November 2010

 With a seating capacity of 1,100, St. Fidelis was the largest church west of the Mississippi when it was completed in 1911. Its beauty and size inspired William Jennings Bryan (visiting the area in 1912 on a presidential campaign) to dub it the "Cathedral of the Plains."

The stone for this massive Romanesque structure came from a quarry seven miles south. The extracting of the stone, loading it, hauling it, and then dressing it was a gigantic task and an amazing feat considering that it was accomplished without automatic lifts and power tools.

The church structure is a cruciform, or built in the shape of a cross 220 feet long and 110 feet wide at the transepts and 75 feet at the nave. The massive twin bell towers are 141 feet tall and dominate the prairie landscape.

The granite pillars that support the church were shipped in from Vermont.

James Henry Lane had a significant impact on Kansas history and is one of Constitution Hall’s more colorful characters. He was part of a large antislavery delegation that marched into Lecompton to protest the convening of the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitutional Convention in the fall of 1857. The nation’s eyes were fixed on this site, waiting to see what kind of constitution would be drafted and whether Kansas would join the Union as a free or slave state. Learn more about Jim Lane, the proslavery and free-state forces in the area, and other stories of territorial Kansas at Constitution Hall.

On August 28th, with the column located on Prairie Dog Creek, Pawnee Scouts arrived with information of an Arapahoe village encamped on the Tongue River. Following a night march with 250 soldiers and 80 Pawnee Scouts, Connor's force attacked Black Bear's Arapahoe village while the Indians were in the act of packing to move. The soldiers overran the camp and pushed the Indians 10 miles up Wolf Creek. The Indians fought a desperate rear guard action, protecting their families and eventually forcing the soldiers to withdraw. During this action, other soldiers burned the camp and its supplies, making it a funeral pyre for their dead. Indian casualties included 64 warriors and several hundred ponies. As the soldiers withdrew the Indians advanced, recapturing several of their ponies, and continued harassing the column for several days. Connor's column marched back to Fort Laramie following the establishment of Fort Connor on the Powder River near present day Kaycee.

Within a 12-mile radius of Medicine Lodge, five distinct vegetation zones can be found. These range from the desert basin to the big mountain meadows. A variety of Wyoming's animals are here at the site. In addition to porcupines, prairie dogs, bobcats and mountain lions, there are many others to see. There is excellent fishing for brook and brown trout. The site includes approximately 25 camping spots with fire grills, picnic tables and vault toilets plus a visitor center and nature trail which is located on the grassy areas along the Medicine Lodge creek.

The Kaw Mission is more than just a museum that tells the story of the building that was home and school to thirty Kaw boys from 1851–1854 – it is a tribute to the Kaw (or Kansa) Indians, who gave our state its name. The Kaw lived in the Neosho Valley for less than thirty years when, despite an impassioned plea by Chief Allegawaho, the U.S. government removed the Kaw to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Learn more about Chief Allegawaho, the Kaw Indians, others who lived in the area, and their stories when you visit the Kaw Mission.

Independence Rock stands 6,028 feet (1,808.3m) above sea level. The tallest point of the rock is 136 feet (40.8m) above the surrounding terrain. If one were to walk around the base of this rock, the distance covered would be more than a mile, or 5,900 feet (1.8km).

The rock derives its name from the fact that it lies directly along the route of the Emigrant Trail and that emigrant wagon parties bound for Oregon or California, which usually left the Missouri River in the early spring, attempted to reach the rock by July 4th (Independence Day) in order to reach their destinations before the first mountain snowfalls.

During the period of westward emigration on the trail (from 1843 to 1869), it was common for emigrants to carve their names in the granite rock, especially near the summit. Other emigrants left behind messages, sometimes for parties behind them on the trail, in axle grease. Many instances of such carved graffiti are visible today at the summit of the rock, which is accessible by an easy free climb up the surface of the rock.

A visit to the Goodnow House is more than a glimpse into domestic life in the 1800s, it tells the story of free-staters who wanted organized and equal education for the boys and girls of Kansas. Isaac Goodnow, one of Manhattan’s founders, and his wife, Ellen, built this unique stone farmhouse, which still holds many original furnishings and documents. Isaac started the Kansas State Teachers Association and established the college that became Kansas State University. Learn more about the Goodnows, the people of the free-state movement, and their stories when you visit this native stone residence and barn.

Governor Andrew Reeder picked this location, away from the proslavery influence of Missouri, where the legislature would choose a permanent seat of government, create a constitution, and decide if Kansas would be a free or slave state. Instead the legislature kicked out the antislavery members and passed a bill to move the government to Shawnee Mission near the Missouri border. Inside this native stone building you’ll learn the stories of the antislavery and proslavery people of territorial Kansas, set alongside the beauty of the Kaw River Nature Trail.

Built in 1872 and restored in 1989, the prison is a highlight of Montana's frontier past. Stops along the tour of the 190-acre facility include: furnished cells, the prisoners' dining area, guard's quarters, infirmary, women's quarters, laundry room, warden's office, and various exhibit galleries. The exhibits rotate frequently.

Share in the journey of the Great Lakes Indian tribes who were forced to emigrate to Kansas in the 1800s, adapting their traditional Woodlands cultures to the rolling prairie landscape. At the Museum, once a Presbyterian Mission built in 1845 to educate Iowa and Sac and Fox children, you will find quillwork, baskets and other artwork of present day descendants of emigrant tribes. Through the interactive exhibits, Native Americans tell stories in their own words.