Goodland, Kansas

Traveling east from Colorado, the first stop is Goodland, Kansas.  The City of Goodland, the county seat of Sherman County, is located in Northwest Kansas. It is conveniently located 17 miles from the Colorado border.   Interstate 70 and Kansas Highway 27 serve the City.  Goodland is two hours and thirty minutes east of Denver, Colorado and six hours west of Kansas City, Kansas.   The City of Goodland was incorporated on September 5, 1887.

Goodland is the primary retail trade center for northwest Kansas, southern Nebraska and eastern Colorado, and contains an approximate 40,000-trade population within an eighty-mile radius.  Goodland has a population of  4,948 according to the 2000 census.  Sherman county has a total population of 6,760.

The local economy has transformed in the past few years due to growth in the sunflower market.  Goodland is one of only two marketing centers for sunflowers in the United States and Sherman County is the largest producer of commercial sunflowers on the High Plains.  Goodland is the official “Sunflower Capital of the Sunflower State”.  Vegetable oil from oil sunflowers and confectionary sunflower processing is the area’s largest industry.

Established in 1959, the High Plains Museum is owned and operated by the City of Goodland.  In 1979 an addition was added to the building in order to house a full-sized, automated replica of America’s first patented helicopter.  The original craft was invented and built by W. J. Purvis and C. A. Wilson of Goodland in 1909.  The newly formed Goodland Aviation Company encouraged stockholders to buy shares so the invention could be completed.

Kansas has a unique history and no less so Goodland and Sherman County.  The High Plains Museum’s collection of over 8,000 objects lets adventurers of all ages discover the past for themselves.  Six HO scale dioramas tell the stories of the Kidder Massacre in 1867 and of the early pioneer’s struggle to survive in an often harsh environment.  Permanent exhibits tell the story of the individuals and groups who have lived here – from the pioneer family in their soddie to the businessman in town.

A replica of America's first patented helicopter

Homesteaders in Sherman County Kansas, circa 1892

Diorama of the Kidder Massacre in 1867, north of Goodland, Kansas