Almost There! Fort Scott Downtown Welcome Sign Becomes a Reality

The Welcome to Fort Scott sign is being installed this week. This is looking west on Wall Street near the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Office at 231 Wall Street.
A rendition of the new downtown welcome sign. Submitted graphic.

A crew from T.L. Steel, Burrton, KS, has been installing the new welcome sign on Wall Street for the last several days.

The welders finished yesterday and the painters will finish today, then the electrical work to light the sign will start, T. L. Steel’s Project Manager Levi Robillard said.

Following that work, Jess Milburn of JCM Restore, LLC, Fort Scott will complete the stonework, using Bandera Stone from Bourbon County.

The new sidewalk and curb will then be poured,  by Marbery Construction, Fort Scott, who did the demolition of the site and will replace the sidewalk and guttering after the sign is complete.

The total cost of the arch is $120,000, which was paid for by grants from the Patterson Foundation and also Blue Cross and Blue Shield Pathways to a Healthy Kansas, through the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team, said Rachel Carpenter, HBCAT Executive Director. The Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce and the City of Fort Scott also aided the project.

Workers from T. L. Steel installed the sign on Wall Street to welcome people to the Historic Downtown Fort Scott District on February 29.

“We went through surveys and meetings, public input, which was very important for this project,” Carpenter said.

“An arch of this type has been a vision of the Chamber for several years to welcome locals and visitors to our community and establish the Downtown Historic District as a destination,” said Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Lindsey Madison in a prior interview.

“We were ecstatic that the opportunity came about for the arch to be a placemaking project through the Blue Cross Blue Shield Pathways grant spearheaded by the Healthy Bourbon County Action Team,” Madison said.

“Several public meetings were held to gather community input on the design, culminating with approval from the Design Review Board of the City. The aesthetics of the arch will complement nearby historic structures including the beautiful Bandera limestone from right here in Bourbon County. This has truly been a group effort by all of the entities involved and we are excited to see it come to fruition,” Madison said.

The new Welcome to Fort Scott sign is being installed. This view is looking north on Wall Street to the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce office.

 

3 thoughts on “Almost There! Fort Scott Downtown Welcome Sign Becomes a Reality”

  1. Looks great! What is the clearance of the arch? Meaning, what is the maximum vehicle height that can safely pass under it?

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