From Route 66 in Southeast Kansas to the Arikaree Breaks in Northwest Kansas, this is your guide to the Sunflower State.
I visited some of these sites as part of hosted tours, but, as always, all opinions are my own. Kansas was born in blood and fire. While people like John Brown and William Quantrill violently pursued the conflict, others used quieter means. During the fighting, free-staters helped freedom seekers escape slavery through the Underground Railroad. After the raids ended, […]
Experience the top 23 Kansas civil rights sites Read More »
Fort Scott, Kansas, honors heroes. I am the Fort Scott National Historic Site and want to tell you our city’s story. Fort Scott is about an hour and a half south of Kansas City, and it’s the perfect weekend getaway. Our city, beside the Marmaton River, has a rich history. Roxie’s reliable report: Ride Dolly
15 best things to do in historic Fort Scott, Kansas Read More »
Embrace Concordia, the Orphan Train Town Pigtailed and barefoot, Miriam (Roering) Zitur is reading a book in Concordia’s Broadway Plaza. When the Children’s Aid Society placed her on an Orphan Train in 1908, Miriam Malford was a 19-month-old orphan. Herman and Elizabeth Roering adopted her in Minnesota. In 2016, more than 220 of her descendants
Embrace Concordia, the Orphan Train Town Read More »
The 10 best things to do in alluring Great Bend America’s largest inland marsh, Cheyenne Bottoms entices vast flocks of birds to Great Bend. Especially during spring migration, the Bottoms are a mecca for migratory and upland bird species. So many birds come that the Bottoms are a Wetland of International Importance. The Bottoms and
The 10 best things to do in alluring Great Bend Read More »
America’s First Patented Helicopter was a shattered dream William J. Purvis and Charles A. Wilson built America’s First Patented Helicopter in Goodland, KS, but Newton’s Third Law defeated them. Since every action has an equal and opposite reaction, any helicopter must compensate for the rotor’s twisting action. They never solved the torque problem, but they
First Patented Helicopter: A Shattered Dream Read More »
Follow Abraham Lincoln’s footsteps on the Kansas Lincoln Trail “If I went West, I think I would go to Kansas — to Leavenworth or Atchison.” — Abraham Lincoln, 1860 Lincoln wasn’t blowing smoke when he said he’d go to Kansas. He had already visited the state before politics’ requirements took him back East permanently. In
Abraham Lincoln visits Kansas after the Kansas-Nebraska Act Read More »
The story of “Home on the Range“ In 1873, Dr. Brewster Higley VI sat outside his tiny cabin near Athol (pronounced AY-thole), Kansas, and looked out over the Beaver Creek Valley. His heart filled with joy as he wrote the lines of a poem “My Western Home.” The first line read, “Oh, give me a home
Home on the Range: Kansas’s state song Read More »
Goodland shows the way for women’s voting rights The fight for women’s voting rights in Kansas was a slow process. The march to equal voting rights lasted from 1861 to 1920, with many halts along the way. Goodland helped show the way when its citizens — including women — voted for a library tax in
Goodland library opens women’s voting rights Read More »
Attacking the glass ceiling: The second Kansas woman to run for Congress In 1913, Eva Morley Murphy of Goodland was the second Kansas woman to run for Congress, running a year after women won the vote in Kansas. While her husband was out of town, she answered a letter from William Allen White, which was
The second Kansas woman to run for Congress Read More »
Take note of 10 famous Kansas women Well-behaved women rarely make history. — Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Amelia Earhart is the most famous Kansas woman. She was such a noteworthy icon that Apple included her in the first set of their Think Different advertising campaign posters. In 1999, the Kansas Legislature voted to install Earhart’s statue
Herstory: 10 famous Kansas women Read More »
