Frontenac, Kansas

Frontenac is a thriving small city with a varied industrial base and an excellent school system. Frontenac is located on US-69/57/160 Highways adjacent to Pittsburg which offers the advantages of a larger city including a state university and diverse resources for health care, recreation, shopping and entertainment.

Frontenac was founded in 1886 as a result of the expansion of the railroads near major coal sources. For all intent and purpose, the town was to be named Craigsville. No one really knows the reason Topeka, the state capital, recorded the name as Frontenac when they requested the official name for the town.

As was most of Crawford County, the Frontenac area was spotted with productive mines. Unfortunately, coal mines were unstable and dangerous. The original Santa Fe Mine #1 was the first to sink and marks the City of Frontenac's present location. Tradition continued on Nov. 9, 1888 when an underground explosion in Mine #2 claimed 47 lives. Mine #2 would go down in history as the scene of the greatest mine disaster in the state of Kansas.