State capital Topeka has the expected selection of governmental sites but also find in this pleasant town a number of historic attractions, a museum or two and easily accessible lakeside activity.
Promises made and broken! A town attacked at dawn! Thousands made homeless by war! Soldiers fighting settlers! Each of these stories is a link in the chain of events that encircled Fort Scott from 1842-73. All of the site’‘s structures, its parade ground, and its tallgrass prairie bear witness to this era when the country was forged from a young republic into a united transcontinental nation.
Hours + Fees
Hours:
Fort Scott National Historic Site is open year round from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. April-October and 9:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. from November-March. It is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day.
Map + Directions
Basic Directions
Fort Scott National Historic Site is located in downtown Fort Scott, Kansas. U.S. Highways 69 and 54 intersect here. Fort Scott is about 90 miles south of Kansas City and 60 miles northwest of Joplin, Missouri. It is 4 miles from the Kansas-Missouri border.
Signs directing visitors to Fort Scott are posted on Highway 69 for visitors coming from the north and the south and on Highway 54 for visitors coming from the east and the west.
The entrance to the site is one block west of the intersection of Highway 69 and Highway 54 east. (Highway 54 west splits off from Highway 69 about 1/2 mile north of town.)
We offer a compact version of Go-Kansas for mobile users, allowing you to access just the information you need on the road. Of course, you can still use the full version of Go-Kansas on your mobile device just as you can on your desktop.