8 Kansas Small Towns With Unmatched Friendliness
Many in the United States and elsewhere think of Kansas as the best of the American Midwest. Admitted to the Union in 1861, amid the bloody U.S. Civil War, Kansas has moved from a sometimes-violent territory to a region of quiet living and friendly people. Its contributions to American history, commerce, and modern culture — like the locally set classic movie, The Wizard of Oz — make it a place of unique national value. While the state's small towns often get passed over in favor of trips to larger cities like Kansas City or the state capital, Topeka, Kansas, lesser-known towns deserve a closer look.
Abilene
Abilene, in northeast Kansas, is a very small town with huge pride in its famous native son: Dwight Eisenhower. The World War II hero and 34th U.S. president grew up right here, and his burial place also remains in Abilene. Visitors flock to his boyhood home, as well as the Eisenhower presidential library, also found here. The love Abilene has for its famous former resident is mutual: Eisenhower once said, "The proudest thing that I can claim is that I come from Abilene."
Among Abilene's other, somewhat less serious attractions, the town insists it hosts the world's largest belt buckle, which stands nearly 14 feet tall and 20 feet wide. Fans of dogs and dog racing will also like Abilene's Greyhound Hall of Fame Museum. The town likewise sits along the Gunsmoke Trail, named just like the long-running television series (1955-1975), which should delight boomer-age fans of television and the legacy of Kansas cowboys in popular culture.
Atchison
Along the Missouri River, just over the state line with Missouri, Atchison presents a double-feature of historical interest: aviation and architecture. The famous female pilot Amelia Earhart was born here, and the Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum displays her wide accomplishments. Atchison's yearly Amelia Earhart Festival throws a full-scale party in her memory, with shows of airplane stunts over the Missouri, as well as crafts, music, food, and other festivities.
For fans of historic architecture, Atchison's Victorian buildings draw visitors from far and wide. The Muchnic Art Gallery offers beauty outside and inside, as does the Atchison County Courthouse, where Abraham Lincoln once gave a public address. The area is also home to Benedictine Catholic devotees, and their buildings, including a convent at Mount St. Scholastica and a monastery at St. Benedict's Abbey, further add to Atchison's architectural richness.
Dodge City
The name Dodge City is already written in popular western history. The town once drew outlaws and notoriously shady figures like Wyatt Earp. Dodge City has even influenced American expressions, with terms like "get out of Dodge" — a warning for those who want to stay out of jail or a similar dire situation — referring to this very town. More law-abiding activities include a jaunt through any of the town's 19 parks, like the standout Wright Park.
Fans of industrial history may prefer Dodge City's vestiges of its former role a rail and trade center. The Sante Fe Trail, as well as the National Old Trails Road, both trace their routes through here. And for the cowboy in every visitor, the Boot Hill Museum, also known as Kansas' Cowboy Hall of Fame, shows history and cowboy-themed shows for a vision of bygone pioneer days.
Hutchinson
In central Kansas, Hutchinson lies along the Arkansas River. Established in 1871, the town inspired the name "Temperance City" for its local laws and policies against alcohol. A former mining hub, Strataca, a working underground salt mine, invites tourists and families to learn more about Kansas's abundant natural sodium deposits. Links lovers can try for a precious tee time at the Prairie Dunes Country Club, which is considered one of the best golf courses in America.
Vintage architecture stands proud at the Reno County Courthouse, an giant art deco structure erected in 1929. Child visitors can look forward to visiting the Hutchinson Zoo, as well as the Kansas State Fairgrounds. Hutchinson has hosted Kansas' state fair here since 1873 — almost the state's entire history.
Lindsborg
Lindsborg is known locally as 'Little Sweden,' and the visitor will see why. Starting in the 1860s, a brave group of Swedish settlers arrived here to forge a new life. Those and other stories abound at the Old Mill and Swedish Heritage Museum, which displays the culture, history, cuisine, and other artifacts of the town's original Swedish pioneers.
Modern cultural symbols suggest a Scandinavian heritage that endures today, such as the Bethany Lutheran Church, a Protestant denomination common to Scandinavia and other parts of Northern Europe. The church flies Swedish and U.S. flags on its grounds. Other expressions of local pride include Lindsborg in Bloom, a festival celebrating the groovy 1960s, hippie culture, and flower power across generations.
Ottawa
Despite its Canadian-sounding name, the east-central town of Ottawa boasts a strongly American set of attractions. The place takes its name from the Native American tribe on whose reservation Ottawa, the town, first appeared. Ottawa University, home to some 900 students, gives the place a distinct college-town atmosphere. Ottawa's diverse architectural styles, combining examples of Gothic, Victorian, Art Deco, and other features, have held their place on the National Register of Historic Places for 50 years. If a traveler wants even more history, Ottawa's Old Depot Museum highlights the former days when the railroad dominated life in western towns just like this one.
In the performing arts, Ottawa says it is home to longest continuously-running movie house in the world. The Plaza Cinema Movie and Memorabilia Museum has operated in downtown Ottawa since 1907. Also in town, green spaces like Forest Park provide an ideal setting for a walk, a family picnic, games on its baseball and tennis facilities, or a dip in the city pool, which also sits within the park's boundaries.
Salina
The central town of Salina, in central Kansas, suggests mineral wealth from its very name. Salt concentrations surface in the local Saline River, and like in Hutchinson, the town's salt wealth has enriched the local economy for generations. Salina's downtown boasts a colorful, art-heavy character, and the Artwork Alley shows off local and more distant talent on murals and other installations. A separate sculpture tour is also possible here. Live music kicks off every weekend through Salina's First Friday concert series, bringing performing-arts shows and talent into the town's robust creative mix.
Those travelers with dietary restrictions may find solutions and some delicious local flavor at Salina's Food and Art Market, which sells organic produce sourced directly from local growers. Families traveling with children should head for Rolling Hills Zoo, which has an extensive collection of primates, big cats, and other marquee attractions that are sure to thrill the kids.
Wamego
The northeast town of Wamego leans into eccentricity as one of Kansas' premier, movie-related attractions: the Oz Museum, devoted to the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum and published in 1900, on which the classic 1939 movie is based. The museum has more than 2,000 Oz-themed artifacts. And downtown, Wamego offers visitors a slew of Oz-inspired points of interest: an Emerald City Playground, an actual Yellow Brick Road, and its own kind of art walk, with no fewer than 15 statues of Toto the dog, a favorite character for many of Oz's diehard fans.
For a reprieve from Oz-themed everything (or other Oz-focused visitors), the town's City Park, a 15-acre green haven, has a historic windmill and space for kids and adults to relax. Wamego's Prairie Town Village presents various 19th-century structures from Kansas' days of early European settlement.
Kansas' Friendliest Towns Are Among Its Best
Kansas' smaller towns might just be some of the state's leading attractions. The state's friendly, tourist-welcoming smaller places put their local cultural draws on the best footing for a vacationing visitor. Presidential history fans can learn about Eisenhower and the roots of his success in Abilene, while in towns like Atchison and Hutchinson, architectural gems justify their places on the National Register of Historic Places and other lists of distinction. And in cinema history, from the long-running theater in Ottawa and Wamego's ties to the book that became The Wizard of Oz, Kansas has a strong claim on contributions to popular entertainment, too. For all these reasons, the Sunflower State's friendly posture toward visitors should encourage a visit to Kansas soon.
