Lindsborg to Coronado Heights

This short ride from Lindsborg to Coronado Heights is a beautiful way to begin or end your day.  

One of the most recognizable landmarks in the Smoky Hill River Valley of Central Kansas is Coronado Heights Park, listed on the National and Kansas Registries of Historic Places and voted as one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography by members of the Kansas Sampler Foundation.

Early Swedish pioneers originally settled at the base of the bluff, but eventually moved the community to the floor of the valley. Anna Olsson, daughter of one of Lindsborg’s founders Rev. Olaf Olsson, wrote in her memoir Child of the Prairie that looking from the top of the Heights, when homesick, one imagined seeing all the way to Sweden.

Dominating at 300 feet above the Smoky Hill River Valley, Coronado Heights, located about 3 miles northwest of Lindsborg, is on the southern edge of a succession of seven hills known as the Spanish (or sometimes the Smoky Hill) Buttes. The Dakota Formation was deposited about 100 million years ago.  Coronado Heights remains a natural habitat of wildflowers and grasses. Yucca, gooseberries, Prairie Racerunner lizards, sumac, sage and spiderwort flourish. Because of its natural beauty, it is a popular site for weddings and family reunions.

Development of Coronado Heights Park began in 1919 with the formation of the Lindsborg Historical Society, predecessor of the Smoky Valley Historical Association.   A shelter house was built around the picnic and cooking area in the middle of the top of the hill. The original road, to allow automobile access to the top, was built in 1920 and named Swensson Drive in memory of Carl Aaron Swensson, founder of Bethany College.  A footpath, now the stairway located half-way up the hill, is called Olsson Trail, named after Olaf Olsson, leader of one of the first groups of Swedes to settle in the valley.  Early in the Smoky Valley’s history it was apparent that Coronado Heights Park was to be valued and accessible for everyone to enjoy.  As the 1988 sculpture by John Whitfield, located halfway up the road, says "A Place to Share."

Coronado Heights Park is where Smoky Valley residents go to observe the ever-changing Kansas weather. Artists and photographers have for years converged on Coronado Heights for the exceptional panorama. The soft native Dakota sandstone is littered with names and dates from years ago. Hiking and biking trails wind around the bluff. Even though some have the mistaken idea Coronado himself built the Spanish-style castle, it was actually constructed in 1936 by Works Progress Administration workers. It is the place for watching a sunrise or sunset. It’s the perfect place to fly a kite or model airplane, have a picnic, meet friends and to take visitors to show them the landscape of the Smoky Valley.