Tours on a Tankful: Tour 1
Oil, Original Art and Ornithology

Leave Great Bend on US 281 north toward Hoisington. Notice Kansas Brick and Tile on the west side of the highway. Since 1954, residential, commercial and flooring bricks have been produced from the Dakota clay behind the plant. Bricks are shipped coast to coast and to Canada. Locally, some of these bricks can be seen at Central Kansas Medical Center (Great Bend Tour) and Barton County Community College (Tour 2)

1) Hoisington, named for Andrew Jackson Hoisington who was Great Bend's postmaster, schoolteacher and editor for the Great Bend Register, was incorporated in 1886 by a group of businessmen to accommodate the railroad which was already built to eastern Barton County line. A 1919 tornado destroyed most of the original buildings but visitors enjoy the Depression Art Murals in the post office, 119 E. 2nd, and the stained glass windows in the St. John's Catholic Church, 5th and Main. Labor Day Weekend, the town swells to accommodate the annual parade, carnival, and competitions such as a baby contest and the 10K White Line Fever footrace.

2) Continue on US-281 north to Russell, originally named Fossil Station because when the railroad was being laid in the 1870s, hundreds of fossils were uncovered. The name later became Russell after Captain A.P. Russell.

Visitors enjoy the Fossil Station Museum, 331 N. Kansas Street, housed in the 1907 county jail. Exhibits are two jail cells, a doctor's kit, a dentist room (The Painless Puller Palace) and a war room (from Civil War to current). Upstairs, where the jailer once lived, are sewing machines and papier-mâché dolls made in the 1930's for a government project to help people earn money.

Hours:
Summer - Wed. - Fri. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
                Sat.& Sun. 1-4 p.m.
Winter - By appointment: (785) 483-6640

The Oil Patch Museum, I-70 & US-281, is easy to spot with Original and reproduction oil derricks outside. A demonstration of how postrock fence posts were made can be arranged if one week notice is given. The museum also contains working exhibits that depict the oil industry and its history.

Hours:
Summer - Wed.- Fri. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
               Sat.-Sun. 1-4 p.m.
Winter - By appointment: (785) 483-6640

Russell also has a variety of Victorian-style homes, including a number built of native limestone. The 1872 Gernon House, 818 N. Kansas, is the first stone house built in Russell County. It is furnished with local antiques and is a feature of the Christmas Home Tours.

Hours:
Summer - Daily & Weekends 1-4 p.m.
Other times by appointment: (785) 483-3637

Two more fine homes are Bob Dole's boyhood home at 1035 N. Maple and the renovated limestone post rock Heym-Oliver House on historic Kansas Street.

Hours:
Summer - Weekends 1-4 p.m.
During Sunset tours on Wed. & Thur. Evenings.
Other times by appointment: (785) 483-3637

Deines Cultural Center, 820 N. Main, changes its exhibits monthly, displaying both local and national works.

Hours:
Call (785) 483-3742

Christmas visitors enjoy an evening's drive around town where each neighborhood has a different theme, and downtown buildings are outlined with lights.

3) From Russell, take US-40 to I-70 or return to I-70 via US 281. Travel east to Wilson which is "The Czech Capital of Kansas." Main Street is a treasure trove of twenty-two Victorian buildings. Begin at the restored Opera House and House of Memories Museum, 415 27th Street, where a walking tour is available. Call four days ahead to arrange a tour and be met at the Opera House door by a guide in native dress who serves fresh kolaches and coffee.

Hours:
Mon.-Fri 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. & 1-4 p.m. (785) 658-3505
Other times call: (785) 658-3430

In the Wilson Antique Mall see the mysterious cello painting which was uncovered in 1998. Sincerely Yours sells kolaches by the dozen and Wilson Gallery houses arts, crafts and collectibles.

The Recreation Center, complete with a bowling alley, skating rink, game room and restaurant, serves fresh homemade pies and kolaches.

George Eschbaugh Advertising makes silk screen signs, labels and decals for a worldwide market. Interesting tours for walk-ins:

Hours:
Mon.-Fri 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. & 1-2:30 p.m. (785) 658-2105

The last weekend of July brings to life colorful Czech heritage with Czech cooking and costumes, polka, contests, a parade, crafts, concerts, and dances.

4) On the east edge of Wilson, connect with K232 north toward Lake Wilson. Go under I-70 and watch for Kansas Originals Market. This visitors' center features first-class Kansas handiwork for purchase. While there, pick up brochures on various points of interest mentioned in this travel brochure.

Lake Wilson, the next stop is a man-made 9000-acre lake enjoyed by thousands of fishermen, campers, boaters, fossil hunters, hikers and other vacationers each year. The lake is accessible from many points. Permits needed according to activity.

A short hike particularly interesting for a young family is Burr Oak Nature Trail which is a 1/2 mile walk with points of interest, various wildlife habitats and plants marked. A longer hike of three miles, Rock Town Trail, leads to rock formations in a quiet cove with a sandy beach.

5) When K-232 comes to an end past the lake's dam, turn left and follow an access road to Lucas, and the Garden of Eden.

S.P. Dinsmoor - who is incidentally still sealed in concrete and glass coffin at the Garden of Eden -- created his concrete, native limestone and wood garden following Biblical principles as he understood them. This is one of THE stops in Kansas for those interested in grassroots art.

In 1907, at age 64, Dinsmoor began his work with the construction of a rock "log" cabin. He worked for 22 more years creating the cement garden that features the Goddess of Library, animals, a soldier, the devil, Adam, Eve and angels.

Hours:
Summer - Daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
After October: Daily 1-4 p.m.
Fee is $5.00 - Call for group prices: (785) 525-6395

6) Now head east on K-18 for Lincoln, the beautiful Victorian county seat of Lincoln County. True to its name, this town is known for its annual celebration on Abraham Lincoln's birthday, Feb. 12. There is a "look alike" contest, the Gettysburg Address given in a hundred-year old courtroom, log splitting contest, and other historic events. The Post Rock Festival is the first Saturday after Labor Day.

7) For a longer tour continue east on K-18. Then on to K-106 north to Rock City near Minneapolis. Here are unique geological formations -- sandstone deposits that seem to rise out of the prairie, evidence of when Kansas was an inland sea. Allow time for both kids and adults to climb on the oddly shaped rocks some of which are 30-feet across. During Summer there is a small fee.

Information? (785) 392-3068

Nearby, Minneapolis is an attractive small town with a beautiful old downtown and a wonderful city park which lights up from Dec. 1 through Jan. 1 with displays from various groups in town and over 400 gingerbread men with names of individuals on them. M-Day is a family fun day in May with rides such as giant trampoline which shoots jumpers so far in the air they wear harnesses, a 3 mile Rock To Rock Run and many other fun events, foods, and crafts.

The Ottawa County Museum, 110 S. Concord, displays pioneer clothing, military uniforms, furniture and dishes. It has a one-room school, an early dentist office and a dinosaur exhibit. A major feature is a George Washington Carver 400,000 sq-foot display including his original hand-written letters. The world famous scientist worked in a laundry and took his school years (1880-1884) in Minneapolis.

Hours:
Mon.- Sat. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. & 1-5:30 p.m.
Sunday - 1-5 p.m.
(785) 392-3621

8) Retracing the route to Lincoln, turn south on K-14 crossing beautiful rolling country to Ellsworth, once a prominent cowtown.

Sheriff Whitney's fatal run-in with Billy Thompson, younger brother of the infamous gambler Ben Thompson, is reenacted each year as part of Ellsworth Cowtown Days in August.

The festival also features saloon brawls, dance hall girls, an Indian powwow and a rodeo which highlights Old West connections with the town.

Throughout the year that connection is also recalled at the town's Hodgden House Museum Complex on Old South Main. This features the 1878 Hodgden House. 1880's livery stable and one-room schoolhouse. 1900 train depot, 1911 caboose, a small log cabin, a turn-of-the-century wood windmill and a building housing a general store and farm equipment.

Hours:
Tues.- Sun. 1-5 p.m.
Saturday - 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.

The Western art of Charles Rogers can be seen by appointment. (785) 472-4071 and there are town cemeteries dating from Civil War days, call the same number for directions.

9) At Ellsworth, connect with K-156 west, and head back toward Great Bend.

A few miles past K-4 look to the west for shallow bodies of water that form Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area. Enter south of the rest area and stop at the kiosk for bird and auto-tour brochures to experience this 19,857-acre wildlife wetland.

At different times of the year the refuge is a temporary home for a wide variety of birds that ravel the Central Flyway across North and South America. A must-see for birdwatchers, the refuge is a regular stop for bald eagles, whooping cranes, pelicans, ducks, geese, shorebirds, song birds and birds of prey, as well as deer and other wildlife.

Call the refuge office on the western edge of the site (Great Bend Tour) to see interpretive exhibits and learn which birds are present at any given time and for group tours.

Hunting is permitted in designated areas, but shells with steel shot are required; trapping with permit.

Call for information: (620) 793-7730.

10) Back on K-156 west, just east of Great Bend is Fort Zarah State Park on the north side of the highway. The park is just west of where the stone Fort Zarah once stood, and north of where the dugout fort and trading posts were located on the Santa Fe Trail. This story is told at Barton County Historical Society Museum and Village, south of Great Bend or in the Library's Kansas Room

Continue on K-156 west, to reenter Great Bend.

Tours on a Tankful Main Menu