Kansas fans of the classic TV show Gunsmoke might have missed some interesting trivia this month in The Hutchinson News’s “Ask Hutch” column. Milburn Stone, who starred as Doc Adams on the show, was born in 1904 and lived east of Burrton, Kansas. He attended school there for a time, then his family moved to Frizell, Kansas, in Pawnee County. The village is now a ghost town. Milburn’s family eventually returned to Burrton, where he graduated from Burrton High School in 1922.
Milburn had been accepted to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, but when a traveling show came through town, the young man was bit by the acting bug. He left Burrton with the show and eventually wound up in Hollywood, where he auditioned for Gunsmoke in 1955.
