Gateway Sign

Miami was planned before it was built. W. C. Lykins, head of a town company and a Peoria by adoption, persuaded Congress to act on March 3, 1891, and Thomas F. Richardville, chief of the Miami, helped arrange the purchase from the Ottawa, whose chief Manford Pooler is counted among the town's fathers. The Ottawa sold 588 acres at ten dollars an acre, the town took the Miami tribe's name, and lots went at auction on June 25 and 26, 1891. It was the first town in Indian Territory where buyers could get a deed.

What the plaque says

Gateway Sign A replica of a sign originally constructed in the 1900's that spanned Central and C Street adjacent to the railroad station. For many years this sign welcomed visitors to downtown Miami. The original sign was removed during the 1930's. Today's replica welcomes visitors to a revi- talized downtown Miami.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Coleman Theatre — 0.3 mi
  A 1929 vaudeville house on Route 66 in Miami, Spanish Colonial outside and Louis XV within, with the only 1928 Mighty Wurlitzer still in the building it was built for.
• Brush Creek Bridge (Rainbow Bridge) — 16 mi
  The last of three Marsh rainbow arch bridges on Kansas's short stretch of Route 66, built in 1923 and kept standing in 1992 when the road association refused to let it go.

More markers nearby

• Coleman Theatre — 0.3 mi
• Historic Route 66 Ribbon Road - Sidewalk Highway — 4.7 mi
• Baxter Springs Massacre — 14 mi