National and State Registers of Historic Places
Coronado Heights
12th and Coronado Heights Road
Lindsborg (Saline County)
Listed in National Register
Oct 20, 2010
Architect: Works Progress Administration
Category: park; outdoor recreation; monument/marker
Thematic Nomination: New Deal-era Resources of Kansas
Coronado Heights is a sixteen-acre public park located along the southern border of Saline County. The park's features were built during the 1930s as part of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project and include a roadway that winds around the south and east slope of the hillside, a castle shelter house, picnic areas, and a restroom building. The name "Coronado Heights" was applied to the dramatic overlook by auto-age boosters who erroneously promoted its connection to Spanish explorer Francisco Vazquez de Coronado. The Smoky Valley Historical Society, which formed for the purpose of developing Coronado Heights, acquired the property in 1919 from two local farm families and began making improvements. Prior to the stock market crash in 1929, plans were under way to improve the driveway up to the overlook, which was routinely rendered impassible by rain. The project was delayed until the early 1930s when Saline County officials secured federal funding to improve the site, and was finished by 1936. The site was highlighted during the Coronado Centennial celebrated statewide throughout the summer of 1941. The Smoky Valley Historical Association owns the site.
