KANSAS HISTORICAL MARKERS
Take a drive through the state and view more than 100 Kansas Historical Markers. Most are located in roadside parks and rest areas with turnouts.
Constructed of cast metal, most include a distinctive Kansas sunflower design.
The state historical markers program was a partnership of the Kansas Historical Society and the Kansas Department of Transportation, which continues to maintain the signs and turnouts.
The first markers were erected in 1938, more were added from the 1940s through 1960s. Currently no new markers are being added.
Contact: Cultural Resources Division, Kansas Historical Society, 785-272-8681, ext. 240; kshs.shpo@ks.gov.
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THIS GATEWAY TO KANSAS
Where the Kaw river joins the mighty Missouri in its sweep eastward, has witnessed many events of historical significance to this area, among them: 1804. Lewis and Clark, on their epic exploring trip assaying the new Louisiana Purchase, camped 3 days 4 blocks east. 1809. Louis Bertholet built a cabin 3 blocks south – first…
DELAWARE CROSSING AND THE GRINTER FERRY
Just east of this marker, at a point where an old Indian trail led to the water’s edge, Moses Grinter established the first ferry on the Kansas River. The year was 1831, and Grinter became the earliest permanent white settler in the area. His ferry was used extensively by travelers over the Fort Leavenworth-Fort Scott…
OPENING OF THE MID-CONTINENT OIL FIELD
Kansas has long been oil country. There are legends that Indians held council around the lights of burning springs. Emigrants, it is known, skimmed “rock tar” from such oil seeps to grease the axles of their wagons. A mile southeast is the site of one of the most famous oil wells in the United States,…
HOLLENBERG RANCH PONY EXPRESS STATION
This building, constructed in 1857 by G.H. Hollenberg on his ranch here on the Oregon Trail, was a station on the Pony Express route in 1860-1861. It is believed to be the only such station which has remained unaltered on its original site. Visit Hollenberg Pony Express Station State Historic Site
HOLLENBERG RANCH AND THE PONY EXPRESS
Begun in 1858, the Hollenberg Ranch, four miles north and one mile east of here, served as a stop on the Oregon-California Trail until the late 1860s. Gerat and Sophia Hollenberg, German emigrants, sold food and other supplies, lodging, and draft animals to passing travelers. Settlers, freighters, soldiers, stagecoach passengers, and Pony Express riders all…
BUTTERFIELD STAGE LINE
When the Kansas Territory was created in 1854, it stretched all the way to the Rocky Mountains. The current state boundary, a few miles west of here, took effect in 1861 when Kansas was admitted into the Union and the Colorado Territory was established. Thousands of Colorado-bound pioneers passed through here along the Smoky Hill…
FORT WALLACE
First called Camp Pond Creek, Fort Wallace was established in 1865. The fort served as the headquarters for troops given the task of protecting travelers headed west along the Smoky Hill Trail to the Denver gold fields. Fort Wallace was the westernmost military outpost in Kansas, and from 1865 to 1878 served as one of…
BEECHER BIBLES
In 1856 free-state colonists from Connecticut joined with earlier settlers to found the town of Wabaunsee, 15 miles northwest of here. Brooklyn abolitionist and clergyman Henry Ward Beecher helped raise funds to supply the settlers with the new Sharps repeating rifle for their defense during the sometimes-violent era of “Bleeding Kansas.” According to an 1856…
BLUESTEM IN THE FLINT HILLS
“Texas shipped up the horns,” Kansas cowmen used to say, “and we put the bodies under them.” They meant that bony steers from Texas grew fat in the Bluestem pastures of Kansas. Stockmen drove their herds here along the old cattle trails, arriving by late April. The animals would graze and gain weight during May…
HISTORICAL KANSAS
When Kansas territory was opened for white settlement on May 30, 1854, a bitter contest developed over the slavery question. Established the following December, Topeka, 25 miles ahead, favored the Free-State cause even though the territorial government was at first Proslavery. Rebelling Free Staters attempted to set up a rival legislature in Topeka in 1856.…