Friesen Mill and Pioneer Adobe House

Hillsboro    Kansas Founded: 1879 Population: 2904 Elevation: 1454 feet Latitude: 38° 21' 07" N Longitude: 97° 12' 15" W School District: USD 410 ZIP code:  67063 Area Code: 620

Weather Banking Churches City Govt. Dining Health Care Library Lodging Museums Schools Shopping Tabor College

Hillsboro is located in Marion, [MN], County where the North and South Cottonwood Rivers join. The town has a four-year liberal arts college, and a nice downtown shopping area.  For major events, the town goes all out to put on a folk festival in late spring, a four-day fair in the summer and a huge arts and crafts festival in the fall.   Tabor College   Marion Reservoir, a Corps of Engineers lake with approximately 4,100 acres of project lands, is just north of US 56 and provides a wealth of recreational opportunities including hunting and is especially well known for its fishing. Contact (620) 382-2101 for more information. History Hillsboro is nestled among three famous trails. Pioneers traveled the Gnadenau Trail to settle the area in 1874. During the 1860s - 70s, ranchers drove cattle from Texas up the Chisholm Trail just West of Hillsboro to Abilene. Throughout the 1800s, merchants drove supplies west along the Santa Fe Trail North and West of Hillsboro, which is located on the Auto Tour Route of the trail. Places to visit in Hillsboro Tabor College in Hillsboro is a four-year private liberal arts college founded in 1908. The Friesen "Dutch" Mill in the city park is a full-sized replica of a wind-powered grist mill built in 1876. The park also holds the Adobe Pioneer House used by early Mennonite settlers. Local shops make great German sausage; try some and you will buy more to take home. Special Events The annual Arts & Crafts Fair in Hillsboro is HUGE! It's held annually the third Saturday in September. The Marion County Fair is held in August. Hillsboro Folk Festival is held every May. Newspapers Hillsboro Free Press E-mail: staff@hillsborofreepress.com Hillsboro Star-Journal   (620) 947-3975 E-mail: starj@starj.com 104 S. Main, Hillsboro, KS 67063 Economic Development Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce/Convention and Visitors Bureau (620) 947-3506 109 S. Main, Hillsboro, KS 67063 Hillsboro Development Corporation (620) 947-3458 109 S. Main, Hillsboro, KS 67063 More Hillsboro websites from: LASR Prairie People Notes: Genealogical Information for Marion County is available on Blue Skyways. Hillsboro was mentioned in the 1883 Cutler's History of Kansas. Historical images of Hillsboro from the Special Collections at WSU's Ablah Library are available online. Hillsboro is fondly described in Mil Penner's book Exploring Kansas. Hillsboro was on the A.T. & S.F. railroad line from Marion to McPherson. Hillsboro was mentioned in Kansas, A Cyclopedia Of State History by Frank W. Blackmar (1912). Hillsboro appears on a county map in the History of Kansas by Noble L. Prentis published in 1899.

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