This 1986 tribute to John C. McCoy, Alexander Majors, and Jim Bridger is the culmination of 75 years of pioneer commemoration efforts by Westport business leaders and residents.
The Ewing-Boone Building, also referred to as the Albert G. Boone Building, is believed to be one of the oldest surviving brick commercial buildings in present-day Kansas City. It was built around 1851 by the Ewing Brothers and later purchased in 1854 by Albert Gallatin Boone; both Boone and the Ewings were originally Native American traders. During the 1850s and 1860s, the building functioned as a crucial supply store for pioneers, trappers, and traders traveling through Westport along the Santa Fe Trail and other routes. The building later housed a hardware store, drug store, and grocery store. Starting in the 1930s, a series of owners began operating a bar in the facility. Today the Ewing-Boone Building is home to Kelly's Westport Inn, an Irish pub and one of the most popular bars in the Kansas City community. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1959.
This is the first of 96 markers created by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1906 to 1908 to mark the route of the Santa Fe Trail through Kansas. This stone marker was dedicated during a ceremony on Decoration Day (May 30) in 1907. Overland Park had been founded just two years earlier as a streetcar suburb. Today, the stone is located at the southeast corner of Santa Fe Drive and 80th Street. Two modern interpretive historical signs created by the National Park Service complement the stone and provide information on the history of the trail.
The Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop and Farm tells the story of an early pioneering family and stagecoach transportation in 1860s Kansas. The historic site is significant as the only remaining stagecoach stop along the old Santa Fe Trail. Today it acts as a living history museum, complete with stagecoach rides. Various exhibits and activities showcase frontier life and the Civil War era.
Lone Elm Campground was used as a resting point by early travelers on the Santa Fe, California, and Oregon Trails. The site was conveniently located near Cedar Creek and provided water, firewood, and a grassy camping spot. The single elm tree from which the site got its name was noted as a landmark by many travelers in their diaries and memoirs. A historical marker, erected in 1906, marks the location of the campground, and the wagon swale can still be seen today. The site has been preserved as Lone Elm Park, managed by the City of Olathe, which provides recreational facilities and educational panels for visitors to learn more about the history of the area.
This monument marking the Santa Fe Trail was paid for by the Johnson County Old Settlers Society and installed in the courtyard of the Johnson County Courthouse in Olathe on Sep. 7, 1907. While the placing of this monument coincided with the installation of 96 markers by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution across the route of the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas, this marker is not considered one of them. However, it was created in conjunction with their organization and contains one of 6 bronze plaques, commissioned by the Kansas DAR. Its installation was the cause of great ceremony and coincided with a meeting of the Johnson County Old Settlers Association to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Olathe. Today the marker sits in an historical plaza near the location of the original courthouse containing monuments to the courthouse itself, time capsule markers from the Johnson County Old Settlers Association and Johnson County Bicentennial Committee, and the Children of the Trails sculpture and fountain by artist Kwan Wu.
In the 1860s, the town of Lanesfield was a small but bustling community, located along the Santa Fe Trail. Today, nothing remains of the historic town except its 1869 stone schoolhouse and some outbuildings. Interpreters at the site lead tours and programs through the remaining 150-year-old structures. The visitors center has exhibits explaining the significance of the site and provides guests with modern amenities.
This roadside park 2.5 miles east of Baldwin, Ks. is the location of the sixth of 96 markers placed by the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1906-1908, which denote the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. The monument was originally placed on July 1, 1908 at the location of the ghost town of Black Jack, 1/2 mile east on Highway 56. It was moved to this spot in 1967, when Douglas County purchased 18 acres of native prairie at this location, which have preserved numerous traces of the Santa Fe Trail. The Ivan Boyd Prairie Preserve is named in honor of Ivan Boyd, a long time faculty member of Baldwin's Baker University, who shared his loved of nature and conservation with generations of students.
This is the seventh of 96 markers placed by the Kansas chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1906 to 1908, which mark the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. It was originally placed at the location of the town of Palmyra, a few blocks northeast. However, unlike the installation of many of the other DAR stones, which local newspapers covered, nothing is known about when this stone was placed or who installed it. It was moved in 1983 to this location in front of the Baldwin Jr. High School. The Palmyra Well, an historic site associated with the original town of Palmyra and the Santa Fe Trail, is one block to the east.
This small park in Baldwin City, Ks. was created in 1907 to showcase the eighth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to mark the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. The marker was installed on Oct 11, 1907 on land donated to the city. The Santa Fe trail ran along the southern border of the park, which is N. 400 rd today. The occasion was marked by a reunion of the original settlers of the town of Palmyra, the precursor to Baldwin City and an important stop on the trail. Members of the DAR's Baldwin City, Ottawa and Lawrence chapters were on hand to dedicate the stone and tell the crowd of the DAR's efforts to mark the route of the trail. The stone originally had a bronze plaque identical to the trail monuments in Olathe and Gardner. However, vandals stole the plague in 1968. The local chapter of the Santa Fe Historical Society replaced it with a marble copy in 1969.
On Oct. 26, 1906, residents of Willow Springs Township and the students of the local High Prairie School helped dedicate the ninth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to mark the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. This spot commemorates the town of Brooklyn, about a mile northwest of Baldwin City, Ks., founded in 1855 as a rest and supply stop on the Santa Fe Trail. The town is most famous for its destruction at the hands of William Quantrill’s Bushwackers, who pillaged and burned the town as they fled Lawrence on Aug 21, 1863. The town never recovered and faded away.
During the Fall of 1906, Edwin Van Hoesen, a long-time resident of Douglas County, personally placed this marker at the townsite of Willow Springs, Ks. It is the tenth of 96 markers commissioned by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution that trace the Route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. Willow Springs had been an important watering and camping spot on the trail and the town, originally called Davis, sprang up to service the trade. When traffic on the trail died out with the coming of the railroads, Willow Springs began to fade away. It was nearly a ghost town by 1906.
This marker was originally installed a little to the south of this location, in front of the home and store of William Featherston, longtime postmaster of the town of Globe. The Santa Fe Trail crossed at this point just to the north. Featherston and his neighbor August Koch placed the stone in the fall of 1906 without ceremony. It was moved to this spot at the junction of E. 550 Rd and N. 400 Rd. in modern times when the road was paved. Today nothing remains of Globe except for the pump from the town school and the 1938 Globe store, located 1 mile south on Highway 56.
This marker was set without ceremony sometime during 1906 or 1907. However, no records or contemporary newspaper articles reference its placement. In fact, in the official history of the markers, The Story of The Marking of the Santa Fe Trail, states that this particular stone was placed at the “famous” Flag Springs, which has not been located. The marker sits at the location of the post office of the small Santa Fe Trail settlement of Baden, Ks., and near the historic Simmons Point Stagecoach Station. A metal interpretive sign provides context on these locations.
This marker in front of the Post Office in downtown Overbrook is the thirteenth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to trace the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. The dedication of this marker was a cause of great celebration when it was installed by the town in 1907. The community's connection to the Santa Fe Trail as a campground predated the founding of the town of Overbrook in 1886. The marker was originally placed in the center of downtown next to the town's well and bandstand. Today, the stone is in front of the Post Office at 320 Maple St.
This was the fourteenth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to trace the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. It was dedicated on September 14, 1907, near the site of McGee's Crossing on 110 Mile Creek. Fry and Mobillion Mcgee bought the land around the creek in 1854, and Fry built an inn/tavern and a toll bridge, charging 25 cents a crossing. The creek's name dates back to an early survey of the trail when this location was judged to be 110 miles from Fort Osage, Missouri. McGee's Crossing, as it was known, became a center of pro-slavery sentiment in Osage County during the time known as "Bleeding Kansas." Like many of the 96 markers, one was slightly moved from its original location to be more visible to modern travelers. Today, the marker can be found on the west side of 75 Highway, just south of 56 Highway before the junction of South Topeka Avenue.
This was the fifteenth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to trace the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. The town of Scranton was chosen because it was just north of a camping spot on the Santa Fe Trail, where wagon trains would regroup after fording 110-mile Creek a mile to the east of this location. The Osage County Old Settlers Association chose the location for the stone, which was initially set a little south of town, closer to the route of the trail itself. The marker was placed in Scranton’s Jones Park to increase visibility, and it was rededicated in 1978.
This is the sixteenth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1906 to 1908. This series of historical markers traces the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. The town of Burlingame was chosen because it was second in importance only to Council Grove for trade on the Santa Fe Trail. The trail's significance to the city's founding can still be seen in the extra-wide streets that were designed to facilitate a complete turn of a wagon. The Osage County Old Settlers Association chose the original location for the stone, which was the site of the town’s well at Topeka Ave and Santa Fe Avenue just east of its current location near the city's history museum, which was constructed in 1902 and served as a public school for nearly a century. The school (now a museum) stands at the site of Osage County's first courthouse, reflecting Burlingame's centrality and growth in the mid-19th century before the county seat moved to nearby Osage City. The marker was dedicated on June 19, 1907, in a ceremony that also honored Mrs. Fannie Geiger Thompson, who proposed the idea of marking the Santa Fe Trail but perished before the project was completed. The marker was moved to this location in 1961 as part of the town's celebration of Kansas's centennial. Established initially as Council City in 1855, Burlingame is named in honor of abolitionist Anson Burlingame, who visited the town in 1857 and delivered an anti-slavery speech that so impressed the residents that they renamed their community in his honor.
This is the seventeenth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution between 1906 and 1908 to trace the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. This site was chosen by the Osage County Old Settlers Association owing to the significance of two nearby sites, the trail crossing of Dragoon Creek, and Havana Stage Station. The ruins of the former stagecoach station are still visible today and located on the south side of 31 Highway, about 150 yards southeast. Trail ruts are visible in the fields to the south of 31 Highway and are marked by a sign. This marker sits back from the highway along the fence line and is easy to miss. It is on the north side of 31 Highway, across from the trail ruts sign.
This is the eighteenth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to trace the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas. George Martin, the Secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, had been working with the Kansas DAR to choose locations for the stones. He selected the schoolhouse in the historic Santa Fe Trail town of Wilmington to host Wabaunsee County’s only marker. It was dedicated in December 1906 with a small ceremony attended by students of the Wilmington and Harveyville students.
This was the nineteenth of 96 markers placed by the Kansas Chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution to trace the route of the Santa Fe Trail through the State of Kansas between 1906 and 1908. Lyon County was given three markers, and a committee of men from Allen, Admire, and Bushong decided the locations for placement. Despite the attempts of the commercial clubs in each town to create a celebration around the installation of the markers, this one was placed without ceremony on May 20, 1907, at the Santa Fe Trail crossing of Elm Creek near the old mail stagecoach station. The marker was later moved to this location for greater visibility and is just north of the 99 Highway bridge over Elm Creek, a bridge that spans the original crossing during the trail era. The marker is down the embankment and can easily be missed, especially if the grass is high.
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Follow the Santa Fe Trail from Westport, Missouri to Santa Fe New Mexico. This tour follows the markers set by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1906-1907 that trace the route of trail and highlights its historical locations. Learn the history of the trail as you hop from marker to marker on your way to Santa Fe.
