Baxter Springs

History

For thousands of years, indigenous peoples had lived along the waterways throughout the west. The Osage migrated west from the Ohio River area of Kentucky, driven out by the Iroquois. They settled in Kansas by the mid-17th century, adopting Plains Indian traditions. They competed with other tribes and by 1750 they dominated much of what is now the region of Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. One of the largest Osage bands was led by Chief Black Dog (Manka - Chonka). His men completed what became known as the Black Dog Trail by 1803. The Osage regularly stopped at the springs for healing on their way to summer hunting grounds. They made the trail by clearing it of brush and large rocks, and constructing earthen ramps to the fords. Wide enough for eight horsemen to ride abreast, the trail was the first improved road in Kansas and Oklahoma. During the Indian Removal era of the late 1830s, the Cherokee people—one of the Five Civilized Tribes—were forced out of the southeastern United States to west of the Mississippi River. The United States government defined this area in extreme southeastern Kansas as part of the Cherokee Neutral Lands. A natural spring that the Osage Indians had long visited flowed from the side of a hill near the Military Road, which ran between Fort Scott and Fort Gibson. Because the Baxter family settled on Cherokee Neutral Lands, his presence was legally contentious. Historical county litigation records show that Cherokee authorities and later government agents attempted to evict him and other white squatters multiple times. Baxter stubbornly refused to leave, defending his tavern claim until the land was eventually ceded and officially made open to white settlement following the Civil War. A community of Native Americans and European-American…

Geography

Baxter Springs is sited on the western bank of the Spring River at the edge of the Ozarks, in the Spring River basin. U.S. Route 69 Alternate and U.S. Route 166 have a junction at the city, and U.S. Route 400 bypasses it to the northeast. The center of town is less than two miles (3 km) from the Kansas-Oklahoma state border, though the incorporated area of the city extends to the border. It is also about west-southwest of Joplin, Missouri. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,353
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  1,787
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  1,627
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,594
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  1,401
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,400
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,380
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,232

Largest nearby schools

• Baxter Springs High
  High · Baxter Springs · 389 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• Riverton Elem
  Elementary · Riverton · 311 students · 13.5:1 ratio
• Galena High
  High · Galena · 251 students · 15.7:1 ratio
• Lincoln Elem
  Elementary · Baxter Springs · 247 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• Riverton High
  High · Riverton · 223 students · 13.9:1 ratio
• Central Elem
  Elementary · Baxter Springs · 216 students · 12:1 ratio
• Spring Grove Primary Center
  Elementary · Galena · 213 students · 17.8:1 ratio
• Liberty Elem
  Elementary · Galena · 192 students · 17.5:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.82 — 2024-03-23
  9 km SE of Foyil, Oklahoma
• M 3 — 2014-10-01
  9 km SSW of Galesburg, Kansas
• M 2.6 — 2010-05-21
  2 km SW of Centerton, Arkansas
• M 2.5 — 2010-04-29
  3 km SW of Centerton, Arkansas