Lyons, Kansas

Lyons, Kansas

Coordinates: 38 21 N 98 12 W

Population: 3,688 (2005 est.)

The seat of Rice County in central Kansas, Lyons is a long drive from a whole host of places with names more familiar to students of US history, and yet the location of this small town remains far from insignificant. As any staffer at the local Coronado-Quivira Museum will tell you, Lyons stands at approximately the farthest point east that the Spanish conquistador Francisco de Coronado traveled into the Great Plains during the summer of 1541. Trusting the word of a native that he would eventually reach a wealthy province called Quivira, Coronado led 30 horsemen across the prairie for 77 days before giving up in defeat, murdering his guide, and heading back to the southwest. In addition to the museum, visitors will find a large marble cross erected in honor of Juan de Padilla, a friar who was killed in 1542 when returned to the area to Christianize the population.

Ben Keene is the editor of Oxford Atlas of the World. Check out some of his previous places of the week.