A the west edge of Chapman, old U.S. 40 and the Union Pacific Railroad are squeezed between the Smoky Hill River and Indian Hill. The railroad followed closely the river for it required grades of three percent or less.

Originally known as the Central Hotel and the Cowtown Cafe, the Brookville Hotel in Brookville (white building to the left), dates to the 1870s. The restaurant was “Famous for its family style chicken dinners.” The decision was made in 1999 to move the restaurant to Abilene. Three rooms on the second floor at the new location faithfully recreate rooms of the original hotel.

The Fort Harker guardhouse sits next to old U.S. Highway 40 in Kanapolis. The Fort Harker Museum complex includes three of the four remaining military post buildings: the guardhouse, junior officers quarters, and commanding officers quarters.

The Midland Hotel in Wilson opened in 1899. During the tough times of the 1930s, the hotel used the third floor to raise chickens for an additional source of revenue and for use in the restaurant. The hotel was one of the filming sites for the 1973 movie Paper Moon. Restored in 2003, it is at the present time closed.

The Eisenhower Center in Abilene consists of five buildings: a visitor center, the family home, a research and archival library, a museum, and his burial site - the Place of Meditation. Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected the nation’s 34th president, serving from 1952 - 1960. The decorated World War II general was instrumental in the construction of the Interstate Highway System.