Boyhood Home of General Funston

The house has traveled since Funston left it. His boyhood home stood at Carlyle, and his family gave it to the State of Kansas in 1955; it ran as a museum until the late 1970s. In 1994 the state transferred the house and its contents to the Allen County Historical Society, which moved it to Iola, restored it and opened it to visitors. Funston died of a heart attack at 51 in San Antonio on February 19, 1917; Secretary of War Newton Baker later said he would have commanded the American Expeditionary Force in Europe.

What the plaque says

Boyhood Home of General Funston Frederick Funston, five feet four and slightly built, went from this farm to a life of amazing adventure. Youthful exploring expeditions in this country were followed by two years in the Arctic from which he returned down the Yukon river 1,500 miles by canoe. After ventures in Latin America he served 18 months with Cuban Insurgents, fighting in 22 engagements and reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel. Invalided home shortly before the Spanish-American War, Funston was made colonel of the 20th Kansas infantry. In 1901 he planned and executed the capture of Aguinaldo, com- mander of the Filipino army. He received a Congres- sional Medal of Honor and at 35 was made a brigadier general in the regular army. In 1914, during intervention in Mexico, he commanded Vera Cruz as military governor and was that year made a major general. He died in 1917. This was the home of his father, Edward H. Funston, a member of Congress, 1884-1894. Erected by Kansas Historical Society & State Highway Commission

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum — 17 mi
  Chanute's museum of the hometown singer and the jeweler's son who filmed the South Seas, East Africa and Borneo for paying audiences, and of the West African art that now shares their building.

More markers nearby

• Osage Nation — 24 mi