photo by gusto

Hays (population 18,000) in west-central Kansas was settled in 1867 around the new Union Pacific Railroad, and the nearby Fort Hays (1865). At times the fort was home to the 7th US Cavalry, commanded by General Custer, and the African-American 9th and 10th US Cavalry, known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Other visitors to the fort were Buffalo Bill Cody, who supplied bison meat to railroad workers and acted as a civilian scout for the military, and Wild Bill Hickok, who scouted for Custer. In 1869 Hickok was elected sheriff of Ellis County, spending most of his time at Hays, which was then an unruly frontier town.

By the mid-1870s the railroad had moved on and Hays settled down. It became a point of arrival for immigrants, most notably a group of Germans who built homes and beautiful churches of limestone.

Fort Hays was closed in 1889. Today, the town is home to Fort Hays State University. Of the fort, the original stone blockhouse, guardhouse, and two officers’ quarters remain. The visitor center has historical exhibits, and living history demonstrations are presented on weekends during summer.

The Ellis County Historical Society Museum in Hays features the reconstructed Volga-German House as well as an 1873 church.

A major attraction is Sternberg Museum of Natural History where walk-through dioramas re-create Kansas in the Late Cretaceous period. Hays is also home to the original Boot Hill Cemetery; a small herd of endangered prairie bison; the Plymouth Stone Schoolhouse, built in 1874 by German settlers; 25 historical markers that denote significant sites in the downtown area; and Rattlers ‘n’ Relics, a museum which examines the history of Paleo-Native Americans through murals and relics such as a Hopi Ceremonial Rattlesnake Pit and a saber-toothed tiger skull.

Hays is at the junction of Hwy 183 and I-70. Buses connect it with Topeka, Kansas City, and Denver, and there is an airport.