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High Plains History

High Plains History: Windthorst Windows

Published January 1, 2026 at 4:51 PM CST

Though the town of Windthorst never really became a reality, the magnificent church that was the centerpiece of an entire community is very real and well worth a trip to Ford County in southwestern Kansas.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary Church features an interior filled with wonders, not the least of which is a series of hand-blown stained glass windows fashioned in the “Munich Pictorial Style”.

For High Plains Public Radio, I’m Skip Mancini.

High Plains History is a production of High Plains Public Radio.

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HPPR Features

High Plains History: Bent’s Fort

Debra Bolton

In the decades after the Louisiana Purchase, the U.S.’s economic frontier expanded westward. In 1833 the military built a fort on the north bank of the Arkansas River, then the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico. First called Fort William and later renamed to Bent’s Fort, after William and Charles Bent, two brothers from St. Louis who led a trade caravan to Santa Fe in 1829.
HPPR Features

High Plains History: Cottonwood Ranch

Debra Bolton

In the late 1800s, thousands of European Americans attempted to establish permanent settlements in Northwest Kansas. Among those who survived and prospered were the Pratts, a family of immigrants from Yorkshire County, England. Between 1878 and 1882, Abraham Pratt and his two sons, Fenton and Tom, settled on adjacent tracts of land in the South Solomon valley. The Pratts were ambitious, hardworking, and inventive, and unlike many, when they came to this country, they had money.
HPPR Features

High Plains History: Yucca

Debra Bolton

Perhaps no single plant was more useful to the early day inhabitants on the High Plains than the spiky yucca, or soap weed, as it was commonly called. Pioneers learned from the Native American tribes that the roots could be used as soap, especially good for hair shampoo. The process of making the soap was a long one, involving digging the sticky green roots, then pounding them on a wooden board until they were softened. The resulting pulpy mass was put into water to soak. The juice and water mixture that was drained off became soap in a community where store bought goods were rare and costly.
HPPR Features

High Plains History: Kansas Folk Songs

While the Indigenous populations of the plains are the first peoples to live on and migrate across the landscape, the opening of trade with Santa Fe in 1821 marked the beginning of a series of treks across the Kansas plains by a variety of travelers. Those seeking fortune in the gold fields of California or Colorado, or those wanting a better life on their own piece of ground were also joined by immigrants and Civil War veterans who took up land under the provisions of the Homestead Act, and by the cowboys who drove their herds from Texas to Abilene and Dodge City. Many who crossed or stayed in Kansas brought their heritage with them in songs. Sung around campfires, to restless cattle herds, or in one-room schoolhouses, they offer an insight into Kansas history and of the characters and events that shaped the state.
HPPR Features

High Plains History: Kansas National Forest

An almost forgotten episode in Kansas history concerns the establishment of a National Forest Reserve in the sand hills south of the R-Kansas (also called the Arkansas) River.