Marathon Pundit: My Kansas Kronikles: Council Grove and the Santa Fe Trail

When I was a child my father suggested that I watch the film Santa Fe Trail. I expected that the film would be set in New Mexico--but most of it took place in the "Bleeding Kansas" of the 1850s.

But there are historical innacuracies in the film. George Custer, played by Ronald Reagan, fights at the side of Jeb Stuart. Custer was no where near Kansas at the time, in fact he didn't graduate from West Point until 1861. Stuart ironically, was portrayed by Errol Flynn, who just two years later played Custer in They Died with Their Boots On.

The Morris County town of Council Grove is steeped in history. Historians disagree on when the Santa Fe Trail first became a pioneer route, but as the marker on the right states, the people of this Kansas town believe it was there on August 10--Hey, today is August 10!

Seth Hays, a grandson of Daniel Boone, was the first white settler of Council Grove. As I live-blogged while eating a buffalo burger there, Hays founded the Hays House in 1857, the oldest continuously operating restaurant west of the Mississippi.

In 1867, years after his "appearance" on the trail with Jeb Stuart, George Custer and his 7th Calvary camped under this elm tree in Council Grove. The Hays House claims Custer was once a guest there.

Years after travel-by-trail was supplanted by the railroads, two ornate bank buildings were built on Main Street, which was on the part of the trail that passed through Council Grove. On the left is the Council Grove National Bank Building, and below is the Farmers and Drovers Bank, which is amazingly, still a bank.