LA CROSSE -- Go anywhere in Kansas and you’re bound to see barbed wire … the prickly fencing that rips clothing, keeps livestock from wandering off and may even make for good neighbors.
Much of the history of La Crosse -- the county seat of Rush County -- is entwined in barbed wire, which is why it calls itself the Barbed Wire Capital of the World.
It’s also Post Rock Country, and the combination with barbed wire has created a legacy that helped shape Kansas and the Old West.
It’s been 151 years since Joseph Glidden, a farmer from DeKalb, Illinois, invented his version of two-strand barbed wire. It was simple, yet elegant.
His invention revolutionized the prairie, effectively ending the open range concept. It also encouraged homesteaders to stake out farms.
Creating a World Capital
Brad Penka is the president of the Kansas Barbed Wire Collectors Association. A native of La Crosse, he began collecting barbed wire as a boy because his parents and grandparents helped with the town’s annual barbed wire festival, which began in 1967.
“At that time, there was a small collection of barbed wire in the museum,” Penka said. “A group of businessmen were trying to find something that they could use to draw people to La Crosse, something unique. They found out from visitors that there were actually people out there who collected the stuff.”
And thus, a festival was born.
“I've been told that by noon on the first day, they were running all over town, scrounging tables and chairs … trying to beg, borrow or steal anything they could because they had so many participants,” Penka said. “And it ended up with over 2,000 people that weekend that first year.”
The museum has since grown from about 30 pieces of barbed wire on display to more than 2,700.
“It was very heavily used in Kansas,” Penka said. “Settlers were looking for a way to mark their territory; they needed something that was successful and workable but inexpensive. It was actually used to keep animals out. This was free-range territory.
“And we (La Crosse) are the birthplace in collecting it.”
But in the world of barbed wire collectors, the Kansas Barbed Wire Museum in La Crosse has a little competition. There’s the Devil’s Rope Museum in McLean, Texas, which boasts displays on barbed wire. But the Texas museum wasn’t started until 1991, so the Kansas barbed wire museum can claim seniority.
The Kansas museum tells the story of how timely Rush County was in adding to the popularity of barbed wire.
Glidden’s patent came a week-and-a-half before Rush County was formed. This part of the state – 18 counties in north-central Kansas – is known for being Post Rock Country. Out here, fences can stand for decades if limestone posts are used with strands of barbed wire.
In the museum, there is a display with Glidden’s tools of inspiration -- an old coffee grinder with two pins welded onto it and a grinding stone.
Penka demonstrated how the barbed wire was made one afternoon in early June. There was the sound of squeaks and grinding:
“And that twisted the wire into a barb, and then it was cut off with a pair of cutters, cut off at an angle,” Penka said. “The other part of the project that made it so successful was if you slip the barb over a straight piece of wire, it will slide back and forth and move. So, his idea was to take two strands of wire, lay them side by side. He welded a hook on his grindstone, stretched the two wires out while one person positioned the barbs, the other one turned the crank and that twisted the two wires, which locked the barbs into place.”
The first weekend in May each year, barbed wire collectors from around the nation flock to La Crosse to swap and sell the wire that helped tame the West.
Some of the old wire, which are cut into 18-inch lengths, can sell from 25 cents apiece up to several hundred dollars, Penka said. Some collections can amount to thousands of dollars in value.
The museum is also filled with zany art pieces made from barbed wire – a whirling tornado; a guitar, and a monumental ball of barbed wire propped up with limestone posts.
Without a doubt, the theme is barbed wire.
“It was a tough life when you came out here,” Penka said. “Barbed wire totally changed the face of this part of the country. It affected the environment. You went from a big open area to all of a sudden, an organized territory that was settled.”
The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum is located at 120 1st Street in La Crosse. It is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Sundays.