FORT SCOTT, Kan. — Members of the Southeast Kansas Museum Alliance are hoping a proposed project will help people learn more about Kansas history.
Leaders in the Southeast Kansas Museum Alliance are discussing an official Osage Trail Byway designation through the Southeast Kansas region.
So far, the Oak Grove School Historical Society has restored the Oak Grove School House which was built in 1877, it is southeast of Neosho County.
“We’re getting ready to open it up to school districts in the Southeast Kansas region to bring fourth-grade school classes out. When they learn about Kansas history for the first time. And they can have a history, lesson, experience and activities there in the schoolhouse,” said Roger Pruitt, Oak Grove School Historical Society Treasurer.
The schoolhouse was built along the Osage Trail Byway, a mile west of the Neosho River.
“The Osage Trail had two main arteries. One came down from the north and came through Missouri and then down along the western bank of the Neosho River, all the way to Indian territory in Oklahoma. And the other one came across southern Missouri into the southeast corner of Kansas and went west all the way to the Santa Fe Trail,” said Pruitt.
Roger Pruitt, from the Historical Society, is bringing awareness to like-minded historians about this little-known part of Southeast Kansas history.
“Apply for an Osage Trail historic byway in southeastern Kansas that I have kind of a horseshoe arc through the region where people could travel that byway and they’ll be able to visit cities and historic sites along the way,” said Pruitt.
They’re also hoping to put in historical markers to memorialize the post-Civil War American migration on the trail to, and through, Kansas.
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