The Flint Hills Special Has Arrived
Welcome to the Flint Hills Special, your digital history magazine. Please scroll down the listing of stories or search for specific subjects while exploring Kansas history from the comfort of your home.
The Life and Times of Hickory Jones
-by Greg Hoots- Elmer Jones was born on January 17, 1878 in Bowling Green, Kentucky. His path to the American West is undocumented, but by 1895, the seventeen-year-old youth had arrived in […]
The Early Career of Photographer, Dave Mathias, 1955-1965
-by Greg Hoots- David “Dave” Mathias was born on May 6, 1937 in Reading, Pennsylvania, the son of David and Margaret Mathias. When Dave was five-years-old, his parents divorced, and for seven years he attended a series of elementary schools, as his mother moved several times during and immediately after World War II. In 1949 […]
Photo Friday, July 10, 2020: Banner Photo, Mid-Kansas Milling, 1904
-by Greg Hoots- Times have changed. Numerous times, in my role as a photo historian, I’ve heard people say, “we don’t have any old photos, my folks never owned a camera.” Other […]
Photo Friday, July 3, 2020: Eskridge City Park Bandstand, 1915
It’s Photo Friday! I have an interesting photo for you today. Last week I acquired this real photo postcard produced by M. L. Zercher of Topeka, showing the bandstand at the City […]
Steinmeyer Bros. Garage, Alma, Kansas
-by Greg Hoots- In the 1910s, a wave from the future swept across America. The automobile arrived in the cities and small towns, alike. Ten years earlier, most people had never seen […]
Phelps Oil Company, West Plains, Mo.
-by Greg Hoots- I was born at Christa Hogan Hospital in West Plains, Missouri in the middle of the 1950s. I don’t remember any of the event, although my mother had a […]
Bridging the Kaw
-by Greg Hoots- The Kansas River demarks the northern edge of Wabaunsee County, creating a meandering dividing line between the county and its neighbor to the north, Pottawatomie County. For more than […]
The Curious Case of Postcard Photographer, John Bowers
-by Greg Hoots- John Bowers was born in 1865 in Minnesota, the son of a farmer. In about 1879 John left Minnesota to move to Topeka, Kansas where he took residence with […]
The Peter Thoes Barn
-by Greg Hoots- Peter Thoes was born in 1821 in a small village on the river LaBelle Mosille on the western edge of Germany. After Peter’s birth, his parents, Johannes Thoes and […]
Sixteen Days in August and Other UPS Stories
-by Greg Hoots- Author’s note: I spent more than thirty-three years as a package car driver for United Parcel Service, working from the Topeka, Kansas center. I made many good friends while […]
