Southeast Kansas once looked and acted like the rest of the state, with prairies and farms as far as the eye could see. The search for coal changed everything.

This corner of the state was once primarily rolling fields of prairie grasses with wooded areas only along creeks, sitting on the edge of the Ozark Plateau.

The nation’s only collegiate gorilla is a symbol of our community pride and perseverance.

The world’s largest surviving electric shovel sits just across the county line.