Smoky Hill Museum First Thursday, Indian Rock Park: Battles, Bricks, and Beauty

Join Anne Hoekstra, Education Outreach Coordinator for the Friends of the River Foundation, and Nona Miller, retired Education Curator for the Smoky Hill Museum, for an evening of discovery featuring Indian Rock Park. Originally one of the Friends of the River Foundation’s and Smoky Hill Museum’s collaborative river history walks, this walk turned out be a more vigorous expedition and was not accommodating for mobility and balance issues. To make sure all have an opportunity to learn about this remarkable park and its astonishing history, we bring it to you in talk form. This presentation will feature Salina’s most rugged natural area. Its natural beauty masks the many drastic changes the land itself has experienced. We’ll unearth a rich history that includes American Indian grounds, industries, and recreation. We’ll also discover how the Smoky Hill River was moved, cutting the park in half. Photos past and present will bring this history to life.

The Friends of the River Foundation and the Smoky Hill Museum have been collaborating for three years now to develop 7 different river history walks highlighting 7 different sections of the original Smoky Hill River channel. We explore places and events, well known and forgotten surprises, that molded the trajectory of our town. Walks offered this summer are Iron Avenue: Salina’s Beginnings, Oakdale Park: the Heart of Celebration, Indian Rock Park: Battles, Bricks, and Beauty, and a bonus walk, River Festival: Oakdale Celebrations. Walks to come include the YMCA trail, Kenwood Park/Tony’s Pizza Event Center area, Elm Street/North Salina, and Lakewood Park.