Coronado Heights
Coronado Heights is a hill northwest of Lindsborg, Kansas. It is alleged to be near the place where Francisco Vásquez de Coronado gave up his search for the seven cities of gold and turned around to return to Mexico.
In 1915 a professor at Bethany College in Lindsborg, found chain mail from Spanish armor at an Indian village excavation site a few miles southwest of present Coronado Heights[1] and another Bethany College professor promoted the name of Coronado Heights for the hill. In 1920 the first road known as Swensson Drive was constructed on the hill with a footpath known as Olsson Trail. In 1936, a stone shelter resembling a castle was built on top of the hill as a project of the Works Progress Administration. In 1988 a sculpture by John Whitfield with an engraving stating "Coronado Heights “A Place to Share”" was placed half-way up the hill.[2]
The hill is now Coronado Heights Park, owned by the Smoky Valley Historical Association. The view at the top of the hill is spectacular and people on the top can see for miles. In the Spring and Summer there are wildflowers in bloom on the hill. Many visitors have carved their names or initials in the soft Dakota Formation sandstone at the summit. In summer, there is an abundance of Cnemidophorus sexlineatus viridis lizards around the castle.
Notes
- ↑ Amy Bickel (September 2, 2007). "Swedish culture, Spanish lore, natural beauty merge in area". Hutchinson News. Retrieved December 12, 2008.
- ↑ http://ks-lindsborg2.civicplus.com/documents/59/65/92/Coronado%20Heights%20%20Hoglund%20Dugout%20QR%20codes.PDF
External links and references
Coordinates: 38°36′46″N 97°42′11″W / 38.61278°N 97.70306°W