Travel Log: Garden City Kansas

Garden City Kansas, located in western Kansas, is most known for the murder trial that Truman Capote depicted in his classic novel, In Cold Blood. Capote visited Garden City numerous times over a six year period in the early 1960s as he researched the book. I didn’t make it by the courthouse to see if any plaque commemorated the trial and the associated publicity.

Above is the tallest building in town. A sign in the storefront window is trying to promote the renovation of the building.

Down the street is a less than attractive Commerce Bank.

The downtown streetscape is pleasant, not over done like so many towns. Banners play a bigger role in Garden City than in many of the other towns I saw on this trip. This banner is for the Lee Richardson Zoo.

Part of the streetscape included informational signs, some with flyers for current events and some, such as this, with historical information. Note the bike rack.

Despite the poor photography on my part, you can make out the architecture of the 1928 theatre. The sign indicates it was “extensively remodeled” in 1967 but that it closed in 1999.

Sadly, the wonderful upper portion of the facade was cut off when the 1967 remodel happened (presumably). Even worse is the disposition of the building. From the informational sign:

The State Theatre closed in 1999, due to declining ticket sales and the condition of the building. The State Theatre building and equipment was given to the City of Garden City with the only stipulation being that it could not be used as a movie house.

Great, some movie company unloads a building in need of renovation yet the city cannot renovate and open it as a theatre. Deed restrictions can be a huge problem for cities of all sizes.

Another of the banners seen around town reminded everyone of Beef Empire Days. As we saw in the surrounding countryside, this is certainly cattle country. The meat packing industry has been very important to the town for decades. On Christmas day 2,300 jobs were lost as a large meat packing plant burned (roughly 12% of the county workforce). Over 40% of the population is hispanic, a reflection of the meat packing industry. The former meat packing plant may become an ethanol plant (see story).
We didn’t stop for a meal in Garden City but I wish we had — they would not have asked if we wanted to sit in smoking or non-smoking. Why? Earlier this year Garden City enacted a non-smoking ordinance (click here for PDF). Our original route included heading east on U.S. Route 50 but due to the recent tornado in Greensberg KS the highway was closed.

On the route out of town I spotted a strong barrier to pedestrians — large gravel. Interestingly, the adjacent areas have sidewalks and part of this convenience store has sidewalks but the rest, and in front of an adjacent office park, has gravel where the sidewalk should be. The extra photos show more of this area, including the ADA ramp leading directly to gravel.

I look forward to visiting Garden City again in the future, having dinner in a smoke-free Mexican restaurant.  For more on Garden City see the official site, google maps, wiki and my photos on Flickr.