On my way from Texas to Colorado, I wandered around that no man’s land around the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and the southwest corner of Kansas. In Kansas, I came across the Dalton Gang Hideout, a true, weird roadside attraction dating all the way back to the 1940s! I’ll also talk briefly about Dorothy’s House and the Land of Oz, also in Kansas, because of course it is.
Hideout History
The history of the Dalton Gang Hideout is a little bit suspicious, but here goes: John Whipple married Eva Dalton and built a house in 1887. It’s a small house, but there’s a whole second level built underground into the side of a hill. Eva & John were fine upstanding people, but Eva’s brothers, the infamous Dalton Gang, were not. And while the gang wasn’t locally active, they were occasionally seen in town. Suspicion attached itself to Eva (or they elected to opt out of the connection), and the family moved out of the house with their young daughter in 1892.
Afterward, the new owners of the house discovered a tunnel linking the lower floor of the house to a barn, also built into the side of the hill. Based on local stories, it was assumed that the Dalton Gang used the tunnel to come and go from their sister’s house without being seen. There are even tales from the daughter of the new owners who recalls strange visitors popping out of the wall, surprised to find a new family there.
As a Tourist Destination
In 1940, the Dingess family was looking for a tourist destination to operate and found the Dalton Gang Hideout. With the city and the help of the WPA, the house and barn were restored, and the tunnel was restored and widened. The city’s Chamber of Commerce owned it, and the family operated a gift shop while living upstairs. The Dingess family ran it until 1970, then the Chamber of Commerce maintained it, and now the City of Meade.
Today, you enter from the barn into a large gift shop. The tunnel is open straight ahead, and upstairs in the barn is a local history museum. For more history about the Dalton Gang Hideout, read this page.
The Dalton Gang Hideout
The main attraction here is the tunnel, of course. It has been enlarged to fit the average person and lined with WPA-era stonework walls and an arched ceiling. The floor is smooth concrete, and there are a few steps at each end. It’s a bit longer than you might think, and it is fun to walk through!
At the end of the tunnel, you emerge up into the house. On the bottom floor are exhibit cases with history about the town and the Whipple family. A glass door lends a peek into the basement-level kitchen. Upstairs are rooms set up like a bedroom and parlor, as they would have been around the 1880s. Glass keeps you from entering the rooms, but you can see how small of a house it is. And while you are facing the front door, to exit the house, you must walk back through the tunnel.
Back in the gift shop, you can walk up the stairs to the museum. While the tunnel is fun and the main attraction, I really fell for the randomness of this museum. It is a true wild west, roadside attraction. There is taxidermy, guns, saddles, farm tools, pottery, ironwork, musical instruments, and photographs. There’s a wagon-wheel lantern chandelier! A two-headed calf! If the Museum of the Weird in Austin is an homage to dime museums, this is the real thing. I just love that it still exists, and probably in the same form as it was created in the ’40s.
Make sure to browse the gift shop before you leave (though there’s not much there of real interest.) And out back, there is a large picnic area and wild west town fronts. There’s even a small stage with a little trailer in the back, so I wonder if they put on any shows in the summer. There are bathrooms available in a stand-alone building next to the Whipple House.
Hours & Admission
The Dalton Gang Hideout is not far from the town center of Meade, Kansas, in an otherwise normal-looking neighborhood. Parking is on the street, but there is plenty of room. It took me about 30-40 minutes to tour. Less, if you’re not as enthralled with the museum as I am.
Hours are 9-5 Monday-Saturday and 1-5 on Sunday. Admission for all ages is $5. The attraction is open year-round, except for “major holidays.”
Dorothy’s House & The Land of Oz
Another true roadside attraction is about 45 minutes away in Liberal, Kansas. Naturally, there has to be some sort of Wizard of Oz attraction in Kansas, and this is it! Very much right on the side of the road is a recreation of Dorothy’s house, and a warehouse building which I assume contains the Land of Oz. There’s also a nice modern Oz-themed playground next door, so it’s a good place to stop if you have kids that need to get out of the car, whether you take the tour or not.
Make sure to step into the gift shop in the mansion-looking building next door. They have just about every Oz-related item for sale, and good quality too! The movie plays on a loop if you want to sit and watch for a while. And upstairs is a free county museum, which I liked a lot. Just a lot of random artifacts from the area’s early history, like furniture and clothes, old articles, and a post office counter. There are bathrooms on the second floor as well.
Hours & Admission
Tours of Dorothy’s House and the Land of Oz cost $12.50 for adults, $10 for seniors 65+, $8 for kids 6-18, and free for children 5 and under. There’s a $1 discount for any military member with ID. The tour takes around 45 minutes (which is the reason I didn’t do it and can’t write a whole post about it.)
From Memorial Day to Labor Day, Dorothy’s House and the Coronado County Museum are open 9 am-noon and 1-6 pm Monday-Saturday, and 1-5 on Sunday. It’s almost the same schedule for the rest of the year, only they close every day at 5 pm and are closed on Mondays. Don’t overlook that hour closed for lunch at noon!
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