Kansas, Ford County, Dodge City
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This hill was not a pleasant place during the 1870’s. It was covered with buffalo grass, prickly pear and soapweed and was used as a burying ground for drifters, troublemakers, and unknowns from 1872 until 1879. As early as 1879 newspapers were reporting that some people in Dodge City were dying with their boots on and were being buried where you are now standing. There were no ceremonies for the dead, no markers on the graves and wolves often dug up the bodies soon after burial. By 1879 when the city council ordered that all bodies be removed from this site, about 34 persons had been interred on Boot Hill. In 1916 most of the hill was excavated to make room for a new city swimming pool. You are now at what was the northwest corner of the original graveyard.
(Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
This hill was not a pleasant place during the 1870’s. It was covered with buffalo grass, prickly pear and soapweed and was used as a burying ground for drifters, troublemakers, and unknowns from 1872 until 1879. As early as 1879 newspapers were reporting that some people in Dodge City were dying with their boots on and were being buried where you are now standing. There were no ceremonies for the dead, no markers on the graves and wolves often dug up the bodies soon after burial. By 1879 when the city council ordered that all bodies be removed from this site, about 34 persons had been interred on Boot Hill. In 1916 most of the hill was excavated to make room for a new city swimming pool. You are now at what was the northwest corner of the original graveyard.(Cemeteries & Burial Sites) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
