Elmdale is a city in the beautiful Flint Hills region of Kansas. Located just a few miles west of Cottonwood Falls and the Flint Hills National Scenic Byway, Emldale is a genuinely worthy place to visit. Directly east of the city is the stunning Chase Lake Falls at the beautiful Chase County Lake. To the northeast of the city is the must-see Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve.
Try and catch a performance from the Tallgrass Express String Band celebrating the tallgrass prairie landscape and rural life. If you want to stay overnight, check out the Elmdale Treehouse Rental or the Clover Cliff Ranch Bed N Breakfast
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In 1806, Zebulon Pike led the Pike Expedition westward from St Louis, Missouri, of which part of their journey followed the Cottonwood River through Chase County near the current city of Elmdale.[5]
In 1854, the Kansas Territory was organized, then in 1861 Kansas became the 34th U.S. state. In 1859, Chase County was established within the Kansas Territory, which included the land for modern day Elmdale.
In 1871, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway built a main line east-west through Elmdale.[6] In 1873, a post office was relocated from Middle Creek (an extinct town), to the rail community of Elmdale.[7] Elmdale was incorporated in 1904.[8]
In 1916, Camp Wood YMCA was built about 1.5 miles south of Elmdale.[9][10]
There have been numerous floods during the history of Elmdale. In June and July 1951, due to heavy rains, rivers and streams flooded numerous cities in Kansas, including Elmdale. Many reservoirs and levees were built in Kansas as part of a response to the Great Flood of 1951. A levy was built and saved the town from numerous floods, but in 1998 a flood went over the levy.