Garden Township, Cherokee County, Kansas

Shoal Creek is an 81.5-mile-long (131.2 km) stream tributary of the Spring River in southwest Missouri and southeast Kansas. It begins in Barry County, Missouri southwest of Exeter and flows west through Newton county in Missouri before emptying into the Spring River near Riverton in Cherokee County, Kansas.

Lowell is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the community and nearby areas was 244.

Livingston's Hideout was most likely the only permanent Confederate military camp inside Kansas during the Civil War. It was in the very corner of southeast Kansas, in the very corner of Cherokee County, Kansas. It was about 2 miles (3.2 km) north of the border with Indian Territory and it was less than 100 feet (30 m) west of the border with Missouri. It was 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Baxter Springs, where a series of Union military posts existed from 1862 to 1863. Thomas R. Livingston became a leader of a group of Confederate guerrillas in the area, becoming first a captain and then a major. He needed locations to hide himself and his guerrillas from pursuing Union troops and this hideout suited the guerrillas well. The guerrillas sought to spy on Union forces and raiding units he found small enough to defeat.No one knows when Livingston found his hideout, but he possibly began using it in spring 1862. No Union troops knew of its existence during the Civil War. The campsite was in a heavily wooded area. A road runs just west of the campsite and is about 100 feet (30 m) above it. The area of the campsite cannot be seen from the road, as it is in the woods and the area beyond the road drops off sharply before the camp begins. The site is flat and somewhat oval shaped. It is 100 feet (30 m) wide and 200 feet (61 m) long. A creek is about 50 feet (15 m) below the campsite and a hill to the east, inside Missouri, is on the east side of the creek, about 50 feet (15 m) above the campsite. The creek runs through a long valley. This camp would have been almost in plain sight, yet invisible.The use of Livingston's hideout proved a great frustration for the area's Union troops. Many times the troops chased the guerrillas, only to have them scatter and seemingly vanish. The hideout was used at least July 1863, when Livingston was killed in a fight with Union troops in Stockton, Missouri. After its use ceased, it was not rediscovered until after the War. Eventually, in the 1980s someone decided to build a house there and Betty Kyrias, of the Baxter Springs Historical Society, discovered the site yet again.

Galena is a city in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 2,761.

Galena High School is a public school in Galena, Kansas, United States. The school colors are blue and white and the school mascot is a bulldog. Jacob LaTurner is an alumnus.

The Kan-O-Tex Service Station in Galena, Kansas, United States is a Kan-O-Tex filling station that originally served U.S. Route 66 motorists in 1934. Currently, it is a souvenir shop, snack bar, and tourist attraction.

Williams' Store is a historic store located along Old U.S. Route 66 in Riverton, Kansas. Leo Williams built the store in 1925, the year before Route 66 was designated. The store had a gas station and sold a variety of goods. While it was mainly a grocery and general store, Williams and his wife Lora sold chili and barbecue beef to travelers on Route 66. The store even had a croquet court at one point, which hosted local tournaments. The court was eventually removed to add parking. Leo Williams leased the store to Lloyd Paxon in 1945; Leo died before the lease expired; his wife Lora ran the store until 1970.The store is now known as the Eisler Brothers Old Riverton Store. It is still in operation and serves as the headquarters of the Route 66 Association of Kansas. This place was the inspiration for the Route 66 songs for the Pixar movie Cars. The store was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 29, 2003.

Riverton is an unincorporated community in Cherokee County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the community and nearby areas was 771. It is located at the junction of K-66 (former U.S. Route 66) and U.S. Route 69 Alternate and U.S. Route 400, near the Spring River. It is one of only three communities in Kansas along former U.S. Route 66.

The Edgar Backus Schermerhorn House is a historic house located at 803 E. 5th St. in Galena, Kansas. The house was built circa 1895 for Edgar Backus Schermerhorn, a wealthy businessman who owned many of the area's lead and zinc mines. Architects Anderson & Strong designed the home in the Queen Anne style. The house's design features a porch along the entire front side, a hipped roof with cross gables, and projecting bays and gables. The home's interior features lead glass windows and imported English woodwork using six different types of wood. Schermerhorn lived in the house until his death in 1923, after which his sister, Minnie K. Lennon, inherited the property. Lennon, who had previously lived on a farm, continued to raise farm animals at the house, keeping a cow in the yard and chickens in the library. Lennon occupied the house until her 1939 death.The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 21, 1989.

The Rial A. Niles House is a historic house at 605 E. 12th Street in Baxter Springs, Kansas, United States. The house was built in 1870 for Rial A. Niles, a local businessman, and his wife. The house was designed in the Italianate style and features a hip roof with a cupola, a front porch with decorative wooden posts and arches, and four brick chimneys. After Niles went bankrupt, Colonel William March, an officer in the Union Army and two-time Baxter Springs postmaster, bought the house in 1875. March lost the house after his wife's death in 1902, and it passed through a number of tenants until the 1930s. In 1938, the Baxter Springs Women's Club rented the house, which it used for meetings and social gatherings until it disbanded in 1956. The house was then purchased by the local Episcopal congregation and became St. Mark's Episcopal Church until the congregation also disbanded in 1977. The house has since reverted to its previous use as a residence.The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 6, 2006.The house underwent a major renovation from 2020-2023 to save the property and restore it to period accuracy. Local Baxter Springs resident Geoffery Roberts led the effort to restore the historic property. As of 2023, it is open as a local center for events.

Fivemile Creek is a stream in Newton County, Missouri and Ottawa County, Oklahoma in the United States. It is a tributary of the Spring River in northeastern Oklahoma.The stream headwaters arise at 36°56′16″N 94°31′42″W at 1,153 ft (351 m) elevation. The stream flows to the northwest and passes under Missouri Route 43 just south of the community of Hornet. It passes into the northeast corner of Oklahoma and under I-44. It turns to the southwest, flows past the community of Five Mile and enters the Spring River approximately 2.5 miles south of Baxter Springs, Kansas. The confluence is at 36°58′48″N 94°42′03″W at an elevation of 797 ft (243 m).The watercourse of Fivemile Creek is approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) from Neosho, Missouri, hence the name. However, the headwaters of the stream are approximately nine miles northwest of Neosho and it flows to the northwest away from the city.

The Battle of Baxter Springs, more commonly known as the Baxter Springs Massacre, was a minor battle of the American Civil War fought on 6 October 1863, near the present-day town of Baxter Springs, Kansas. In late 1863, Quantrill's Raiders, a large band of pro-Confederate bushwhackers led by William Quantrill, was traveling south through Kansas along the Texas Road to winter in Texas. Numbering about 400, this group captured and killed two Union teamsters who had come from a small Federal Army post called Fort Baxter (frequently referred to as Fort Blair). The bushwhackers assaulted the fort but were repulsed, eventually retreating to the prairie, where they attacked a separate Union column, leaving only a few survivors.