6 Breathtaking Towns to Visit in Kansas
Flatlands, wheat, corn, sunflowers, Jayhawks, Clark Kent, and tornadoes. Those are some of the most famous things about Kansas. But what if someone told you that the state also has a national rock monument, a giant entertainment museum, a Native American pueblo, a Spanish Colonial-inspired castle, a presidential estate, a Garden of Eden, and the last remnants of a nearly extinct ecosystem, and that they are all in or around tiny towns? Uncover six breathtaking communities that might make you feel you are not in Kansas anymore, in a good way.
Lucas
As the "Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas," Lucas can take your breath away along with your sanity. Avant-garde installations clog this tiny vein of the heartland, from dozens of rock piles at Miller's Park to the World's Largest Souvenir Travel Plate on Highway 18 to 150-plus strange sculptures, including Dinsmoor's own transparent tomb, at SP Dinsmoor's Garden of Eden. Moreover, Main Street boasts a gallery called the World’s Largest Collection of the World’s Smallest Versions of the World’s Largest Things, which exhibits miniature replicas of giant roadside attractions, such as the aforementioned travel plate. Outside of those chambers and spilling into other communities is Jim Dickerman's Open Range Zoo, a showcase of scrap metal sculptures randomly dotting the landscape.
Just south of Lucas, Wilson is another small community that elicits big gasps with big attractions like the Tobias Water Tower/Jail and the World's Largest Czech Egg. If you have had enough folk art, check out pristine Wilson Lake and scenic sandstone pillars in nearby Wilson State Park.
Wamego
Wamego is the unlikely site of a massive museum for one of America's most iconic media franchises. This 4,800ish-person community hosts thousands of Wizard of Oz artifacts via the OZ Museum. It has icons not just from the film but from the book and other adaptations. Not only that, a tour of the museum can be paired with a bottle of Flying Monkey at Oz Winery or perhaps Wamego's own adaptation of Oz if it happens to return to the Columbian Theatre.
Off the Yellow Brick Road, Wamego has a picturesque park with a Dutch-style windmill and tons of tulips if you come during April for the Wamego Tulip Festival. To see wildflowers, head about 25 miles southwest to the Konza Prairie Biological Station, a 3,487-hectare preserve of Flint Hills grassland. In addition to colorful flowers and vistas, Konza contains many species of animals ranging from mice to bison.
Scott City
If you thought Kansas lacked geologic wonders of the like found in Arizona and Utah, behold Scott City. An obscure community with around 4,000 residents, Scott City's in-town attractions are limited to a museum and art gallery, but outside of town lives Lake Scott State Park, a 1,020-acre park with canyons, bluffs, and a 100-acre spring-fed lake. Yet Lake Scott's best attraction is manmade El Cuartelejo, the northernmost known Native American pueblo and the only one found in Kansas.
Other structures in the Scott City scenic complex are Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park, Battle Canyon, and Kansas' first National Natural Landmark, Monument Rocks. These sites and many more can be accessed via the Western Vistas Historic Byway, which runs for 102 miles from Scott City to Sharon Springs.
Abilene
A far cry from the dusty, one-horse towns that fill Kansas, Abilene is a stately (shall we say presidential?) settlement voted one of the best small towns in America. It was the childhood stomping ground of Dwight D Eisenhower, who later stomped out the Nazis as Supreme Allied Commander and became the 34th president of the United States. His boyhood house, current tomb, and bronze statue are preserved alongside a library and museum at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home. This sprawling estate was named Kansas' top attraction by USA Today in 2017, besting the aforementioned OZ Museum.
However, it is not the only attraction in Abilene. The Seelye Mansion, which stands on North Buckeye Avenue, has 25 rooms, Edison light fixtures, and furnishings from the 1904 World's Fair and was named one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Architecture. The Abilene & Smoky Valley Railroad, which is right across the street from Eisenhower's compound, takes passengers on Kansas' only operational steam locomotive through the beautiful Flint Hills.
Strong City
There is a reason why so many Kansas attractions are in the Flint Hills. This 3.7-million-acre region contains rolling hills, rock formations, and much of the last tallgrass prairie in North America. One of the best places to catch this critically endangered but critically enchanting habitat is Strong City, a 400ish-person community that straddles the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve. Spanning almost 11,000 acres, the TPNP has everything from wildflowers to bison to historic limestone buildings to grass up to 10 feet tall. Do not worry about getting lost, though, as their average height is three to five feet. After exploring the preserve, you can refuel in Strong City proper at Ad Astra Steakhouse or Lotus Cafe and Sweets before embarking on another scenic safari, this time to Chase State Fishing Lake and its conjoined Chase Lake Falls.
If you come in June, you can mix nature and music at the Symphony in the Flint Hills, whose 2024 iteration is to be held on the Evans Family Red Ranch near the community of Cassoday. Both Strong City and Cassoday sit along the 47-mile Flint Hills National Scenic Byway.
Lindsborg
The konung of places you would not expect to find in Kansas, Lindsborg is a Little Sweden on the prairie. It was founded by Swedish immigrants in the 1860s and keeps a spectacular Scandinavian aesthetic unlike virtually anywhere else in the country. Such businesses as Öl Stuga Tavern, Trollslända Toy Store, Hemslöjd Scandinavian Gifts, Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum, and the Rosberg House Bed & Breakfast are interspersed with Swedish flags, blue and yellow peddle cars, and multicolored Wild Dala Horses, which are traditional toys that local artists enlarged, decorated, and placed across town. This herdsborg of horses was named one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs.
But despite all those Swedish-inspired, storybook-esque flourishes, Lindsborg's most breathtaking feature is a supposed Spanish Colonial site. Dubbed Coronado Heights, this bluff northwest of town has a 1930s-built castle that marks the discovery area of Spanish artifacts. It was named one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography.
Discover Kansas' Hidden Highlights
If you are looking to shatter the stereotypes of a flat, featureless Kansas, look no further than Lucas, Wamego, Scott City, Abilene, Strong City, and Lindsborg. Those six small communities have attractions that are tall, wide, and deep. Bluffs, canyons, mansions, monuments, museums, archaeological sites, and architectural anomalies can leave you breathless in a state that seems to have more air than it needs. Conserve wisely.
