Kansas City Area Historic Trails Association

On November 13, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. two NPS wayside exhibits plus other site interpretive exhibits were dedicated at 80th and Santa Fe in downtown Overland Park. The waysides have been completed to preserve the story and value of the A Day on the Santa Fe Trail mural. It had been painted on a local business outer wall a couple of years ago and peeled away; unfortunately it had to be removed completely.

The Kansas City Area Historic Trails Association was instrumental in instigating the partnership of the National Park Service, the City of Overland Park, Kansas, and Images Art Gallery to commemorate the mural, A Day on the Santa Fe Trail.

The exhibit includes two panels that depict the mural and brief history. A snippet of trail history of the routes that passed through the area - the Santa Fe, Oregon/California and Military Route Trails.

A memorial park bench to honor Dr. Pete Cuppage, long time KCAHTA Preservation Chairman was an addition that was able to be done at this time due to the many donations from his memorial.

The 1906 DAR marker, which commemorates the Santa Fe Trail passing here, was turned and reset so it faces the exhibit.

The flag pole, which was set by the DAR marker, but had not been used for some time, now has new paint and a new flag.

The Sunflower Motif construction and landscaping was funded by the City of Overland Park, KS. This being a very unique design compliments the Kansas history and what has been placed at this corner. A Commemorative Plaque recognizing the many donors of the murals and later the wayside exhibits has been placed in the center of the Sunflower Motif.

Below you will see the beginning stages of construction of this beautiful site. Many "Thanks" go out to our partners in the project - we couldn't have done this without the City of Overland Parks wonderful assistance - from planning to completion! Also, are pictures of the Dedication Ceremony. What a beautiful fall day in November it turned out to be as well as approximately 100 participants to the event.

Dedication Ceremony:

Gary Hicks - President of KCAHTA  conducted the ceremony.  He "welcomed" everyone, gave history to the project, made introductions of all those involved.

Marilyn Lyons - represented Images Art Gallery and brought comments on their behalf of this project.

Shirley Coupal - Past State Regent Kansas Daughters of the American Revolution (KSDAR) Past KCAHTA President, represented the DAR marking of the Santa Fe Trail with the red granite stone in 1906. (Her State Regents Project was to restore all 96 markers in the State of KS for their 100th yr celebration)

Paul Lyons - Overland Park City Council - brought greetings from the Mayors office and the City of Overland Park.

In attendance were not only many area Trail enthusiast (KCAHTA, OCTA, SFTA members) but many of the local KS & MO DAR's & SAR's.

We would like to extend a very special Thank You to the City of Overland Park, Scott Shierk, Mike Burton and their crew of men that made this a project to remember! Their hard work, many hours of planning and construction, moving a hugh granite stone and then getting it back in place, along with a beautiful Sunflower Motif courtyard to make it a very special area; and last but not least for taking the time to remove the "in great need of a paint job" flag pole - painted and replace before the ceremony. (That was a very nice surprise!)

Thank you to all of the Donors for this project, to the family and friends for the Dr. Pete Cuppage Memorial Bench, to all of the Artist that created this work of art to begin with, the National Park Service for seeing the panels come to life, all of our members and excutive committee - who helped take a thought of "this can't just go away" and helped keep it alive for not only us but future generations to come to enjoy.

We are pleased to announce a proposed new wayside exhibit project in downtown Overland Park, to be located in the ‘greenspace’ area at the northeast corner of 80th and Santa Fe. This project was inspired because of the unfortunate failure of the ‘A Day on the Trail’ mural painted in 2013 (above) and completely removed in July, 2014 due to a bonding failure of the mural paint with the existing substrata.

The KCAHTA project will feature two new National Park Service style 24”x36” wayside exhibits, a park style bench, bronze plaque, refurbished existing flagpole, and the existing red granite D.A.R. monument commemorating the historic route of the Santa Fe Trail in 1906. The project location is located very near the lost mural site, and in proximity to the Westport Route of the Santa Fe National Historic Trail. The wayside exhibit panels will feature an image of the ‘A Day on the Trail’ mural artwork created by Images Art Gallery in 2013 on the west wall of the nearby Wild Bird House business in downtown Overland Park. Also discussed will be the research and planning of the original mural artwork by area artists plus the community’s interest in sponsoring a mural depicting the trail’s heritage in Overland Park.  The history of the Santa Fe Trail and a map showing the mid-1800s route through Overland Park will be included. The exhibits will be similar to the ones we have installed in partnership with National Park Service in Strang Park, Sapling Grove Park and other Johnson County locations.

The Commemorative plaque, mounted on a red granite base, will feature sponsor names for the ‘mural’ project, including KCAHTA. The $2,000 previously donated by KCAHTA has been returned to us by Images Art Gallery and will be applied to this new project. An additional $800 has been received through Images Art Gallery from a prior donor to the mural project, for a total of $2,800 available for the new exhibits.

It is planned that the existing flagpole, adjacent to the existing D.A.R. marker, will be refurbished perhaps through the support of an area Scout Troop. Coordination with a Scout Troop will be initiated once final project approvals and permitting have been received from the City of Overland Park.

Based on available funding, the proposed park style bench may be part of Phase 2 of the project. KCAHTA members may wish to consider participating in the sponsorship of the bench in commemoration of an individual(s).

KCAHTA is pleased to have the support of NPS and the availability of its technology to lay out the text and graphics for the exhibits. No additional funding is required from NPS for the project.

The project is in partnership with Images Art Gallery of downtown Overland Park, the National Park Service, the City of Overland Park, and various area associations which have lent their support to the project.                                                                                                                                       Dedication of the exhibits expected to be in late summer of 2015.