Ellsworth, the Cowtown and Fort

When the Union Pacific built through this area in 1867, it was buffalo country, with immense herds so common that a Hays newspaper reported passengers between there and Ellsworth almost daily enjoyed shooting at buffalo from the cars as the animals raced the locomotives. Founded in 1867, Ellsworth became a main terminus of the Texas cattle trade in Kansas from 1871 to 1875 and was one of the wildest cowtowns, with shootings and even a fabled ride down Main Street by a dancehall girl dressed as Lady Godiva. South of Ellsworth stood the Mother Bickerdyke Home for old soldiers and their families, named for Mary Bickerdyke, the famed Civil War nurse and social worker. Fort Ellsworth was established four miles southeast in 1864, renamed Fort Harker two years later, and moved northeast in 1867 to present Kanopolis, where four of its stone buildings may still be seen. There General Sheridan planned the winter Indian campaign of 1868 to 1869, and other famous generals, including Grant, Sherman, Hancock, Miles, and Custer, visited or were quartered at Harker before the post was abandoned in 1873.

Ellsworth, Kansas · United States