Abronze plaque to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Ellsworth Cut-off from the historic Chisholm Trail will be dedicated Saturday, April 15.

The public is invited to the 2 p.m. event at the site of the former stockyards, today marked by a longhorn silhouette on the Ellsworth Walking Trail south of downtown.

The dedication is the work of the Abilene-based International Chisholm Trail Association.

Ellsworth rancher Dennis Katzenmeier is the organization’s president. Entertainment will be provided by cowboy poet Ron Wilson, Manhattan, and Jeff Davidson, Eureka, who sings trail songs.

Refreshments are planned in the community room at the Hodgden House Museum complex.

Katzenmeier said the Kansas Pacific Railroad had stockyards in Ellsworth earlier, but traffic on the cutoff from the main trail at Pond Creek, near Medford, Okla., didn’t peak until 1873 after three expansions. The cattle trade had moved on from Ellsworth by 1875.

The association also plans to place a plaque at Pond Creek, Katzenmeier said.

Katzenmeier said the April dedication is a prelude to a larger 150th anniversary celebration in October. Hosts are directors of Ellsworth’s National Drovers Hall of Fame, which continues to work toward the restoration of downtown Ellsworth’s Signature Insurance Building.

The agenda includes the annual conference of the Chisholm Trail Association and sessions and demonstrations related to the drovers who herded Longhorn cattle from Texas to Kansas.