US Highway 281

Wide open spaces on ND Hwy 281.

New Rockford, ND with 1,200 residents in this pretty little town, founded in 1883. US Highway 281 crosses the James River on the North side of town, where the Memorial Park is located. A heated swimming pool, basketball courts, softball, picinic areas, overnight camping, and a children's play area for all to enjoy.

Miss Kansas and all that in Pratt.

Pratt, Kansas close to 7,000 folks live here, founded in 1884. We are at the intersection of US Highway 281 and the East/West routes of Highway 54/400 in the south-central part of Kansas. The Miss Kansas Parade and Contest is held here each year. Home to the mighty Greenbacks, (a bullfrog is the HS mascot) along with the Pratt Community College Beavers. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy.

Pole Art in Hoisington, KS on US Hwy 281

 Hoisington, Kansas, around 3,000. North of Great Bend on Highway 281, intersected with Highway 4. A rich history as a railroad town, and agriculture community. One really unique feature of this town is the pole art. Hand-crafted, original metal artworks created by local artist Bruce Bitter adorn 62 poles along Hoisington’s Main Street. Take the Pole Art Walking Tour around town.

There are a couple of beautiful murals downtown as well, one on a Main Street building and a Depression Era mural inside the Post Office, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Check out the Sundial at the City Building of Hoisington, on the building’s facade as part of a WPA project in 1939. Can people really tell time with one of these? Home twice a year to the Whooping Cranes as they migrate. Here is the Gateway to Cheyenne Bottoms, the area is a vast hunting and fishing paradise. 

A Pulitzer Prize winner grew up in this Hwy 281 town.

 I found her on the Great Plaints, in Red Cloud, Nebraska on Highway 281. Willa. How many little nowhere towns became somewhere towns because a novelist grew up there? Not many come to mind, Red Cloud is one of those communities. Willa Cather moved away for college in 1891 like most others and never moved back, she visited often and sent money back to help out. She died in 1947 and with her legacy, she is still helping the town.

St. Paul, NE and Loup Valley on Hwy. 281

A Supercell thunderstorm near US Highway 281 Nebraska, July 2004. Photo by D.J. Fuller, digitally enhanced by me :-). If you spend much time on the Plains, you will see some interesting clouds.