AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The University of Texas’ long-awaited report on “The Eyes of Texas” has found that the school song has “no racist intent,” but the school president said athletes and band members will…

Standing between the Pleasant Valley cemetery and schoolhouse in southern Woodson County, I lost myself in the immensity of the sky. Always looking, looking … but for what? According to the sign above the doorway,…

From the moment you cross the threshold in the Mildred Store, you find yourself immersed in the history of rural Kansas. The first thing people bump into is the antique soda cooler, which despite not…

One of the most unusual names for any feature in Allen County has got to be Tank Farm Road. Also called Delaware Road, this byway cuts straight through the county’s agricultural heart and is home…

Think it’s been cold and gross this week? Imagine being a Kansas pioneer during the blizzard of 1886. In early January, just weeks before Kansas’ 25th birthday, the state was blasted by a snowstorm the…

I’ve always had a penchant for misfits. You know, those folks who, due to eccentricities, fashion habits, gender performance or whatever, have been pushed to the edges of society. Such marginalization was, of course, prominently…

Since 1945, some combination of Sigg brothers have been synonymous with the automotive industry in Iola.  That’s when brothers Victor and Gene, with help from brother Allen, started Sigg Brothers Service Station at State and…

Carlyle lies in pieces. Since before 1858, its historical traces stretch from at least Cottonwood Creek to along the banks of Deer Creek and beyond. The original cemetery, with its shattered stones belonging to the…

This celebratory article marks the 50th entry of Just Prairie. Rural America really used to boom. As evidence, look no further than the Neosho Valley District Fair of 1879, when over 30,000 people (perhaps as…

When you’re a historian or a scholar in the humanities more generally, you tend to get excited by rather strange things. Imagine the excitement when I discovered that where I live in Iola was once…