History presentations Nov. 13 and Nov. 19 to focus on Larned connections, arrowheads

Two more free history programs are coming up in Garden City during November at the Finney County Historical Museum as part of the History at High Noon and Evening at the Museum lecture series.

 “Our Connection with Larned, Kansas” is set for noon Nov. 13, offered by Johnetta Hebrlee, museum education coordinator.  “Digging Deep into Kansas Archeology” will be conducted at 7 p.m. Nov. 19 by Chad Myers, an avocational archeologist from the Kalvesta area.

The series provides programs at noon the second Wednesday and 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of September, October and November, as well as January through April.  

Admission is free and those attending should use the north entrance of the museum, located at 403 S. Fourth Street in Finnup Park.  Beverages and cookies will be provided, and listeners are welcome to bring their own lunch or dinner, if desired.

The fall and spring presentations are hosted by the Finney County Historical Society and supported by the Western Kansas Community Foundation.

The segment about Larned will explain how Garden City and Finney County are linked to the Larned community, another historic town that grew up along the Santa Fe Trail.  

While local residents may be familiar with the Fort Larned National Historic Site, the presenter will offer additional information about the nearby town of 3,769 people, located 102 miles east of Garden City and founded about seven years earlier.

In the archeology presentation, Myers plans to share information about Native American artifact discoveries in Western Kansas.  The avocational archeologist, who also farms in northeast Finney County, is a recognized authority on arrowheads and other stone points of the Plains and has given various previous programs at the museum.  He has noted that artifacts uncovered in the region date not only to Native American cultures of the historic period, but also to people who lived, hunted and traveled thousands of years ago in what is now Kansas.

Those who attend are invited to bring stone points they have found, and Myers will attempt to date and identify them.