Aerial photograph showing a now inland sea of grass in the heart of the

Flint Hills of Kansas.

Instructions:

Important: review rack card examples at www.graphics.nps.gov

Replace the dummy copy used in this template with your text

and use the document’s style sheets to put your text into the

correct font, size and style. More specific information about

the typography is described in the dummy copy. Character style

sheets have been included for Quark 4.0 files.

This gray box represents an image. Images (i.e. photographs or

illustrations) should be placed where appropriate, but not

above the title. Images should align with the text as shown

here and on the next page.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve was established on

November 12, 1996 to preserve, protect, and interpret for the

public an example of a tallgrass prairie ecosystem and the

historic and cultural values represented by the Spring Hill

Ranch. Once the bed of a vast inland sea located in the heart

of the Flint Hills of Kansas, the preserve represents a portion

of less than 4% of remaining tallgrass prairie.

National Park Service

U.S. Department of the Interior

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Strong City, Kansas

Tallgrass Prairie

“Whenever you stop on the prairie to lunch or camp, and

gaze around, there is a picture such as poet and painter

never succeeded in transferring to book or canvas... [We]

ought to have saved a Park in Kansas, ten thousand acres

abroad-the prairie as it came from the hand of God, not a

foot or an inch desecrated by ‘improvements’ and

‘cultivation’. It is only a memory now.”

—D.W. Wilder, editor of the Hiawatha World, 1884

Ranching heritage at the preserve

Cattleman Stephen F. Jones built his home in 1881 with hand-cut

limestone. The 11-room house is characteristic of the Second

Empire style of 19th century architecture. The springs on the

hillside provided water to the house – thus the name, Spring Hill

Farm and Stock Ranch. Nearby are the massive three-story

limestone barn and Lower Fox Creek School, a one-room

schoolhouse. The ranch was designated a National Historic

Landmark in February 1997.
Site Information:

Experience the natural wonder and rich history of the Kansas

Flint Hills. The expansive rolling hills and wide-open vistas of

this Great Plains region are a rare remnant of the expanse of

tallgrass prairie that once covered 400,000 square miles of

central North America.

Each of the site’s historic structures, exhibits, guided house

and prairie bus tours, costumed interpreters, educational

activities, special interpretive programs, hiking trails, audio

visual program, and scenic vistas of tallgrass prairie help you

experience the natural and cultural history of the preserve.

How to get here:

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is 2 miles north of Strong

City on Kansas State Highway 177 (Flint Hills Scenic Byway).

Spring Hill Farm and Stock Ranch and the Lower Fox Creek Schoolhouse

Hours of operation:

Open 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. daily, except

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New

Years Day.

Visitor Information Station located

in the barn from May - October and

on the back porch of the house from

November - April.

For further information contact:

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

P.O. Box 585, 226 Broadway

Cottonwood Falls, Kansas 66845

620-273-8494

Websites:

www.nps.gov/tapr

www.nature.org/kansas