

The owners of the home

When John N. Whipple purchased the house and property, he also owned a general store. He married Eva Dalton on October 25, 1887. Four years later, they lost their home and property at a Sheriff's sale.

H.G. Marshall and his family became the new owners. While living in the house, they found a hidden tunnel going from a closet door under the stairwell, through the basement, and to the barn.

As the story goes, the Marshall's daughter remembered strangers coming into their home through that closet once they put their horses in the barn. The entrance to the tunnel has been sealed off.

Backstory

The Dalton Gang Hideout site is on 1.2 acres. During the 1940s, it was developed to be a community museum and historical park.

The Meade Chamber of Commerce developed the park with the help of the Work Projects Administration (WPA) and the National Youth Administration (NYA). Plans included reconstructing the barn and landscaping.

Museum visitors enter the house through the tunnel connecting the basement of the home and the nearby barn. The four-room house has a living room, a bedroom, a center hall, and a kitchen.

The two-story barn contains exhibits on the second floor. The exhibits are associated with the Daltons, gun and barbed wire types, western-themed movie characters, and other items. On the lower level by the staircase is the entrance to the underground tunnel that leads to the house.

A building constructed in 1951 is near the barn and is included in the National Register listing. It used to be a place called Dad's Country Store.

The Dalton Gang Hideout and Museum is an idea created in the 1940s to attract visitors and showcase history from the collections of local historians.

Also known as the Meade Historical Park, it was developed around the house once owned by Eva Dalton Whipple and her husband, John. The theme of the hideout and museum concept was focused on the Dalton Gang outlaws known for robbing banks and trains.

While stories date from the late 1800s about the Dalton Gang coming to Meade, Kansas, those stories are obscure. In 1940, the property was acquired by the Meade Chamber of Commerce which wanted to develop the site as a tourist attraction and park.

When the WPA helped to develop the park, it reconstructed the Whipple's barn and built a rock-lined underground tunnel that linked the barn to the house of 1887. Supposedly, the tunnel was built to remind people of the previous tunnel that the Dalton Gang allegedly used when hiding in their sister's home.

The museum initially opened in the house and later relocated to the second floor of the barn. Shortly later, the park was opened. The original blueprints of the WPA are kept by the Meade County Historical Society which also manages the site. After the Whipples lost their home, it's unknown when they left Meade.

John Newman "Whip" Whipple died on June 3, 1928, at age 76 in St. Louis. According to his Find-a-Grave record, he had kidney problems. Eva May Dalton Whipple was his second wife. They had two children together. She died on January 27, 1939, at age 72 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. It's assumed John and Eva might have split up although they had initially moved to Kingfisher together because their son was born in Oklahoma.

Condon Bank Coffeyville, Kansas c. 1890, one of two banks robbed by the Dalton Gang on October 5, 1892.Photo byKansas Historical Society, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Eva had 12 siblings according to the Find-a-Grave record, but according to the NRHP Nomination form, there was a total of 15 Dalton children which included Eva.

The Whipple property was auctioned six weeks after a famous hold-up of the Condon National Bank in Coffeyville, Kansas. Two brothers, Bob and Gratton, were killed in a shootout on October 5, 1892.

The original tunnel of the house was supposedly discovered when a wagon drove over it giving ay to the boards.

It's likely the Meade Chamber of Commerce marketed the property as a tourist attraction for the growing automobile tourists. John and Eva were having financial problems and that may be why they left the area. There's also suggestions they left because they were under suspicioun for harboring the Dalton Gang outlaws.

The Dalton Gang were sensationalized, written about, and were the subject of numerous movies. Those of the Dalton Gang were criminals and part of history.

In 1995, the property site was turned over to the Meade County Historical Society. Advertised as The Dalton Gang Hideout today, it's located four blocks south of Highway 54 at 502 S. Pearlette Street. It's open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Mondays through Saturday and 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sundays. The admission is only $5 per person. According to the website, there is a special family rate. Call (620) 873-2731 for more information.

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