Ever since the Kansas State Historical Society started charging admission fees at its sites last year, Constitution Hall volunteer Iona Spencer said she’d had to chase down people to ask them to come in.

“People have come up to the door and turned around,” she said. “I tried to get them to come inside, but they said ‘No,’ because of the fees.”

Tim Rues, administrator of Constitution Hall in Lecompton, said he had witnessed similar reactions. When people see the fees posted on the door, they don’t want to come in, he said.

But Rues said that while visitation was lower than it used to be at Constitution Hall, revenues had increased.

In February 2003, the historical society began charging admission fees at most of its 16 sites. The society originally charged $3 for adults, $2 for students and seniors and $1 for members of school groups.

Fees were revised in September to make sure the admission prices were appropriate to each site. Some sites lowered admission.

Bobbie Athon, public information officer for the historical society, said revenue from the sites had increased by 50 percent since they began charging admission a year ago. The revenue produced goes mainly into upkeep of the sites and the Kansas Museum of History, she said.

The society is both a nonprofit organization and a state agency that maintains Kansas’ historical sites. The agency receives approximately $5.5 million — down from $6 million the previous year — from the state Legislature.

The society surveyed institutions around the country that had been free but started charging admission to find out how that had impacted attendance, Athon said. According to the surveys, most institutions saw a one-third decrease in attendance the first year before recovering.

That seems consistent with what the society has seen in its first year of charging admission, Athon said.

Though some Constitution Hall visitors may have been surprised by the fees, Athon said that most comment cards she received were positive.

“Most people understand why we did it,” she said. “A few would like to see free admission again if the budget goes up again.”

Colleen Wilson, a visitor to Constitution Hall, said she had always been a fan of old buildings and preserving them, so she didn’t mind the admission fee.

“When I come upon an old building like this and an attempt to restore it, I’m all for that,” she said.

Wilson, who worked in the state Division of Architectural Services for 18 years, said often by the time an agency like the historical society decided to save an old building, it was in such poor condition that it was expensive to restore. Because of this, she said she thought the admission fees were appropriate.

Athon said the society would continue to monitor the comments of visitors and site curators but that it had no immediate plans to change the fees again.