Event Title: Indian Rock Park: Battles, Bricks, and Beauty, A First Thursday Presentation
Date: July 2, 2026
Time: 5:30-6:30 pm
Location: 211 West Iron Avenue & Zoom
Admission: Free
Join Anne Hoekstra, Education Outreach Coordinator for the Friends of the River Foundation, and Nona Miller, retired Education Curator for the Smoky Hill Museum, for an evening of discovery featuring Indian Rock Park. Originally one of the Friends of the River Foundation’s and Smoky Hill Museum’s collaborative river history walks, this walk turned out be a more vigorous expedition and was not accommodating for mobility and balance issues. To make sure all have an opportunity to learn about this remarkable park and its astonishing history, we bring it to you in talk form. This presentation will feature Salina’s most rugged natural area. Its natural beauty masks the many drastic changes the land itself has experienced. We’ll unearth a rich history that includes American Indian grounds, industries, and recreation. We’ll also discover how the Smoky Hill River was moved, cutting the park in half. Photos past and present will bring this history to life.
Enjoy this presentation at the Museum or from the comfort of your own home via Zoom. Register for your Zoom link at www.smokyhillmuseum.org to watch it live or see the videos for the next week following each presentation on our website and Facebook page.
The Friends of the River Foundation and the Smoky Hill Museum have been collaborating for three years to develop seven different river history walks highlighting seven different sections of the original Smoky Hill River channel. We explore places and events, well known and forgotten surprises, that molded the trajectory of our town.
The Smoky Hill Museum is a nationally accredited history museum. Since 1986 it has been in the heart of downtown Salina, Kansas. This FREE museum is open Tuesday-Friday 11-5, Saturday 10-5. Also, be sure to stop by the Museum Store for a wide variety of regional and Kansas products, local artwork and gifts for all ages.
For needed accommodations, please call Susan Hawksworth at 309-5776 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Every effort will be made to accommodate known disabilities. For material or speech access, please call at least 5 working days prior to the event.