Wakefield, KS

Wakefield is a Clay County city that took shape in 1869 and got a railroad connection in 1873. The rail beginning gives the town its older orientation, while Milford Lake gives the surrounding landscape its newer one. The Kansas Landscape Arboretum grew out of the lake project: the Army Corps of Engineers leased 192 acres on the lake's west edge for an arboretum, and that land is now a nonprofit collection of native and introduced trees, wetlands, woodlands, and meadows. Wakefield's clearest landmark is therefore tied to both transportation history and a major change in the local shoreline.

The arboretum sits at 488 Utah Road and is open from sunrise to sunset year-round, with short trails through the tree collections and meadow country. Clay County USD 379 and Wakefield High School keep the city connected to the wider county school map. Wakefield is a small rail-founded city with a distinctly local landscape: follow the old town grid toward Milford Lake, and the arboretum shows how the lake became part of the town's identity.