Fort Larned National Historic Site

Fort Larned National Historic Site Welcome to Fort Larned, a national park still guarding the Santa Fe Trail! Read more about the park! Established by the U.S. Today, it is a national park.
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Fort Larned has been the Guardian of the Santa Fe Trail for over 150 years. Army in 1859 as the Camp on Pawnee Fork - the fort stood astride routes of the Santa Fe Trail. For nearly two decades, troops guarded the connection between the Midwest and the Southwest. Units of the Tenth Cavalry - Buffalo Soldiers - served their first assignment here. Wives and children of officers and enlisted men made

their homes here - for a time. But the post was also part of the story of the dispossession of the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and other peoples from their homes. From here, General Hancock conducted his war on the Southern Plains. From here, Ned Wynkoop tried and failed to offer an equitable peace as Indian agent. After construction of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad through southwest Kansas, the fort became a livestock ranch and tourist destination on the old Santa Fe Trail. Discover the living past at one of your national parks in Kansas.

Load the salute cannons, raise the flags, and decorate in red, white, and blue, because we’re just around the corner fro...
06/06/2026

Load the salute cannons, raise the flags, and decorate in red, white, and blue, because we’re just around the corner from our annual Independence Day weekend celebration! This year is uniquely special as we join the nation in celebrating 250 years of independence. Join us as we represent a frontier post in the middle of their celebrations and enjoy some of our talks and presentations looking at 250 years of military history. Check back here or on our website as more information gets nailed down.

Photo by Janet Fleske, NPS

It’s not often that we get a layer of morning mist at Fort Larned, but we had the perfect cool morning for it this last ...
06/04/2026

It’s not often that we get a layer of morning mist at Fort Larned, but we had the perfect cool morning for it this last Memorial Day weekend. It can make you quickly forget how bustling this place used to be.

Photo by Ben Long, NPS

If the conditions are just right and you know just where to look, you can see the evidence of what could have been at Fo...
05/30/2026

If the conditions are just right and you know just where to look, you can see the evidence of what could have been at Fort Larned. In between the Shops building and the New Commissary, there were plans to build a Guardhouse. This building would have housed the guard squad and served as the post jail. However, upon examining the existing buildings, it was determined that the Blockhouse, the main defensive building, had never been used for its original purpose and likely never would be. Instead of building a whole new structure while another one lay unused, Captain Rockwell and others building Fort Larned determined it would be more cost-effective to modify the Blockhouse into a Guardhouse. However, this wasn’t done before the foundation of the proposed Guardhouse was laid. Today, if the conditions are just right like in this photo, you can see just where the walls to the Guardhouse would have been.

Photo by Ben Long, NPS

Do you have a mailbox at work? Since the military Fort Larned ran on paperwork, there was always correspondence that ne...
05/27/2026



Do you have a mailbox at work? Since the military Fort Larned ran on paperwork, there was always correspondence that needed to get passed to the Post Commander, officers, 1st Sergeants, and others. To help centralize this communication, this exact mailbox was in the Adjutant’s Office (Post Headquarters) and each shelf within was labeled with the recipient. So if you were a 1st Sergeant of a company, you would respond to 1st Sergeant’s Call and have a meeting in the Adjutant’s Office to discuss any pertinent details about the post’s function that day. While there, you’d check your mailbox to see if there were any new orders for publication. To be clear, this was not a general mailbox where you’d receive letters from home — that would come separately. This was strictly for official Fort Larned business that couldn’t be verbally communicated.

Do you think you’d be excited to see something in your mailbox in the Adjutant’s Office? Why or why not?



Photo by Ben Long, NPS

It has begun! One of our biggest living history events of the year has kicked off and will run from now until Monday (5/...
05/23/2026

It has begun! One of our biggest living history events of the year has kicked off and will run from now until Monday (5/25). So don’t miss out on plenty of learning and fun for the whole family as we bring Fort Larned to life once again. Come on out and enjoy the sights, sounds, and smells of a frontier post come to life!

Photo by Janet Fleske, NPS

Don’t worry about us, we’re just getting ready for the coolest living history event this side of the Mississippi. Still ...
05/21/2026

Don’t worry about us, we’re just getting ready for the coolest living history event this side of the Mississippi. Still looking for plans for this weekend? It’s not too late to decide you want to see Fort Larned come to life with soldiers and civilians performing their duties as they would have 160 years ago. Come for the living history and stay for the programs and demonstrations where you can watch a blacksmith work, talk to a Buffalo Soldier, and see, hear, and smell historic weapons fire. Join us this Memorial Day weekend for one of our biggest living history events of the year!

Photo by Joel F. Carberry

We are boldly marching through this week in eager anticipation of this weekend’s event, and we hope you’ll join us! If y...
05/19/2026

We are boldly marching through this week in eager anticipation of this weekend’s event, and we hope you’ll join us! If you have ever wanted to know what it was like for soldiers and civilians serving at Fort Larned in 1868, our Memorial Day weekend event is the perfect time to learn just that. With ongoing living history demonstrations, there’s not a bad time to visit over all three days. Come for one day or all three as we have some awesome programs lined up for the whole family to enjoy as well!

Photo by Joel F. Carberry

At our most recent Mess & Muster event, a hailstorm created perfect conditions for a thin layer of mist to lay over our ...
05/16/2026

At our most recent Mess & Muster event, a hailstorm created perfect conditions for a thin layer of mist to lay over our cemetery. While it was a unique sight and experience, it makes you wonder how the original occupants of Fort Larned dealt with freak storms.

Photo by Ben Long, NPS

As always, with a Memorial Day weekend event at Fort Larned comes a bunch of programs and demonstrations. This year, we’...
05/14/2026

As always, with a Memorial Day weekend event at Fort Larned comes a bunch of programs and demonstrations. This year, we’re bringing back some fan favorites and introducing some new programs to freshen things up! To see what and where the programs are, head to our website: https://www.nps.gov/fols/planyourvisit/calendar.htm #/?showEmptyDates=true

Photo by Janet Fleske, NPS

Though we haven’t said much about it yet, we find ourselves on the cusp of this year’s Memorial Day weekend event ¬– one...
05/12/2026

Though we haven’t said much about it yet, we find ourselves on the cusp of this year’s Memorial Day weekend event ¬– one of our biggest living history events of the year! Keep an eye out for the schedule of programs coming out soon. However, throughout the weekend, we’ll have programs, demonstrations, and fun for the whole family. Buffalo Soldiers, large artillery demonstrations, and the usual Fort Larned sights and sounds will be the highlight of this year’s Memorial Day weekend. Bring the whole family out for a weekend of fun and learning!
If you’d like to volunteer with us and help bring this fort to life once again, register to be a volunteer for this event today: https://forms.office.com/g/DpB8RMRs3s

Photo by Olivia Danielle Photography

Address

1767 KS Highway 156
Larned, KS
67550

Opening Hours

Monday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Thursday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Friday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Saturday 8:30am - 4:30pm
Sunday 8:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone

+16202856911

Website

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