National Historic Landmark · National Historic Site · Fort Scott, Kansas

Fort Scott National Historic Site

National Historic Site of the in Fort Scott, Kansas. Built 1978. Added to the National Register in 1966, and a National Historic Landmark.

Open to visit National Historic Landmark Built 1978 Listed 196615 contributing buildings

Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 6 in the Commons category

What it is

Fort Scott National Historic Site is a historical area under the control of the United States National Park Service in Bourbon County, Kansas, United States. Named after General Winfield Scott, who achieved renown during the Mexican–American War, during the middle of the 19th century the fort served as a military base for US Army action in what was the edge of settlement in 1850. For the next quarter century, it was used as a supply base and to provide security in turbulent areas during the opening of the West to settlement, a period which included Bleeding Kansas and the American Civil War.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

Property type	Historic district
Address	Old Fort Blvd., Fort Scott, KS
County	Bourbon County
Listed	Oct 15, 1966
Listed for	Military, Exploration and settlement
Level of significance	National
Also known as	Fort Scott Historic Area
Reference number	66000106
Built	1978 · more from the 1970s
Type of place	National Historic Site
Visitors per year	35,922
Designations	National Historic Landmark, listed on the Register of Historic Kansas Places
Contributing resources	15 buildings, 3 structures, 16 sites

Visiting

Address	Old Fort Blvd., Fort Scott, KS
Website	nps.gov/fosc/index.htm ↗
Coordinates	37.8439° N, 94.7050° W · Directions ↗
Nearest national park unit	Fort Scott National Historic Site · under a mile · on Park Atlas

This one you can go inside. Hours and admission change with the season; the website above has the current schedule.

At a glance

State: Kansas
County: Bourbon County
Listed: 1966
Type: Historic district
Landmark: Yes
Built: 1978

Cell signal

Verizon: 5G (fast)
AT&T: 4G LTE
T-Mobile: 5G (fast)

Outdoor coverage as modeled by carriers in FCC filings as of 2025-12-31. This product uses FCC APIs and/or Data but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC.

Official links

Sister site

Park Atlas

Every unit of the National Park System, with its fees, hours, alerts and campgrounds.

Open Park Atlas →

This record is built from National Park Service sources, re-read every Saturday, and Wikidata, re-read on the first Saturday of each month. Register Atlas is independent and is not affiliated with any agency, and a listing does not mean a place is open to visitors. How the data is built →

Explore

Map

Nearby in Bourbon County

All listings in Bourbon County →

Site · under 0.1 km

Fort Scott National Cemetery

Fort Scott Public Carnegie Library

BuildingListed 1987

Guidebooks to historic places and travel in Kansas

We earn a small commission if you buy through these links. It does not change what we list.

The big divide
Diane Eickhoff, 2013
Find at Bookshop.org
Expedition of Thirst
Pete Dulin, 2017
Find at Bookshop.org
WPA Guide to Kansas
Federal writers' project, 2013
Find at Bookshop.org

Titles come from Open Library's catalog, matched by subject heading or by title.

Reference

Questions people ask

When was Fort Scott National Historic Site listed on the National Register?

Oct 15, 1966. It is also a National Historic Landmark, the higher of the two designations.

Source: National Park Service

When was Fort Scott National Historic Site built?

1978.

Source: Wikidata

Can I visit Fort Scott National Historic Site?

Yes. Fort Scott National Historic Site is recorded as open to the public, and hours are on the official website. About 35,922 people visit each year.

Source: Official website

Where is Fort Scott National Historic Site?

Old Fort Blvd., Fort Scott, Bourbon County, Kansas. The nearest national park unit is Fort Scott National Historic Site, under a mile away.

Source: Fort Scott National Historic Site

What does the Fort Scott National Historic Site listing include?

The listing counts 34 contributing resources. Those are 15 buildings, 3 structures, and 16 sites. A contributing resource is a part of the listed property that carries its historic significance.

Source: National Park Service

Is there cell service at Fort Scott National Historic Site?

FCC coverage maps show Verizon 5G, AT&T 4G LTE, and T-Mobile 5G at the listed point. Coverage indoors and behind old masonry is another matter.

Source: FCC Broadband Map

Sources

Location, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Listing dates come from the National Register office's spreadsheet where it carries the listing. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 66000106. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The nomination form and photographs ↗ at NPGallery are the original nomination as filed with the National Park Service, and the form is often the best description of the place. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.