Butterfield Trail Museum

Location:  Russell Springs

Contact:  785.751.4242

Museum Open Summer Only, May through Labor Day

Fee:  Yes

Photos Copyright Harland J. Schuster.   Please do not use without permission.

So many times, it's those little out of the way places that are so intriguing.  Russell Springs and the Butterfield Trail Museum is one of those places.  At one time, Russell Springs was the county seat of Logan County, but this changed in 1963 when, after a contentious battle, Oakley became the county seat.  There are no businesses left in Russell Springs today, just a few houses, a rodeo arena, a nice little park, and the county road maintenance building.   Driving into Russell Springs from any direction, the first thing you notice is the old Logan County courthouse, a renaissance-style stone and brick building perched prominently on the high ground.  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building is a museum piece itself.  It's as if the clock stopped ticking here and everything is as it was.  But not in 1963, when they lost the county seat.  This place looks like it must have looked 100 years ago.

When the county seat was moved to Oakley, crews set to work removing the various safe doors from the old courthouse in Russell Springs.  As you can see, the walls around the metal doors were fairly thick.   It was widely assumed at the time that the abandoned building would be razed when all useable materials were salvaged from the structure.

Instead, in 1965, the historical structure was converted to a museum.  Mostly, the contents have to do with local history.  A number of fossils have been discovered in the area, and a few of these are on display.  There are yearbooks and other memorabilia from long closed schools in the area.  The Flatlander discovered a stack of "Kansas!" magazines going back a long ways.   The museum has some, but not a lot, of material on the old Butterfield Trail, a pioneer stage and freight trail which passed nearby.  Also of some note, the German Family Massacre occurred near Russell Springs.  The remains of this unfortunate pioneer family, except for the four daughters held hostage by the Indians for a time, are buried in the old Ft. Wallace Cemetery a few miles to the northwest.

Except for the electric lights, this courtroom on the second floor probably looks about like it did 100 years ago, but the world outside the windows has changed a great deal.  For a time Russell Springs boomed.  A railroad had replaced the old Butterfield Trail, and the future seemed bright.  The railroad was not an economic success, however, and it was eventually abandoned.  With this, Russell Springs began its decline as well.

The county jail was never housed in the courthouse here.  Instead, the occasional inmate was incarcerated in the small stone building located south of the courthouse.  As was the seeming custom in these old county jails, "visitors" proudly left their signatures on the metal bars of the old jail.

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