Coronado Heights, Kansas

Coronado Heights is a hill northwest of Lindsborg, Kansas, in the Smoky Hills. It is alleged to be near the place where Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado gave up his search for the “Seven Cities of Gold” and turned around to return to Mexico. Coronado Heights is the southernmost bluff of a four-mile chain of hills known as the Smoky Hill Buttes. Surrounded by gently rolling plains, the Dakota Formation rises more than 300 feet above the Smoky Hill River Valley.

It is believed that Coronado and his men viewed the prairie from this lookout point 300 feet above the valley floor in 1541. That year, he and his party journeyed northward in search of the gold. When he arrived, Coronado found peaceful Indian tribes, and he wrote to the King of Spain about the land’s bounty and beauty. Here, the explorer gave up his search for the \gold and turned around to return to Mexico. Having found no fabulous wealth, the expedition was ultimately deemed a failure.

Capped by hard sandstones of the Dakota Formation that are more resistant to erosion than the softer underlying shales and sandstones, the Smoky Hill Buttes are erosional remnants that formed from the top down rather than the bottom up. As wind, water, and other forces eroded the surrounding sandstone, the rock that makes up the buttes remained standing. Sand and other debris from which the sandstones formed were deposited in shallow seas about 100 million years ago in the Cretaceous Period.

In 1869, Swedish immigrants settled initially at the foot of the bluff and built the first land company house. The need for water to operate a flour mill and the indication that the railroad would parallel the Smoky Hill River prompted the settlers to move closer to the river, which is the current location of Lindsborg.

In 1915, a professor at Bethany College in Lindsborg discovered chain mail from Spanish armor at the Sharps Creek site, a Native American village excavation site a few miles southwest of the hill. Others have found Spanish coins, a bridle, and lead bars in the valley. The hill was eventually named for this bold Spanish explorer.

In 1920, the first road was built up the hill, known as Swensson Drive, with a footpath known as Olsson Trail.

In the 1930s, a native Dakota sandstone “castle”, with an observation deck, turrets, a fireplace, and picnic facilities, were added as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The “Castle,” a Dakota Sandstone building completed in 1936, sits atop a butte at Coronado Heights Park, owned by the Smoky Valley Historical Association.

In 1988, a large stone entryway sculpture by John Whitfield was placed halfway up the hill with the inscription “Coronado Heights: A Place to Share.”

Coronado Heights was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2010.

Coronado Heights is one of the 8 Wonders of Kansas Geography because it is an inspiring historic landmark and natural platform of Dakota Formation sandstone from which to observe the Smoky Hills and Smoky Hill River Valley below.

Coronado Heights remains a natural habitat of wildflowers and grasses. It is a great location to fly a kite, have a picnic, and view the landscape of the outlying Smoky Valley. Hiking and biking trails wind around the bluff for beginners and experts alike.

It is north of Lindsborg, which is in northern McPherson County. Coronado Heights lies just across the line in Saline County, at the intersection of Main and Lincoln in downtown Lindsborg. Head west on Lincoln. Turn north or right onto Coronado Avenue/13th Avenue and go two miles. Turn west or left onto Coronado Heights Road and drive one mile to the opening to Coronado Heights. Follow the road to the top.

The park is open from dawn to 10 p.m.

©Kathy Alexander/Legends of Kansas, updated July 2025.

Also See:

Kansas Destinations

Kansas Historic Sites

Lindsborg, Kansas – Little Sweden

Saline County, Kansas

Sources:

Evogove
Kansas Geological Survey
Kansas Sampler
Visit Lindsborg
Wikipedia