Five Flags of Ford County

The territory today known as Ford County has been called by a multitude of names over the centuries, from New Spain to the Province of Louisiana to the State of Kansas, among others. “Under Five Flags” is a new short film, supported by a Spark! film grant, explores the history of Ford County through the five flags that have been flown there since European colonization of the Americas. The film tells the story of immigration and cultural intersection in the area in order to “expand the telling of the history of the Dodge City area,” according to Holly Mercer, project director and Library Director at Dodge City Community College. 

The film is a collaborative project, created with input from a committee of members from the Dodge City Cultural Relations Advisory Board, the Kansas Heritage Center in Dodge City, Boot Hill Museum, and several local historians, authors, and scholars. The project itself came out of the annual Dodge City International Festival, which celebrates Dodge City’s ethnic and cultural diversity during National Welcoming Week in September. Feedback after the 2022 festival revealed a desire among locals to tell some of the history of the area beyond the Wild West story that is already so well known. The new film will fill that gap, giving locals and educators a way to tell a more complete story of their community.

"Under Five Flags" Short Film (13:30)

Beginning with the Native Americans who occupied and passed through the area prior to European colonization, the film will cover the 16th-century arrival of Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who was in search of a fountain of youth and the City of Gold, followed by the incursion of French expeditions and the back-and-forth possession of the territory between France and Spain for more than a century. After Mexico achieved independence from Spain, the territory became part of Mexico until it was claimed as part of the Republic of Texas. The United States annexed Texas in 1845, and some of the territory that had once been part of Texas became the Kansas Territory in 1854. And all of this just barely scratches the surfaces of the many different political markers and cultural identities carried by the land and its people over the centuries.

Of the project, Holly Mercer concluded, “Dodge City has been welcoming to different cultures throughout the ages. We want to continue our legacy of welcoming into the present.”

The film premiered on August 1 at the Boot Hill Museum in Dodge City. A panel discussion with the film’s historians followed the screening. 

Join the Movement of Ideas
 

• LEARN about the ways cultures converged along the Santa Fe Trail in “The Road to Santa Fe” documentary produced by Prairie Hollow Productions and the Flint Hills Discovery Center. Learn more and watch the trailer.
   
• WATCH the “Strangers in Town” short film about how global migration transformed and enriched Garden City. Bring Dr. Debra Bolton to your community for a “Strangers in Town” screening and discussion. Find out how.

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