8 Off-The-Beaten-Path Towns In Kansas
A 14-foot belt buckle stands in an Abilene park because a local boy became a five-star general and then president. Small towns across Kansas build outsized monuments to the oddest corners of their past. Council Grove preserved a bur oak that once served as a mailbox for wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail. Lindsborg still throws a Swedish folk festival its immigrant founders would recognize. Norton devotes a whole museum to candidates who lost the White House. These eight towns pay back the long drive with stories rooted in one specific place.
Abilene
In Kansas' northeast, the small town of Abilene carries a point of pride far bigger than its size. This is where Dwight Eisenhower, the World War II hero and later U.S. president, was raised. Abilene presents visitors with options to learn about every stage of Eisenhower's life, including his boyhood home, his presidential library, and his final resting place. For some fun inside Eisenhower Park, try to scout out the World's Largest Belt Buckle, measuring nearly 20 feet wide and 14 feet tall.
There is more to Abilene than Eisenhower. The Seelye Mansion, built in 1905, was the home of a successful medical products manufacturer. Today, it offers tours of its 20+ rooms and the property, which spans nearly an entire city block. Dog-loving travelers will appreciate the Greyhound Hall of Fame Museum, a monument to the racing breed and its famous canines.
Arkansas City
Despite its name, Arkansas City, in the state's south-central region near the border with Oklahoma, is a true-blue Kansas town. Commonly called "Ark City" for short, this place preserves a historic downtown that makes the long drive worthwhile. The Burford Theatre, built in 1924, adds a touch of Art Deco style to the town center and remains one of the community's most recognizable historic landmarks. The Cherokee Strip Land Rush Museum, also in town, displays the 1893 land run, a catalyst for growth and settlement here. The museum's exhibits include pioneer artifacts, local history displays, and collections documenting life on the Kansas-Oklahoma frontier.
Outdoor fans will appreciate the town's location on the Arkansas River, while the nearby Arkansas River Trail offers an easy route for walking, cycling, and enjoying views of the surrounding landscape. For a taste of the truly local, or to reward the kids during a long road trip, stop at Daisy Mae's Cafe or Ike's Donut Shop, both in town.
Council Grove
In east-central Kansas, Council Grove offers a sense of the spiritual. The town's draws include Hermit's Cave, where the Christian mystic Giovanni Maria de Agostini once lived after traveling across the American frontier. The cave sits near the historic Santa Fe Trail, one of the nation's most important trade and migration routes, and the site is now a city park recognized on the trail's roster of historic stops.
Though its size is modest, Council Grove boasts over a dozen sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Perhaps its best-known NRHP landmark is the Post Office Oak, a centuries-old bur oak that once served as an informal mail drop for travelers crossing the prairie along the Santa Fe Trail. The tree functioned as a frontier communication hub, where messages could be left for passing wagon trains and family members. The town celebrates these and other stories at Trail Days Cafe and Museum, where exhibits explore pioneer life and local history, while recipes inspired by early settlers blend European, Native American, and Spanish culinary influences.
Horton
In Kansas' northeast corner, the small town of Horton makes a great base for exploration of the region's unique attractions. Horton sits inside the Kickapoo Reservation, a center of Native American tribal life. History fans can learn about pre-automobile transportation at Werner Wagon Works, which restores covered wagons to working order and offers a chance for a modern-day wagon ride. Visitors can see authentic wagon-building techniques and restored vehicles that reflect the importance of overland travel on the Great Plains. For a different kind of evening, the Golden Eagle Casino offers table games, bingo, and slot machines.
Those who need a little exercise can head to nearby Mission Lake, just northeast of town. The reservoir spans roughly 160 acres and allows for fishing, boating, camping, and other family-friendly activities. Golf fans can take a swing at the Mission Lake Country Club, an 18-hole course overlooking the surrounding countryside.
Lindsborg
The town of Lindsborg, in central Kansas, puts its Scandinavian heritage first. Also known as "Little Sweden," the town, settled in 1869, was in fact the destination for various Nordic and northern European immigrants. These stories await discovery at the Lindsborg Old Mill and Swedish Heritage Museum, where exhibits explore pioneer life, Swedish immigration, and the community's cultural traditions. Lindsborg lies along the Prairie Trail Scenic Byway, a visitor-friendly driving route that showcases quintessential Kansan landscapes.
If a visitor prefers to stay in town, the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery emphasizes the work of its Swedish-born namesake painter and contains one of the largest collections of his artwork. Every other October, Lindsborg organizes the Svensk Hyllningsfest, a decades-old festival featuring folk dancing, traditional costumes, artisan demonstrations, and Scandinavian food in honor of the cultures that helped shape the town.
Norton
Not to be confused with Horton, the town of Norton, just south of Kansas' northern border with Nebraska, leads with an eccentric point of historical interest. One of the best is the "They Also Ran" Gallery, a museum dedicated to unsuccessful U.S. presidential candidates throughout American history, including incumbent presidents who failed to win re-election. The site's humorous slogan suggests its character as a place of facts and fun: "Defeated, but not forgotten."
Outdoors fans will find much to enjoy in and around Norton. The nearby Keith Sebelius Lake covers more than 2,000 acres and is widely known for its fishing opportunities, while Prairie Dog State Park extends from the water's edge. The park is also home to one of the state's largest prairie dog colonies. To cool off, the Norton Aquatic Center welcomes families after a day on the road or on their feet.
Oakley
In Kansas' high plains northwest, the town of Oakley leans into its western and natural histories. The town's Buffalo Bill Cultural and Visitor Center recalls the days of cowboys, buffalo, and frontier settlement while highlighting the life and legacy of Buffalo Bill Cody. Oakley sits on the Western Vistas Historic Byway, the state's first designated history-focused byway. The town embraces its creative side at the Keystone Gallery, and natural history fans can study fossils, minerals, and regional artifacts at the Fick Fossil and History Museum.
South of town, Monument Rocks draws visitors to a series of chalk formations that rise as much as 70 feet above the prairie and rank among the Eight Wonders of Kansas. Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park protects dramatic rock formations and rugged landscapes found nowhere else in the state, with hiking trails and scenic overlooks offering views across the badlands.
Ulysses
History buffs love Ulysses. Bearing the first name of Union general and U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant, this town in southwest Kansas has a curious early story. Present-day Ulysses sits three miles from its original setting. Settlers facing unpayable debts decided in 1909 to physically move their homes and buildings, thereby creating "New Ulysses" as a separate, debt-free place in their eyes. Ulysses then dropped the word "new" from its name, along with its previous financial obligations.
Similar histories stand on display at the Old Hotel within the Historic Adobe Museum complex, where exhibits blend Native American, pioneer, and local settlement stories. Local history lives on at the Grant County Museum, which preserves artifacts and photographs documenting the county's development. Southeast of Ulysses proper, Frazier Park offers green space and a fishing lake, along with picnic areas and recreational facilities for families spending time outdoors.
The Stories Behind These Kansas Towns
The pull of these towns is in their specifics rather than their size. Abilene built an entire visitor circuit around one local boy who became president, while Norton turned the losing side of presidential history into its own museum. Lindsborg sustains a living Swedish culture more than 150 years after its founders arrived. Council Grove and Oakley each preserve a different chapter of the American West, one on the Santa Fe Trail and one in the chalk badlands of the high plains. The drive out to any of them rewards the reader who wants Kansas history without the crowds.
