Baxter Springs: A Thumbnail History

Southeast Kansas Business Journal, LLC

At the turn of the century, Baxter Springs, named after the Reverend John J. Baxter, was located in the middle of the richest lead-free zinc ore deposits in the world.  With this discovery, Baxter Springs became prosperous.  When mining construction was banned beneath the city limits, the community remained successful in a city that was now safe from cave-ins.  Its diversity of business, agriculture and industry has made it one of the most attractive small towns in Southeast Kansas.

Baxter Springs was a popular resting place for the Osage Indians on their way to the summer hunting grounds.  They believed that the mineral springs flowing near the town had healing properties and so they routed their traveling tribe to this area on purpose to partake of its waters.

In the spring of 1849 Reverend Baxter along with his wife and eight children moved here from Missouri to 160 acres of land near the Spring River that included one of the mineral springs visited by the Osage each year.  He set up and operated an inn and a general store called “Baxter Place.”  After he was killed in 1859, it became known as “Baxter Springs” and was incorporated as a city in Kansas in 1868.

Fort Blair, one of several built along the frontier, was established in 1862 to protect the town against frequent attacks by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, who in 1863,  massacred nearly 100 Union soldiers who are buried in the Baxter Springs cemetery.  The fort was built near the original flowing waters of Baxter Springs, but unfortunately, the springs dried up due to a shift in the water table caused by the nearby lead and zinc mining.

After the Civil War, Baxter Springs gained a reputation as one of the wildest cowtowns  of the West. Drovers with herds of cattle coming up from Texas on their way to Missouri found the town’s saloons and other attractions a welcome respite from the hot, dusty trail.  Because of this, Baxter Springs is known today as “The First Cowtown in Kansas.”

While you are enjoying the rich history of Baxter Springs, be sure to visit the Baxter Springs Heritage Center & Museum where you can experience for yourself what life was like for Reverend Baxter, his family and the other town residents and learn from the many outstanding exhibits.  Two other must-sees are the Fort Blair Historic Site and the Civil War National Cemetery #2 located west of the town.  You can trace the history of Baxter Springs in pictures by stopping by the American Bank downtown to look at the mural painted on their outside wall.

Before you leave, stay and dine at Café on the Route, a pretty B&B and restaurant which was formerly a bank robbed by Jesse James in 1876.  After lunch, don’t forget to drive over Rainbow Curve Bridge, the last arch bridge still standing along historic Route 66 which still runs through the middle of the downtown shopping area.

Baxter Springs has a rich legacy and a hopeful and promising future.  Its story has only just begun.