Heritage Backro

Caldwell, Kansas. Population 1025. Quiet, mostly empty, a lot of abandoned buildings. If we hadn’t stopped for a moment, we would never have found out about the rough and rowdy major historical significance of this tiny town.

Caldwell is known as the “Border Queen”. It’s the first town coming into Kansas from Oklahoma – or the last town leaving Kansas heading into Oklahoma. And it’s part of the Chisholm Trail. As a matter of fact, after cattle stopped being driven up to Wichita, Caldwell gained the distinction of becoming the end of the line for the Chisholm Trail. 

But boy, oh boy, does it have an interesting history. Two of their lawmen were actually criminals themselves. I guess they had some standards though, they did their criminal mischief in other towns. For instance, Marshal Henry Brown took a new rifle he was gifted and used it to rob the Medicine Lodge, Kansas bank. He shot two bank employees and was himself killed trying to get away. You can now see his rifle on display in the Kansas Historical Museum in Topeka.

We stopped to take pictures when we noticed historical signs around town, telling the fascinating story of the good along with the crazy. As one of the signs says, “Caldwell of the past was home to gunslingers, cowboys, prostitutes, Indians, saloon keepers and criminals…” Another sign says, “The new officers would daily take before the new police judge ruffians, cardsharks, vagrants, drunks, fast wagon drivers and the occasional murderer.”

Another sign says that when Marshal George Flatt was murdered, “…the entire police force were arrested by the county sheriff. Only the marshal William Horseman faced a trial, and he was acquitted one year later.”

While taking one photo of a sign, a gentleman asked me if I was a writer and going to write about the town. Interesting that he would ask that. I smiled and said, “Maybe…” We continued to talk, and it turns out Nick Mayo is the owner of the Bluff Creek Distillery, along with his wife Tracie, just a few doors down from where we were standing. We talked all about the history of the town, and then he invited us into an old building space that he has purchased and is remodeling to expand the distillery. 

To say we were thrilled to look inside one of the old limestone buildings is an understatement. It was fascinating to see what was left behind, thinking about how the people lived back in the day, and wondering exactly why it was built the way it was. In addition, listening to Nick’s story of cleaning it up along with all the plans he has for it was the kind of thing you love to hear entrepreneurs get excited about.

We then walked around town a little more, stopped in the grocery store and found they had several old photos on their walls and the staff was happy to share the history they knew.

We popped across the street to take a look inside the hardware-and-everything store and spent some time visiting and hearing more stories from the townsfolk in there.

Later, we hopped on over to Nick’s distillery and bought several small bottles of his various spirits to take home to do a taste test with our son. 

We thought about staying in town for the night – there are actually a couple of small rooms for rent in one of the downtown buildings, and that night was a big catfish fishing contest where prizes would be awarded in the morning. But it was time to get on home so we left. However – we want to go back soon and see what the expanded Bluff Creek Distillery building looks like completely renovated and operational. So next time you’re driving on Highway 49 in Kansas, just north of the Oklahoma border, think about stopping for a spell. Maybe spend the night, talk to the townspeople, admire the limestone walls, and imagine what they would say about this fascinating town if they could talk.