At the halfway point between New York and San Francisco, one finds a quiet prairie town with an unexpectedly rich cultural history. In its heyday, Kinsley, Kansas boasted vaudeville acts, opera events, a massive Shakespeare festival, and Wild West shows. And this is just the beginning.
This section offers a serialized exploration of the town’s overlooked history of community arts, drawn from my research for Hidden History of Kinsley. Here, we examine the characters, explore the venues, and discover how one small town became a regional hub of creativity in the American heartland.
Kinsley, Kansas’s Shakespeare Festival, 1912-1916
Community Arts Uncovered 