First Friends of Fort to be honored

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Those who helped get the fort designated as a National Historic Site will be recognized Tuesday during a special dinner and program at the Liberty Theatre, 113 S. Main St.

The Friends of the Fort Scott National Historic Site will be honoring the "First Friends" who, after three attempts, successfully got "the Old Fort" recognized as a National Historic Site in 1978, according to Friends of the FSNHS President Reed Hartford.

Hartford added discussion about restoring the fort began as early as the late 1930s.

The dinner and program will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday and focus on highlighting the organization's efforts over the last year, as well as telling the story of the fort's designation as a national historic site.

Hartford said there were so many people who were involved that it would be impossible to recognize them individually, so the event will be geared toward telling the story of their efforts.

The Friends of the FSNHS was formed about a year ago as a support group to the FSNHS. Due to budget restrictions and other governmental regulations, FSNHS cannot provide certain services.

However, the Friends of the FSNHS can work to provide the services such as advertising, purchasing clothing for volunteers, and purchasing historic artifacts that the FSNHS otherwise would not be able to do.

Tickets for the event are $20 and are available at the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce, 231 E. Wall St., and the County Cupboard, 12 N. Main St.