Hays, County seat in Ellis County, Kansas, United States
Hays is a county seat in Ellis County, Kansas, located in the wide prairie landscape of the Great Plains. Fort Hays State University shapes the town with its campus buildings and draws students from across the region.
The settlement started in 1867 near a military outpost and grew when several small communities merged after an epidemic. Immigrants from Germany and Russia arrived in the 1870s and brought new wheat farming methods that changed the surrounding countryside.
The town keeps its German Russian roots alive through traditional foods and annual festivals that visitors experience in restaurants and at public gatherings. This connection also appears in church buildings and community centers spread across the neighborhoods.
The center has streets where visitors can carry drinks between different venues, making it easy to walk through the district. Most shops and facilities lie within short walking distances, so finding your way around takes little effort.
Frontier Park displays a herd of American bison in an open enclosure that visitors can watch from the fence. These animals once roamed the plains in millions before nearly disappearing.
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