8 Storybook Towns In The Prairies
The Prairies region welcomes visitors with wide, wind-ruffled grasslands and small towns that still feel deeply tied to the land and stories that built the American West. You can use Gillette as a gateway to Devil’s Tower and wildlife-filled drives, then swap wide-open plains for pure roadside whimsy in Mitchell’s Corn Palace. In Dodge City, cowboy lore comes alive with saloons and cattle drive traditions, while Helena pairs prairie edge scenery with mountain views and historic downtown charm. These eight prairie and plains communities deliver storybook views, and plenty of wide-open space for an easygoing weekend escape.
Gillette, Wyoming
Rolling hills and open plains wait in Gillette, Wyoming. Set in Wyoming's Northeast corner, Gillette is the gateway to Devil's Tower National Monument. Wildlife is in abundance in Gillette. Visitors can see pronghorns almost anywhere they drive in town, with the population sometimes getting almost as high as human residents! Other animals won't be as easy to see, but Gillette offers a Wildlife Loop Tour that takes guests through juniper habitats, sagebrush grasslands, and ponderosa pines. During the two to three-hour tour, be on the lookout for mule deer, hawks, pheasants, and wild turkeys.
The town of Gillette has an Avenue of Arts Walking Tour. On it, you'll take a trip around town and discover over 100 sculptures created by both local and national artists. Everything you see is on sale, and the art is constantly changing. While you're in the downtown area, look around and see wagon-wheel ruts from the late 1800s, or experience City Hall, which was built during the Great Depression. Downtown Gillette gives off an Old West feel, complete with gunslinging cowboys and legendary outlaws.
Mitchell, South Dakota
Located in the heart of South Dakota, the town of Mitchell is surrounded by farmland that leads into wide-open prairies. Not many places in the Great Plains are known for having a palace in the middle of town, but Mitchell is. Built in 1892, the Corn Palace has been around for over 100 years. Every year, the palace is decorated with 12 different colors of locally grown corn, along with other grains and native grasses. Visitors can come and see differently designed corn murals.
Mitchell is home to two National Register of Historic Places districts. One is the Mitchell Historic Commercial District. Beginning and ending at the Corn Palace, guests can walk a loop around the downtown area and visit dozens of historic buildings, like Holy Family Church, School, and Rectory, a historic Gothic revival church on North Kimball Street built in 1906. Restorations have taken place so that guests can come and see the original sanctuary. Mitchell is also home to the only active archaeological site open to the public in South Dakota. Guests can see a 1,000-year-old Indigenous Plains Village preserved right in town.
Dodge City, Kansas
Experience life as a cowboy in Dodge City, Kansas. The town lies along the Arkansas River in the High Plains region of the Great Plains. Visitors can step back in time and head to the Boot Hill Museum, wetting their whistle at the Long Branch Saloon. Just like in the 1800s, locals and guests alike can stop in and enjoy a sarsaparilla or two. Be sure to join the town in august for the annual Longhorn Cattle Drive, cheering on as longhorn cattle are driven through the streets of Dodge City.
Step back in time and see the Home of Stone. Built in the late 1800s, Mueller-Schmidt House is the oldest building in Dodge City still on its original site. This limestone home sits atop a hill northeast of town. Visitors can still see a slice of life in Dodge City from 1881. The bedrooms, kitchen, parlor, and exterior of the Mueller-Schmidt home remain the same as they were over a hundred years ago.
Laramie, Wyoming
What started as a tent town, back in 1868, sprang up and became the Gem City of the Plains. Laramie, Wyoming offers visitors a glimpse into its past in the style of a beautiful Victorian home housing the Laramie Plains Museum. The three-story home has many rooms depicting life in Laramie. One room, titled the Benefactor and Suffrage Hall, discusses how women in Wyoming were the first to be recognized as equals to men. They were given the right to vote, own land, and run for office 50 years before the rest of the United States.
Medicine Bow National Forest has you communing with nature, no matter what time of year you visit. Horseback riding is especially popular, given the location, but there are also trails for hiking and even snowshoeing in winter. There are beautiful vistas, many different wildflowers in the summer, and chances to see pica, foxes, and marmots. The American Heritage Center inside the University of Wyoming is every book lover's dream. It has over 95,000 cubic feet of manuscripts, documents, and rare books. It is one of the nation's largest non-government archives.
Helena, Montana
Helena is a beautiful, stunning place where the prairies meet the mountains. Hailed as the Queen City of the Rockies, Helena has surprises around every nook, cranny, and alleyway. Speaking of alleyways, situated at the Southwest corner of downtown is Reeder's Alley. This walkable alley was built in the 1870s and is the oldest intact piece of Helena. Guests can walk up and down the alley visit the many different shops and restaurants located on it.
The city is also a Gateway Community to the Continental Divide Trail. Helena has five different access points to the trails and offers a number of day or weekend hikes. The Great Northern Town Center gives visitors a chance to relive parts of the infamous Lewis and Clark Expedition. There you will learn about 19 different historical sites along the route and see replicas of the path Lewis and Clark took.
Kearney, Nebraska
Welcome to the Sandhill Crane Capital of the World. Kearney, Nebraska, is smack in the middle of America and very close to the Great Platte River Road, which was a major route for the westward expansion of the United States. Spanning over I-80 is The Archway Museum, a multi-level museum that tells the story of the settlers who followed the Great Platte River Road and stood on the front line of the evolving nation. Over at the Trails and Rails Museum, there are historic and replicated buildings showcasing Kearney's past. There's a schoolhouse, church, train, and a fully functioning blacksmith shop.
Head downtown and take a stroll 'on the bricks.' The road in downtown Kearney was paved with bricks in 1915 and has stayed that way since. All around that brick road, on many buildings throughout downtown, guests can visit multiple different hand-painted murals. These paintings range from cranes to giant books, from butterfly wings to a huge Coca-Cola mural.
Lindsborg, Kansas
Swedish meatballs and Dala horses, mixed with tallgrass prairies; that's Lindsborg, Kansas, a.k.a. Little Sweden, USA. Step into a storybook with painted horses on every corner and a Viking festival in the middle of downtown, and search the town far and wide to find all 42 painted Dala horses.
The Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum has exhibits featuring many historic buildings, including a flour mill, a Swedish Pavilion, a homestead cabin, and a courthouse. The Swedish Pavilion was showcased in the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. It was then moved to Bethany College in Lindsborg and used as a classroom for over 60 years.
Pella, Iowa
A touch of Holland awaits guests of Pella, Iowa. Every year in May, the town celebrates the Tulip Time Festival. The town comes alive with an array of colored tulips. The first tulip festival was in 1935 and held almost every year since. Residents dress in traditional Dutch clothing to celebrate their heritage, and parades and Dutch markets pop up around town. By the courtyard, guests can witness the Klokkenspel. Every day, different mechanical figures dance to the music of a 147-bell carillon.
At the end of March, the Historical Village opens at the Pella Historical Museums. For $12.00, guests can visit up to 18 different buildings. These structures tell the story of Pella dating back to the 1840s. There's a refurbished bakery, the Scholte Church, a sod house, and the boyhood home of Wyatt Earp. The Earp family lived in the bottom floor apartment during the Civil War.
The Beauty of the Prairies
The different towns in the prairies represent the beautiful landscape and historic communities of the area. Each one brings about the charm of the Prairies and how this part of the country played a big role in the growth of the United States. These storybook towns capture the heritage and wonder of the Great Plains. From stunning views to historical landmarks, they all have a bit of whimsy and a lot of allure. Just like Walnut Grove, these towns each share their own little house on the prairie moments.
