WICHITA, Kan. (KAKE) - 126 years. That's how long the Kansas Masonic Home at Maple and Seneca has been serving those in need. But after all these years, choices made just seven years ago marked the beginning of the end.

To some, KMH might just be the weird "little castle" you see driving down Seneca. But to others, it means so much more.

"They've been really good to me and my mother," said David Bennett, whose mom lives there.

KMH is a non-profit organization that's been close to many Wichita residents' hearts for decades. But its legacy started long before that.

"You know, there's 126 years of history there," said KMH Marketing Director Jamie Bunch.

Bunch says it all started in 1896 when the Robert Lawrence mansion became the Kansas Masonic Home. For years, it provided a safe haven for orphans and the elderly.

In 1916, tragedy struck when a massive fire destroyed the building, killing five people. Some of them are buried at the KMH Maple Grove Monument.

But they didn't give up. In 1918, architects got to work designing and building the familiar KMH site we still know today.

Nearly a century later, a bad financial decision would mark the beginning of the end.

"Bottom line, it is debt. And that debt comes from the expansion, and in building long-term care in 2015," said Bunch.

Bunch says the $22 million expansion and renovation project dug a hole it would never get out of.

"I can say that we wouldn't be able to sustain the company even at 100% occupancy," she said.

Now, more than 100 residents and employees have to find somewhere else to go by the end of the year. The fate of the facility that's cared for so many will be up to the bondholders.

"I have what my hopes would be, but I don't know what they will do," said Bunch.

KMH says it's working with a third-party group called Empowered Senior that's offering to help find *and* move residents to a new home. If you have questions or want more information, it's holding a meeting for residents and family Tuesday, November 21st, at 11 am in the auditorium.