Museum honors local ham radio pioneers

Never heard of the Ensor Park and Museum?

Don’t feel bad. The farm and museum in south Olathe is not one of the more publicized destination spots in the metropolitan area.

But the two-generation-old former Ensor dairy farm not only provides visitors a glimpse into the rural life of the early 1900s but also traces the history of one of the pioneers of America’s amateur (ham) radio operations: Marshall H. Ensor.

The National Historic Site and Kansas Historic Place is operated by the Olathe Parks and Recreation Department.

Ensor was a mechanical prodigy in wood, metal, cement and electronics. By the age of 15, Ensor had designed and built a Spark Transmitter and Receiver. At age 17, he became a manual arts instructor at Olathe High School, a position he held until retiring at age 65 in 1965.

In 1940, Ensor received the prestigious William S. Paley Award for important national achievement in amateur radio. Paley was the head of the CBS Broadcasting Network and the sterling silver trophy still is displayed at the museum.

Ensor designed and patented an electric drill machine, which he later sold to Black & Decker. During World War II, Ensor was put in charge of the Seattle Naval Air Station Radio Operations and was involved with perfecting the Radio Direction Finding apparatus used to locate and sink the German submarine Wolf Pack.

When amateur radio licensing began in 1922, Ensor received a license with the call sign 9BSP. Marshall constructed a special transmitter for the 9UA station, which is still at the museum along with a hand-crafted KW Rig, twin 90 foot tall towers that supported his end fed Zepp antenna and many original equipment and electronic parts used during the golden age of amateur radio.

His sister Loretta, who never married, was licensed at age 17 and a senior at Olathe High School. She served as trustee for the school’s radio station, the first high school radio station in Kansas where students could learn to become amateur radio operators. She was a lifelong charter member of the young Ladies Relay League and was an active “message handler” and the first woman operator whose voice was heard over the airwaves across the Pacific Ocean.

Marshall and Loretta were the only children of Ida and Jacob Ensor, who moved to Johnson County in 1898. The home where they lived and that now serves as the museum was built in 1890. Marshall married teacher/librarian Ina Dana in 1930 and she became licensed as W9TRY.

After Marshall retired in 1965, he and his sister worked to turn the family farm into a museum. He died in 1970.

After Loretta’s death in 1991, the then private farm museum became under the operation of the Olathe Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Loretta’s appointed trust.

In 2002, the Ensor Farm became the home of Santa Fe Trails Amateur Radio Club KS0KS and Marshall’s radio call sign was reactivated as a memorial to his work. An organization called Marshall Ensor Memorial Organization was formed and designed to research and restore more of Marshall’s equipment and activate W9BSP radio.

The club annually sponsors amateur radio events on weekends where amateur operators talk with people throughout the world via their radios.

In 2006, the trustees of the farm and museum conveyed the 40-acre site to the city of Olathe.

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