Boot Hill Museum opens $6 million project with great fanfare

Dodge City took center stage with the opening of the $6 million Boot Hill Museum on May 6, a project that has been long anticipated to celebrate. On hand to cut the ribbon was Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, who spoke about the importance of leadership and tourism.

During and after the ceremony she said leadership at all levels helped make an expansion project a success. The building has 12 interactive, state-of-the art exhibits in the complex at 500 W. Wyatt Earp Blvd. STAR bonds were used to finance the project.

People came from across the country to grab emerging opportunities and settled in the notorious cowboy capital of the world and made Kansas their home, she said.

Now in the 21st century, she said her administration is taking on projects to create future opportunities for families and businesses across the globe.

“Fostering an active tourism industry is critical to these efforts,” she said, adding that tourism helps to tell Kansas’ history, including places like Boot Hill Museum, which will help preserve and tell that story to future generations.

Tourism provides $12 billion in direct and indirect economic impact in Kansas, she said. The industry has generated 66,000 jobs.

Tourism, she said, is the welcoming committee for capital investment and a robust workforce. Rebuilding the state’s economic foundation and investing in services and programs that can grow Kansas’ economy is working.”

“We made an aggressive goal and we are getting there,” she said.

Even with a difficult stretch of the past year as the state recovered from COVID-19 pandemic, business recruitment is paying off.

An executive reorganization order reuniting the travel and tourism division with the commerce department makes more sense because of how they can help build the state’s economy, Kelly said. In recent years the department was under the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

“You are all doing something right,” said Lt. Gov. David Toland, who also attended a ceremony.

He noted that in overseas business development trips to Japan he is always by business executives about Dodge City because of its rich western history, and the lieutenant governor said destination tourism will continue to grow.

Dodge City Mayor Rick Sowers called the event “an exciting day for tourism.”

He said the project showed the commitment of many people at many levels and includes leaders who had the vision and encouraged successors to continue to keep the project going. It also includes current City Manager Nick Hernandez, retired manager Cherise Tieben and their staffs as well as Dodge City/Ford County Economic Development Director Joann Knight, her staff and board. Sowers said state lawmakers were all crucial along with the commitment from the state that provided many hours of expertise.

He was appreciative of USD 443, Ford County and Dodge City Community College that allowed taxes in the district to be applied to the project.

“This is a milestone day for the staff and board of directors of Boot Hill Museum,” said Executive Director Lara Brehm. “We are extremely grateful for the support of many partners who made this project possible.”

She expected a summer in which the museum shares the stories of Dodge City with people from all over the world.

Board Chairman Kerri Baker said the success of the project certainly was one of perseverance. “The museum you see behind me was once a vision—a dream that for years was discussed, cussed, put on the shelf and removed from the shelf—but never forgotten.”

The support from the city leaders was crucial in helping the project succeed, she said.

Dave Bergmeier can be reached at 620-227-1822 or [email protected].