Historic Fort Dodge

The peaceful park, quiet shaded tree lined walks and dignified buildings of today’s Fort Dodge are a far cry from the humble beginnings of this historic fort which has been called one of the most important forts on the western frontier by Legends of America. 

The Custer House at Fort Dodge.

Just east of present day Dodge City, the dry route and the wet route of the Santa Fe Trail intersected in a low pasture that became a stopping and recovery point for many wagon trains as they headed to Santa Fe.  When the Indians discovered this popular stopping point, they began to attack unwary travelers in the area, making it an important point on the trail to protect.  As a result, Major General Grenville M. Dodge ordered the establishment of Fort Dodge on April 10, 1865. 

The original hospital/pershing barracks is now a
clinic/doctor's office.

With no lumber and no hardware, initial construction consisted of crude earth dugouts on the north bank of the Arkansas River.  They built 70 sod dugouts, 10 feet by 12 feet in circumference and seven feet deep.  In 1867, Fort Dodge was relocated and built with stone quarried five to 12 miles north of the fort.  During the next two years, permanent facilities were built which included two barracks, a hospital, commanding officer’s quarters and a sutler’s store.

The warehouse is now used as a library/museum.

A drawing of the sutler's story, which is still there.

Over the next 15 years life changed dramatically along the Santa Fe Trail. As the railroad reached Dodge City in 1872, buffalo extinction seemed imminent and the Indians had been forced into Oklahoma.  Consequently, the U.S. Army abandoned Fort Dodge on April 5, 1882. 

In 1890, Fort Dodge was deeded to the state for use as a Soldiers Home.  Today, the Kansas Soldiers Home includes a library/museum, a modern intensive nursing home, a recreation center, five residence halls and 60 cottages. Names of the streets and buildings honor great American presidents and military heroes, including Eisenhower, Nimitz, Sheridan, Garfield, Custer, Lincoln, Dewey and Walt. Veterans of the Mexican, Civil, Indian, Spanish-American, Philippines, Boxer Rebellion, World War I, and II, Korean and Vietnam Wars have all been occupants.

Buffalo Bill sculpture and cultural center



Stop by the Buffalo Bill sculpture near Oakley to kiss the buffalo.



Both the cultural center above, as well as the story boards
seen below, have lots of things to see to help visitors
discover some unique Kansas history.

A larger than life icon of the American West has been immortalized in a larger than life statue in northwest Kansas.

Located just off U.S. 83 near Oakley, the Buffalo Bill sculpture and accompanying cultural center offer visitors a look at the life of William F. Cody, better known as “Buffalo Bill.”

According to legend, in 1868 Cody was working in western Kansas as a contract buffalo hunter, mostly feeding the crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. At the same time, a hunter named William Comstock was also hunting buffalo for the soldiers at Fort Wallace west of Oakley. Each was being referred to as Buffalo Bill. To determine who the real Buffalo Bill would be, the men placed a wager and staged a contest in what is now Logan County to see who could harvest the most buffalo in one day. William F. Cody won 69 to 46, thus the legend of Buffalo Bill Cody was born.

The commemorative statue was dedicated in May 2004 and features Buffalo Bill atop his favorite hunting horse, Brigham, with his 50-caliber needle gun, Lucretia, taking aim at a buffalo. Created by Kansas artist Charlie Norton, the bronze sculpture is approximately two times life-sized, standing 16 feet tall and weighting nearly 9,000 pounds. The statue has been voted as one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Art.

Visitors are encouraged to walk up the hill to get up close and personal with the statue and even kiss the buffalo! Be sure to use the #kissthebuffalo hashtag when tweeting and posting photos.

Accompanying story boards and audio via 1610 AM are also available for visitors to learn more about the life of Buffalo Bill.

For more information, visit www.buffalobilloakley.org.

Maxwell Wildlife Refuge

Numerous buffalo can be seen at the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge.

In Battlehill township of McPherson County lies a piece of preserved natural prairie, comprised of rolling hills, creeks, springs and beautiful prairie grasses and wildflowers.

Maxwell Wildlife Refuge near Canton is home to one of the few surviving wild buffalo herds. It began in 1859, when a small herd of buffalo were driven into the area around the Maxwell homestead. The Maxwell family wanted to preserve a piece of prairie with a roaming herd of buffalo for future generations.

So in 1943, the Henry Maxwell estate donated 2,560 acres of land to what is now the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism for the creation of the Maxwell Wildlife Refuge, which is dedicated to bison and other species. This unique area, located six miles north of Canton, possesses one of the finest herds of buffalo in the United States, along with elk and other wild game. 

The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism maintains herds of American plains bison and elk under as natural conditions as possible, keeping with the current land-use demands. This helps to ensure that an important part of our state’s natural heritage will not disappear from this portion of the Great Plains.

Medicine Lodge Stockade Museum



The Medicine Lodge Stockade Museum is based on an 1874 stockade built to protect residents of
the time. Courtesy: Medicine Lodge Stockade Museum

The Medicine Lodge Stockade Museum is a collection of “anything and everything” — from woolly mammoth bones and human hair wreaths to buffalo heads and saddles from the Civil War to the present.



The museum — and the home of the hatchet-wielding temperance leader Carry Nation — is open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. every day from November to May and 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday from June to October. The museum is closed on major holidays.

A Carry Nation impersonator holds a hatchet,
the preferred tool the temperance leader used
to smash saloons. Courtesy: Medicine Lodge
Stockade Museum.

The Stockade Museum opened in 1961 and is based on a stockade built in 1874 in Medicine Lodge, which is the county seat of Barber County. The stockade is not an exact replica of the original but was constructed the same way. The museum is soliciting contributions for new logs on is website, www.medicinelodgestockade.org.  

The museum grounds feature a two-story log cabin built in the 1870s and an old jail cell that had been in the basement of the original courthouse.

The home of Carry Nation is included with admission, which is $3 for children 7 to 14, $5 for adults and $4 for people 55 and older. Admission is free for children younger than 7.

The home is the original site of where Nation — famous for smashing saloons —began her crusade. The home includes many of her furnishings.

“We do have some bottles that she missed,” joked Belinda Kimball of the museum.

Coffeyville’s Dalton Defenders Museum

Coffeyville's Dalton Defenders Museum is filled with
memorabilia from the raid and the city's early days.

       After robbing a string of trains, members of the notorious Dalton gang decided to up the stakes. Vowing to “beat anything Jesse James ever did …”, the gang made plans to rob two banks at the same time, in the light of day. Cash in hand, they would skip the country and begin new lives in South America.

All the Dalton gang members passed away in the battle
except Emmett Dalton, who is shown in the upper left
corner of the photo.

       Their plan was not a success. On Oct. 5, 1892, brothers Grat, Bob and Emmett Dalton and fellow gang members Dick Broadwell and Bill Power tried to disguise themselves as they approached the C.M. Condon and Company Bank and the First National Bank, located on the opposite sides of a downtown street in Coffeyville. But a citizen recognized them and alerted other residents. Then a crafty bank clerk delayed the theft by fibbing that the safe was on a time lock and couldn’t be opened right away. This delay gave the locals time to prepare for a battle. The ensuing bloody shootout left four of the gang members and three Coffeyville residents dead.

       The famous Dalton gun battle and the citizens who defended the town are remembered at Coffeyville’s Dalton Defenders Museum. The museum houses a treasure trove of photos and memorabilia from the raid and Coffeyville’s early days. Looming large in the center room is the well-known photograph of the four dead Dalton gang members stretched out in an alley, while a lively lad named Ray Clark peers through the fence in an historic photo bomb. The Winchester rifle seen in the enlarged photo rests in a glass case to the side.

       Emmett Dalton, who survived the raid despite 23 gunshot wounds, is pictured at the upper left corner of the photo. Sentenced to life in prison at Leavenworth, Emmett proved a model inmate and was pardoned after only 14 years. Upon his release he moved to California and became an upstanding citizen in the real estate business, also working as an actor and screenwriter.

       The Dalton Defenders Museum is open from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., and is staffed by knowledgeable local guides. To date the museum has hosted thousands of visitors from all 50 states and around the world. 

       Visitors can first relive history at the museum at 113 E. 8^th Street, and then step outside to tour the Dalton Raid Site at the Old Condon Bank, 807 Walnut, and the Death Alley and Jail in the 800 block of Walnut Street.

Lake Scott State Park

The beauty of Lake Scott State Park can be seen throughout the area.

There are 26 archeological sites in and near the park.

Just north of Scott City and west of U.S. 83 on K-95 lies Lake Scott State Park, a ruggedly beautiful oasis hidden in Ladder Creek Canyon. The 1,020-acre park surrounds the 100-acre, spring-fed Scott State Fishing Lake. The beautifully wooded valley surrounded by chalk bluffs and rocky crags is a stunning surprise that lies in sharp contrast to the dry lands and prairie the area is known for. 

The native sandstone house built in 1888 is now a museum.

According to ksoutdoors.com, the park is listed by National Geographic as one of the country’s must-see state parks and is one of the most historic locations in Kansas with 26 archeological sites documented in and adjacent to the park. The park is home to the remains of northernmost known Native American pueblo – El Cuartelejo which was named a National Historic Landmark in 1970. The pueblo was built in the 1600s by Taos Indians from northern New Mexico who came to Kansas to escape the Spanish. They dug irrigation ditches, planted crops and shared the site with their Apache friends for 20 years. The Pueblo was later occupied by Picuris Indians. 

An aerial view of the park.

In 1888, Herbert Steele homesteaded in the area, building the Steele home in 1909. This four-room house of native sandstone is now a museum displaying furniture and tools used by the early settlers of Scott County. Herbert and wife Eliza donated their property to the Kansas Forestry, Fish and Game Commission in 1928. 

The park is open to camping, boating, swimming, hiking, hunting and fishing and offers trails for hiking, horseback riding and opportunities to observe wildlife in their natural habitats including wild turkey, deer, bobcat and beaver. 

 

 

 

 

Sternberg Museum



One of the most famous fossils at the Sternberg Museum in Hays.

Many of the displays at the museum are very realistic as seen in the photos above and below.

Make no bones about it, the Sternberg Museum in Hays ranks among the best natural history museums in the country in terms of scientific holdings.

The museum is home to one of the top collections of Cretaceous marine and Neogene terrestrial vertebrate fossils. It also features an excellent assembly of Pteranodon material, the largest collection of fossil grass seeds and an assortment of modern biological material, mammals, reptiles and plants.

Perhaps its most famous display is an exceptionally well-preserved Gillicus within a Xiphactinus, or better known as the Fish-within-a-Fish. The unique find was discovered by the museum’s namesake George F. Sternberg and shows a large 14-foot fish with its last meal, a six-foot fish, fully intact inside of it.

Other attractions include a realistic Cretaceous diorama (watch out for the T-rex!) and a fossil dig pit. Many areas of the museum encourage hands-on interaction including its Discovery Room, where visitors can explore drawers full of touchable specimens from the Great Plains, climb on Charlotte the Spider and view a variety of live animal exhibits, including native snakes, turtles, lizards and fish.

In addition to its permanent displays, the Sternberg also hosts temporary exhibits and various events throughout the year. Visit the museum website at http://sternberg.fhsu.edu for more exhibition and event information.

What will you discover under the dome at the Sternberg Museum?

 

City of Atchison

The Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge shines at night in aesthetic lighting. 

The Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum.

Just about an hour north of Topeka, sitting on the banks of the Missouri River, Atchison is home to an international legend and a continuing inspiration to young women considering going into the sciences, technology, engineering and mechanical career fields.

To get to Atchison, birthplace of Amelia Earhart, K-4 out of Topeka offers wide open views of the horizon as drivers pass the farmland Kansas is so famous for. Or the Glacial Hills Scenic Byway, that runs along 63 miles of K-7 north and south of Atchison, has landscaped scenery to admire. Entering Atchison, the highway becomes the Skyway Highway.  Stay on the Skyway Highway and you end up at the Amelia Earhart Memorial Bridge, a beautiful 2,500-foot tied-arch structure with wide lanes, bike paths and aesthetic lighting, which is a recently-completed joint project of the Kansas and Missouri DOTs.

Above, a tall Amelia Earhart impersonator
 walks along downtown during the annual
Amelia Earhart festival. Below, the riverfront
is packed with people enjoying the festival.

But the main attraction in Atchison is its distinction as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart, which is celebrated annually during Visit Atchison’s Amelia Earhart Festival.  The festival, which this year is July 20 and 21, celebrates spirit of legendary aviatrix Amelia Earhart with a downtown music, food and crafts fair, star-filled outdoor concert, children’s activities, carnival, awards and honors, Earhart research and literature, music on the beautiful Riverfront, aerobatic performances and the “Concert in the Sky” fireworks show.

This year’s festival celebrates the 90^th anniversary of Earhart becoming the first woman to make a solo round trip flight across the United States.  That year, she was also the first woman to make the trip across the Atlantic Ocean as a passenger. 

In addition to food, music, sights and speakers, the festival also features a fly-in and air show and tours of the historic Santa Fe Depot and of course, an open house at Earhart’s birthplace overlooking the Missouri River.

Motor on up to Atchison anytime, but plan to visit during the celebration of a Kansas hero, innovator and trail blazer who truly embodied ‘to the stars and beyond.’

 

 

Evel Knievel Museum



Color Kansas lucky, because the Evel Knievel Museum is at the historic Harley Davidson location in Topeka.

The Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka has numerous attractions.
A few of them pictured on this page include a truck named "Big
Red" that hauled all his motorcycles across the country, lots
of memorabilia and a interactive game where riders
can experience a jump.

For many, Evel Knievel was Batman, Superman and Captain America all rolled up into one. The 13,000 square-foot museum explores Knievel’s early days of jumping over a box of rattlesnakes until his retirement after approximately 175 jumps on physics-defying motorcycles that turned him into a legend.

The museum showcases a massive collection of authentic artifacts that belonged to Evel Knievel. Toys, action figures and other licensed products are also part of the exhibit.

One of the biggest attractions is the 1974 Mack Truck and Trailer, dubbed “Big Red,” which was famous for hauling Knievel and his motorcycles around the country and is one of the big reasons why the museum exists.

Lathan Mckay, former professional skateboarder, actor and an avid Evel Knievel enthusiast, reached out the crew at Harley Davidson to restore “Big Red,” which was left at an abandoned junk yard in Clearwater, Fla., and had seen better days. Upon its restoration, they decided to build a museum around the luxury vehicle.

Visitors to the museum can see the Skycycle X-2, which is a rocket with wheels that Knievel attempted to jump across Snake River Canyon in.  They can also interact with areas of the museum by trying out the museum’s Plan a Jump interactive wall game. There is also a virtual reality simulation where visitors can experience a jump through their own eyes while riding a motorcycle. A scene that was filmed on location in Topeka with the help of Doug Danger, who rode a vintage bike and a helmet that gives the viewer a 360-degree view of the jump as it happens.
The Evel Knievel Museum opened last year and so far, Evel Knievel enthusiasts from 37 different countries have visited. More than 54 percent of the visitors who enter are from outside Kansas.

Recently, the Evel Knievel Museum was an answer on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and it has been featured on USA Today’s Top New Attractions in 2017.

Through Labor Day, the museum will be open Tuesdays through Sundays.

For more information check out www.evelknievelmuseum.com.

 

Open Range Zoo

In the photos on this page are just a few of the unique creations that Jim Dickerman has designed
and can be seen throughout Lincoln County.

If you travel Lincoln County in north central Kansas, keep your eye out for Jim Dickerman’s “Open Range Zoo.” For more than 25 years, Dickerman has been combining scrap metal, old farm equipment, car parts, animal bones and feathers, driftwood, limestone, antlers and just about anything else you could think of to create his magical creatures. He sees himself as rather passive in this process, letting the pieces he finds decide what kind of creature they want to be. 

Since 2000, Dickerman, who lives in Lincoln County, has been creating his “Zoo.” He asked friends and land owners if it would be okay to exhibit his creations in their pastures, on top of billboards, utility poles, fence posts, hilltops, yards and all sorts of unexpected places. It is a visual surprise around every bend.

From just west of Lincoln moving east to Tescott on K-18, and from Lincoln south to I-70 on K-14, you will spy some very unlikely creatures as Dickerman has dotted the landscape with his creations.

While Kansas has a wonderful interstate system, sometimes you need to forego the beaten path to find the interesting and unique.

Cross Timbers State Park

The photos above and below show various areas around Cross Timbers State Park.

South of Toronto, off of K-105 at Toronto Lake, lies the remote yet beautiful Cross Timbers State Park.

The 1,075-acre park and 2,800-acre Toronto Reservoir are nestled in in the southwestern corner of Woodson County. As part of the Chautauqua Hills region of the Verdigris River Valley, Cross Timbers features a diverse terrain of flood plains, oak savannah, prairie grasslands and forests.

Once a preferred hunting ground of Native Americans of the Osage Nation, abundant wildlife can be found here. Wander along the windswept shore of Toronto Lake and soak in the sunlight reflected on the waves, or fish in quiet coves for catfish, bass and bluegill. Have a leisurely lunch at one of the stone picnic tables and enjoy watching and listening to the local songbirds. Hike your way along the Ancient Trees Trail to get a closer look at the aged, twisted oaks lining the way, or take the Blackjack Oak Ridge Trail to catch glorious views of native wildflowers.

Park visitors can also go mountain biking, swimming and boating. During the summer months park naturalists lead weekend outdoor interpretative programs. Cross Timbers offers a variety of camping options, ranging from backcountry sites to modern campgrounds with restrooms and showers.

For more information about Cross Timbers State Park contact CrossTimbersSP@ksoutdoors.com or visit www.ksoutdoors.com.

 

 

Bartlett Arboretum

Established in 1910, “The Arb,” as it’s called, is open by appointment and by

accident, its steward says. Courtesy of Randy Bradbury

The Bartlett Arboretum might not be able to cure what ails you, but it certainly will give you a restorative respite from the hustle and bustle of life.

The grounds in Belle Plaine were first nurtured in 1910 by Walter Bartlett, a doctor, naturalist and civil leader, and now are in the hands of steward and musician Robin Macy and her devoted band of Soil Sisters and Brothers. 

The Bartlett Arboretum has beautiful flora
and fauna year-round. Courtesy of
John D Morrison

“The Arb,” as it’s called by its fans, features several state-champion trees as well as show-stopping buds and blooms. Add in the lush Zoysia lawn, and it’s a great place to forget your worries for an afternoon or evening. 

Open by appointment or by accident, as Macy says, the Bartlett Arboretum regularly puts on concerts, art fairs and other events. A $75 season pass gets people into the gate for all concerts, salons and open days. Information about season passes as well as the cost of admission for individual events is available at www.bartlettarboretum.com.

Macy, an original founding member of the Dixie Chicks, is a small but mighty force who is dedicated to preserving and honoring the piece of paradise just a short drive south of Wichita.

Upcoming concerts include Driven, a bluegrass band, which will perform on Father’s Day, when barbecue will be served. Nashville Americana singer and songwriter Nora Jane Struthers is on tap July 1 with The Party Line. Willis Alan Ramsey, described by Macy as an iconic Texas songwriter, plays July 15. Reservations are needed for a house concert July 29 featuring Bruce Forman and the Red Guitar.

A Story Walk featuring HWY 55 is free and open to families Aug. 19.

The Outside Track will provide a “Winfield warmup” with Celtic songs and stepdance on Sept 9.
All events are listed on the website.


The Arb is a favorite place for photographers. Courtesy of Randy Bradbury