Motoring Monday - Greensburg’s Big Well Museum: cool in more ways than one

The Big Well Museum is in the town of Greensburg, off U.S. 54, in south-central Kansas.

The Big Well was greatly improved after

a devastating tornado struck Greensburg in 2007.

What better place to cool off on a hot day than a place that bills itself as the world’s largest hand-dug well?

The Big Well, with a spiral staircase, goes 109 feet deep and stretches 32 feet wide in the town of Greensburg. That’s off U.S. 54 in Kiowa County, in south-central Kansas. Workers completed the well in 1888, using picks and shovels, lining the walls with stone. It’s one of the Eight Wonders of Kansas.



The well provided drinking water for Greensburg until 1932 and became a tourist attraction in 1937.

Since the 1970s, the well has been recognized as a national museum and a water works landmark.

The well has been a tourist attraction since
the late 1930s.

Now, the well is operated by the City of Greensburg and is known as the Big Well Museum & Visitors Information Center. The tourist site was greatly improved a few years after a tornado devastated Greensburg in 2007.



In the late 1880s, workers lined the well with stone.

The attraction is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Cost: $8 for adults; $6 for seniors 60 and older, military and children ages 5 to 12; a family pass, for two adults and children under 18, is $25. For more information, go to www.bigwell.org.