The stone sculptures known collectively as "Prairie Passage" were designed by Emporian Richard Stauffer and produced by the 1992 Kansas Sculptors Association Team Carve.
Stauffer's design was selected to illustrate the theme "Prairie Passage," reflecting Emporia's role as gateway to the Flint Hills, its significance as a trade and education center, its history, and its forces, and its people. The pylons are clustered in four pairs of echoing images.