About LCF

About Lone Chimney Films

Once upon a time, when Lone Chimney’s Executive Director, Ken Spurgeon, was working on his graduate thesis (in history) he read in a collection of Civil War letters that settlers in Kansas would put a sheet over their chimney if they claimed no allegiance to either side of the free state vs. pro-slavery fight. The author of the letter stated that, to leave one’s chimney bare, or as she put it “lone,” was to state who you were and what you stood for. During Kansas’ troubled territorial years, it was not uncommon to see in both Kansas and Missouri nothing left standing of a homestead but a stone chimney as everything else had been burnt to the ground. Both sides of the territorial fight suffered their share of lone chimneys from 1854 to 1861. Sadly, there were to be many more in both Kansas and Missouri in the years to come.

Lone Chimney Films was founded in 2003 by Ken Spurgeon and Jonathon Goering. The company completed its first documentary, Touched by Fire: Bleeding Kansas, 1854-1861, in the spring of 2005. In 2006, LCF was granted 501 (c) (3) status as a not-for-profit organization and began pre-production work on its second documentary, Bloody Dawn: The Lawrence Massacre. That film was completed in late 2007 and is currently being considered by PBS television for national broadcast. The Lone Chimney crew is now carrying out preproduction and fundraising work on its next two documentary films, Black Flag and Borne on the South Wind. Black Flag will take up where Bloody Dawn left off, detailing the violent end suffered by many of the guerillas who perpetrated the Lawrence Massacre. Borne on the South Wind will chronicle the birth of the aviation industry in Wichita.

What’s a lone chimney, anyway?

Lone Chimney’s Goals

The primary goal of Lone Chimney Films is bring the stories of Kansas and the region to students and the public through a visual medium.

That includes a Commitment to Historical Accuracy. Seeking academic scholars in the field to serve on our board and advise us in the writing and production of our films. This also includes study guides and teacher aids that are available when the film is released. To date, hundreds of Kansas teachers use our first film, Touched by Fire: Bleeding Kansas part of their classroom instruction.

A Commitment to the Community. In addition to film, our employees and volunteers speak to schools, civic organizations and events related to the history of the region. Four members of our board are educators.

A Commitment to the Future. LCF is developing future documentary films. Black Flag: Guerilla Warfare, which is the concluding film to the trilogy of films about Kansas during the Civil War and Borne on the South Wind which will focus on the genesis of the aircraft industry in Wichita.