A mural decorates a building in present-day Overbrook. The mural depicts the town’s history: city hall (which is still in use), the M.E. Church, the railroad that prompted the founding of the town site, and the thousands of wagons that crossed the area as they followed the Santa Fe Trail.
The Santa Fe Trail crossed the town site for more than 60 years before the town was founded in 1886 by W. T. Coffman and J. B. Fairchild, who gave land to ensure the Nebraska-Kansas-Dakota Railroad would build through the town site. While the railroad is gone–in fact, a former rail line is now the Landon Nature Trail–many of the historic sites of the Santa Fe Trail remain. Trail ruts can still be seen where they enter the town outside of the present-day Overbrook Cemetery. U.S. 56, which loosely follows the Santa Fe Trail, crosses through the town, which is just large enough to support a library and several businesses.
Diana Staresinic-Deane 