Sublette Man To Build Distillery On Historic Grounds In Dodge City

Several western Kansas farmers are planning to build a distillery on land in Dodge City that was once the site of the Boot Hill Cemetery.

If the plans work out, the Boot Hill Distillery will open next July.

The land was the site of the cemetery in the 1870s. It later became a public school and eventually held Dodge City’s Municipal Building. The building has been empty for years.

One of the investors, 23-year-old Hayes Kelman of Sublette, says the business will distill whiskey made mostly from corn grown on his family’s farm in Haskell County.

The project received a $190,649 Community Development Block Grant in August to stabilize and repair the building, which on the National Register of Historic Places.