Historic Fort Leavenworth

Governor Andrew Reeder's executive offices were in the Rookery, built between 1832 and 1834 as quarters for bachelor officers and counted as the oldest building in Kansas. It served as the territory's first capitol until the government moved to Pawnee in 1855. The post itself has never been attacked. When Sterling Price's Confederates approached in 1864, troops built Fort Sully, a line of earthworks for artillery on Hancock Hill above what is now the national cemetery, but Price was beaten at Westport and never reached Fort Leavenworth.

What the plaque says

Historic Fort Leavenworth -13 Miles South- Oldest Army Post in Continuous Existence West of the Missouri River Long before white men settled Kansas, traffic over the Santa Fe trail was so heavy that troops were detailed to protect it from the Indians. Fort Leavenworth, established in 1827 by Col. Henry Leavenworth, was for thirty years the chief base of operations on the Indian frontier. In 1839, Col. S. W. Kearny marched against the Cherokees with the largest U. S. mounted force yet assembled: ten companies of dragoons. In 1846, Col. A. W. Doniphan set out on his Mexican expedition; throughout the war with Mexico the Fort was the outfitting post for the Army of the West. During the 1850's, wagon teams hauled supplies over the Santa Fe, Oregon and other trails to all forts, posts and military camps of the West, some as far as the Pacific. When Kansas territory was organized in 1854, Gov. Andrew Reeder set up executive offices at Fort Leavenworth. In 1881, Gen. William T. Sherman established the school which later became the Command and General Staff College, the highest tactical school in the Army educational system combining all arms and services. A 1926 graduate, with highest honors in his class, was Maj. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Erected by Kansas Historical Society and State Highway Commission

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Amelia Earhart Hangar Museum — 11 mi
  A hangar at Atchison's airport built around Muriel, a 1935 Lockheed Electra 10-E of the model Earhart vanished in, saved from scrap, restored over three decades and brought to her birthplace in 2016.
• Quindaro Townsite — 30 mi
  The wooded ruins of a free-state river port built on a Wyandot woman's land in 1857, a crossing for people escaping slavery in Missouri and later the home of Western University.

More markers nearby

• Atchison — 9.2 mi
• Mormon Grove: The City That Disappeared — 10 mi
• Fort Leavenworth — 11 mi
• The City of Leavenworth — 12 mi