Editing Hays, Kansas (section)

===Points of interest===
[[File:Ellis County Historical Society.jpg|thumb|left|Ellis County Historical Society Museum]]
There are several museums and sites in Hays dedicated to aspects of area history. FHSU's [[Fort Hays State University#Sternberg Museum of Natural History|Sternberg Museum of Natural History]] features extensive collections and exhibits of fossil specimens, including an interactive diorama of life in the region during the [[Cretaceous]] period. Affiliated with the university's Departments of Geosciences and Biology, the museum also hosts educational programs on fossil preparation and ongoing scientific research.<ref>{{cite web | title = About Sternberg Museum | publisher = [[Fort Hays State University]] | url = http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/about/index.php | access-date = April 9, 2011 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110719193954/http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/about/index.php | archive-date = July 19, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Discover Sternberg Museum's Exhibits | publisher = [[Fort Hays State University]] | url = http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/exhibits/index.php | access-date = April 9, 2011 | archive-date = July 19, 2011 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110719193326/http://sternberg.fhsu.edu/exhibits/index.php | url-status = dead }}</ref> The Ellis County Historical Society Museum, located downtown, maintains exhibits of artifacts from the area's Old West period through its settlement by Volga and Bukovina Germans. Included in the museum complex are the Volga German Haus, a reproduction of an early Volga German settler home, and a stone chapel constructed in 1879. Southwest of Hays, the Kansas Historical Society maintains the [[Fort Hays|Fort Hays State Historic Site]]. It consists of four of the fort's original structures and a visitor's center. Other sites related to the area's frontier period include Boot Hill, the city's earliest cemetery, and a historical marker at the site of the ill-fated town of Rome.<ref name=FrontierHistory/>

Downtown Hays features the historic Chestnut Street District. Local businesses offer dining, shopping, and entertainment, and visitors can tour designated historical sites in the district via a self-guided walking tour.<ref name=FrontierHistory/>