Grand Summit

[W. Gray]

Myrna mentioned Grand Summit in another thread.

If someone can fill in with more information, please chime in.

Grand Summit is in Eastern Cowley County at an elevation of 1,453 feet, which is about 40 feet higher than Osage Cuestas.

The Santa Fe stopped there at one time and in 1912, there was a population of 52. There is still apparently a lengthy railroad siding.

The post office closed in 1933. Not sure what is there now.

[jensarlou]

Can't say I know anything about Grand Summit, but there is a location east of there but just west of Elk Co. line that shows an elev. of 1541ft.  I never realized just how high the elev. was so close to us in Howard.

[W. Gray]

About eleven miles northwest of Howard in Union Center Township is the former town of Western Park.

West of Western Park, there are several points higher than 1600 feet.

[W. Gray]

I am not sure how Western Park received its name; however, the "Western" part may be because it is in western Elk county.

The "Park" part may come from one of the definitions of the word park. We all know what a park is in the traditional sense of the word; but one definition of the word means a large broad fairly level area of valley land between two mountain ranges.

South Park in Colorado is a good example consisting of almost 1,000 square miles.  South Park is the name of a landscape designation rather than a name for a state or national park.

The Comedy Central cartoon series of South Park received its name from this Colorado landscape.
The town in the cartoon series is fictional and there is no actual town in the state called South Park.

Besides South Park in Colorado there is also North Park and Middle Park, both huge stretches of almost level land in the Rocky Mountains. There are towns located within these parks and there may or may not be a park in the traditional sense of the word.

[Wilma]

The Western Park area is indeed, fairly level.  Elk River lies just to the west and south and the area going to the east and north for several miles is level by Elk county standards.  Not even close by Sedgwick County standards.  There is some good crop land there and there have been good crops of wheat, corn, beans and milo.  I don't know what is being planted now.  There are also the good rolling pastures of Elk County.  It is one of the pretty areas and worth a drive out that way.