Fort Harker Guardhouse

Built in 1867 (vernacular architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

From the record

One of 12 National Register listings published here for Ellsworth County · listed in 1972 · category: Building · built in 1867, vernacular architecture.

Sources: the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. NW corner of Wyoming and Ohio Sts., Kanopolis, 67454
When was it listed? February 1972
Category. building
Township. Ellsworth township
When was it built? 1867
Architectural style. vernacular architecture
National Register reference number. 72000497 - assigned by the National Park Service when the property was listed.

Fires near this property

13 since 2015

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 13 fires within 5 miles of Fort Harker Guardhouse between 2015 and 2020, burning about 137 acres in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	8
Equipment and vehicle use	4
Debris and open burning	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
10 September 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	15 acres	Kansas Forest Service	78
12 August 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	10 acres	Kansas Forest Service	74
8 March 2015	Equipment and vehicle use	15 acres	Kansas Forest Service	23
25 March 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	50 acres	Kansas Forest Service	38
23 March 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Ellsworth County	2017009
22 March 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Ellsworth County	2017008
22 March 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Kansas Forest Service	37
21 March 2015	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Kansas Forest Service	36

Every fire recorded in Ellsworth County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Fort Harker Guardhouse: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where	Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
	Bates Sand Pit & Plant	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer

Every working recorded in Ellsworth County

Storms near this property

60 of 66 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Kanopolis, the town this property stands in, in 66 storm reports between 1996 and 2026: 48 hail, 15 thunderstorm wind, 2 heavy rain, 1 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2008	Hail	Kanopolis	$170,000	Two inch hail blasted the sides of houses across Kanopolis. The north side of the Community Centers siding was blasted by the hail. Skylights and windows were also broken across town.
June 2008	Hail	Kanopolis	$7,000	Golfball sized hail broke windows, damaged a car and other property at a homestead. The large hail lasted for 5 minutes.
June 2019	Hail	Kanopolis	$5,000	The hail covered the ground with numerous reports of broken glass.
July 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	$5,000	The winds gusted to 50 to 60 mph. Some small tree limbs were knocked down.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	$500	One to 1.5 inch diameter tree limbs were blown down.
October 2018	Flood	Kanopolis	$100	Water was reported over highway 140 east of Ellsworth.
July 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	Reported a semi blown over at Mile Marker 222 on I-70 from thunderstorm wind gusts.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	Public reported via social media of a home with part of the roof blown off five miles northeast of Ellsworth KS. Tree limbs were reported down in Ellsworth KS. Time was estimated by radar.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	Trained spotter reported an estimated wind gust of 70 mph with 0.85 inches of rain in 15 minutes.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	Measured wind gust from a trained spotter.
April 2023	Hail	Kanopolis	-	The ground was about 50 percent covered with hail.
June 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	According to a report via social media, sections of an outbuilding roof were blown off.
August 2023	Heavy Rain	Kanopolis	-	Rain fall total 24 hours of 1. 42 inches.
July 2022	Heavy Rain	Kanopolis	-	A cocorahs observer in Kanopolis reported 3.90 inches in 24 hours.
May 2021	Hail	Kanopolis	-	Also reported 1.3 inches of rain and 40 mph winds.
June 2019	Hail	Kanopolis	-	No damage was reported.
May 2018	Hail	Kanopolis	-	There were no reports of damage.
May 2018	Hail	Kanopolis	-	There were no reports of damage.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	Winds were estimated at 60 mph.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	A machine shed was damaged with the roof taken completely off and two walls also collapsed.
May 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	Pea to half inch sized hail was also reported.
July 2013	Hail	Kanopolis	-	The spotter's yard was covered with ping-pong to golfball-sized hail.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	Estimated gust reported by a trained spotter.
April 2005	Hail	Kanopolis	-	CO-OP observer.
April 2026	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
April 2025	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
September 2022	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
August 2021	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
August 2021	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
August 2021	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
August 2021	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
May 2019	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
May 2019	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
June 2019	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
May 2017	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
May 2017	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
May 2017	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
April 2017	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
April 2017	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
April 2017	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
April 2016	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
July 2013	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
May 2012	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
April 2011	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
April 2011	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
July 2011	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
July 2011	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
June 2008	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
May 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
March 2006	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
June 2006	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
June 2006	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
July 2006	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
July 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
August 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
March 2005	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
July 2003	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
March 2002	Hail	Kanopolis	-	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Kanopolis	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Ellsworth County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Fort Harker Officers' Quarters	0.1 miles	1974
Lloyd, Ira E, Stock Farm	3.2 miles	2015
Ellsworth Downtown Historic District	4.0 miles	2007
Insurance Building	4.0 miles	2006
Perry Hodgden House	4.1 miles	1973
Arthur Larkin House	4.2 miles	1975

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 72000497 in Record Group 79.
Ellsworth County	All 12 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.