Post Rock Country

Rush County, at the south end of Post Rock Country, was organized on December 5, 1874, and named in honor of Capt. Alexander Rush, Company H, of the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry. The first settlers arrived in 1869 and established homesteads along Walnut Creek near the Fort Hays-Fort Dodge Trail. With few trees on the vast, dry prairie, settlers searched for alternative building materials. Post Rock, a unique limestone bed that sat within inches of the surface, was so well used and became such a curiosity that it gave rise to the Post Rock Museum in 1963.

Author Bradley R. Penka has been involved in museums and historical research for over 20 years. He helped develop and construct the new facility for the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum in La Crosse and is actively involved in the Rush County Historical Society. He has a degree from Fort Hays State University and has completed a number of regional research projects, including authoring two books and several historical periodicals. Most of the photographs in Images of America: Post Rock Country come from the archives of the historical society and the author’s personal collection.