Two Kansas Small Towns for an Idyllic Midwest Road Trip

Of course, small towns hold more than just stories. There are adventures to be had, delicious food to eat, and gorgeous sights to behold. Pittsburg and Humboldt are proof of that.

Photo: Jennifer Vandenberg

Pittsburg lies 150 miles east of Wichita, the largest city in Kansas and where I started my road trip, nearly to the Missouri border. It’s a town that’s been able to do what many American small towns wish they could do: constantly renew itself. Four generations ago, Pittsburg was a coal-mining town, full of hard workers and labor union activists. The coal is long gone, but the population never dwindled. Now, hard workers are renovating storefronts in the historic downtown district, artists are covering the town with vibrant murals, and university students infuse new life into the town every single school year.

“We’re used to welcoming a new crop of students every year,” says Sarah Runyon, a community development specialist for the city and graduate of Pittsburg State University, “and that translates to visitors, as well.”

I spent a day exploring Pittsburg, starting with a walk through leafy Lincoln Park. A river winds through the park’s rolling hills, and its amenities are plentiful. There are pickleball courts, Bocce courts, and a disc-golf course. On weekends, a kiddie amusement park with carousels and spinning tea cups opens for tots. An aquatic center sits at the southern end of the park, and the Four Oaks Golf Course sprawls out to the north. A tree-lined RV park and tent camping for cross country cyclists sits just beyond the golf course.

Photo: Jennifer Vandenberg

I grabbed an Italian panini to-go from The Blue Spoon, a food truck that recently expanded into a storefront downtown, and brought it to the park for an early alfresco lunch. Then I headed downtown to peruse the shops and admire the murals.

My favorite shop was The Literary Cat Co. where a variety of cats wind between stacks of books and patrons’ legs. Dozens of cat perches meld well with book displays. I also popped into The White Elephant Emporium, a funky shop full of the types of treasures you’d expect at this aptly named store, from upcycled home furnishings to framed art pieces. Pippi Mae’s Curated Home is another fun stop to shop for home goods, and Miners + Monroe keeps the men of Pittsburg clothed in the latest fashions. If I wasn’t worried about liquid restrictions on airlines, I would have picked up some beard oil for my hirsute husband.

If you can, time your visit to coincide with a Pittsburg State University game day. Even if you can’t get tickets for a Saturday football game, head to Carnie Smith Stadium (“The Pitt”) for pre-game tailgating and to cheer on the home team as they parade past Gorilla Village to the stadium. The band will be playing “Welcome to the Jungle,” and the crimson-and-gold-clad crowd will be raucous. Pittsburg State’s campus also hosts shows and performances at Bicknell Family Center for the Arts. Broadway’s The Addams Family Musical will be in town this winter.

Gus the Gorilla (left) + Bicknell Center (right) Photo: Jennifer Vandenberg

After getting to know downtown Pittsburg, it was time for dinner. I started with an appetizer at the Brick + Mortar Social House. I’m not usually a Brussels sprouts fan, but after three days in Kansas, I was desperate for vegetables, and Brick + Mortar’s came with delicious bacon bits. Then I moved on to the 5th Street Bar & Grill, a place known for burgers although I ordered a salad. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Skip the taco salad and try the Mexican burger instead (or the inferno burger if you can handle cayenne pepper, jalapenos, and hot sauce). The brick-walled outdoor dining space sometimes features live music.

Lacking a downtown hotel, Pittsburg overnight choices are the chain hotels a few miles south of town or AirBnBs. I stayed at the Hampton Inn & Suites Pittsburg Kansas Crossing. The staff was friendly, the pool was clean, and the casino next door wasn’t a bother. It’s conveniently located off US-400. There’s also a La Quinta Inn & Suites a little closer to town. A batch of downtown AirBnB’s are in the works, as store owners are setting up spaces above their stores. Currently, Beds on Broadway is available right over The Blue Spoon.

Photo: Jennifer Vandenberg

The gooseneck hitch is largely responsible for Humboldt’s success over the past couple of decades. In the late 1980s, Roger Baker and Joe Works designed the hitch that removed the inconvenient ball that’s welded into truck beds. Their innovative design took off, and B&W Trailer Hitches thrived. When demand plummeted during the Great Recession, Joe Works paid his employees to work on public buildings and revitalize spaces around town. Since then, Works has challenged his grown children and neighbors to open new businesses and attract growth and tourism to the rural Kansas town as part of an initiative called A Bolder Humboldt. Now, the town is bursting with new places to eat, drink, shop, find entertainment like virtual golf, and enjoy outdoor activities like glamping and biking.

I began my morning in Humboldt by exploring the BaseCamp glampsite’s bike barn, hammocks, and bike challenge course before heading off on a morning run on the Southwind Rail Trail, a 6.5-mile trail that connects Humboldt to Iola, the next town up. In Iola, the trail connects to the Prairie Spirit Trail, which continues for another 60 miles, all the way up to Ottawa, Kansas. I didn’t make it to Ottawa (or Iola for that matter) but enjoyed a pleasant few miles on the tree-lined path. The Southwind Rail Trail is located right next to BaseCamp.

Downtown, I walked over to Neosho Valley Woodworks, which is housed in an 1800s building. There, crafter Pat Haire still uses 1800s methods to handcraft his cabinets, and he welcomes questions and conversation if you pop into his woodshop.

Photo: Jennifer Vandenberg

For lunch, I grabbed a gyro at Cozy’s Grindhouse, a restaurant that also has pinball and arcade machines. Continuing my romp through town on foot, I stopped by a boutique called Jae & Co to shop. Jeanie, the owner, walked me down to her daughter’s shop, The Wild Poppy, and her husband’s Stick’s Golf Lounge, where you can stand in a bay and choose from over 100,000 virtual golf courses to play. All three of the shops are run in historic downtown buildings, with gorgeous molded ceilings and exposed brick walls.

For a bit of a history lesson, I visited some of the stops on the self-guided Civil War tour of Humboldt. Confederates raided and burned the town back in 1861, and several historic markers throughout town tell stories of soldiers killed, books saved from burning, and mills being raided. Particularly interesting was the information about the Neosho River Park.

Today, the Neosho River is a favorite spot for fishing, but back in 1859, a drought caused the river to dry up. This supports the theory that enslaved escapees could have walked the river bed at night and slept in caves along the riverbank during the day. Hand-dug tunnels link caves to several hiding places at cabins and buildings that were nearby, further supporting the theory that Humboldt was an important stop along the Underground Railroad.

I wasn’t really hungry for dinner but drove out to the brand new Union Works Brewing Co. with plans to just get an appetizer and a drink. I love that the restaurant lets you get beer by the five-ounce glass for $2. However, my plans for apps and tiny glasses of beer were quickly squashed when I saw ovens for wood-fired pizza. I ordered the roasted pistachio pizza with pesto sauce and thick slices of fresh mozzarella. It was so worth it.

That night, I stayed at The Bailey, a recently renovated accommodation that features several apartment-style rooms perched above the town’s main intersection. It has an elegant common room, with velvety blue couches, a fireplace, and a shared kitchenette, as well as a ping pong table. Downstairs is Perrenoud’s Cocktail Bar, which is open on weekend evenings. The town park and Humboldt’s iconic water tower are across the street, and coffee and brunch are right downstairs. At The Bailey, the whole town is at your fingertips.

However, if you’re willing to trade brunch for s’mores and luxurious digs for paddleboarding on a pond, BaseCamp has you covered. Just a mile outside of town, the glampsite features a collection of tiny loft cabins on a pond, perfect for refined outdoor overnights.

BaseCamp cabin Photo: Jennifer Vandenberg

For breakfast the next morning, I looked longingly at the HoneyBee Bruncherie, but I still had leftover pizza to eat. So I grabbed a cup of coffee at Octagon City Coffee Co. instead. On the wall, a painted comic strip apprised me of the tale of Octagon City, the pipe dream of a group of families who traveled to Kansas in 1855 with the intention of establishing a vegetarian utopian community. The colony failed, but Octagon’s coffee sure didn’t. It sustained me all the way back to Wichita where I had to catch my return flight back home to Seattle.

It was hard to leave the prairie behind, but I learned a lot on my Midwest road trip through these two Kansas small towns. And you will, too.