The Historic Santa Fe, Oregon and California Trails are of national significance. The Gardner Junction Park site, located just west of present day Gardner, along U.S. 56 Highway and West 183rd Street, is a premier site on the historic trails in Kansas. It is the first, the prototype, for the rest of the Santa Fe Trail in Kansas, and Gardner is proud to be the site of this “first” historic venture. This project has brought together major players in the preservation of trail history from across the United States. The committee of preservations and historians is comprised of the National Park Service, Santa Fe Trails Association, Oregon-California Trail Association, Kansas City Area Historic Trials Association, Gardner Historical Museum, Kansas State Historical Society, Kansas Department of Transportation, Johnson County Museum-Lanesfield School and Historical Site, and the City of Gardner.

The approximately once-acre roadside park, is owned by the City of Gardner and was dedicated in the summer of 2008.  The park is located near the spot where westward travelers split off onto the wagon roads to Santa Fe, California, or Oregon, depending on their destination. 

Providing a glimpse into the kind of prairie flora westbound travelers would have encountered in the 1800s is the goal of recent plantings at the park.  The plantings were begun in February 2008 and completed in the spring of 2010 from seed sources in Missouri and Minnesota, which include six species of native grass and about 30 types of wildflowers.  The grasses include: sideoats grama, little bluestem, Indian grass, Canada wild rye, Virginia wild rye, and June grass.  Among the wildflowers are: purple prairie clover, black-eyed Susans, several varieties of Kansas gayfeather, bee balm, purple and white coneflowers and butterfly weed.  

"The purpose is to show what the travelers saw on their way west," said volunteer Fred Markham of Kansas City, MO, who has helped with the planning and planting at the park.  The site includes both wet and dry prairie plants.  Some of the wetland varities include: swamp milkweed, marigolds, and asters, as well as river oats, mountain mint, cardinal flowers and prairie blazing stars. 

The park includes a red-roofed shade structure with 'trailhead' style orientation panels highlighting points of interest and things to see both to the east and to the west along the National Historic Trails to Santa Fe, Oregon and California.  A 400-foot paved walking path leads the visitor to wayside exhibits telling about the history, people and significance of the region.  There is a paved parking area for several vehicles.  

Gardner Junction Park is the first of several sites designed to help the traveling public learn about and enjoy the Santa Fe National Historic Trail.  A second site is nearing completion at Old Franklin, MO, and a third is in the final planning stages for the well-known trail ruts west of Dodge City, KS.    

Features available at Gardner Junction Park