The landowner had gone to Denver in order to acquire an injunction to be issued on the Monday. On Sunday the railroad men dismantled the old depot, constructed a new one three miles away and declared it to be the new town of Lamar. It was named for the then Secretary of the Interior, Lucius Lamar, in a successful attempt to legitimize the establishment of the town.

Young Curtis was raised in nearby Las Animas, Colorado. “I grew up 100 miles from Dodge City, across the Colorado line from Kansas,” said Ken.

His father, Dan Gates, was a homesteader and eventually became the county sheriff. “I was 12 when Dad was elected,” Curtis said in 1967 interview. “Our living quarters were on the ground floor and the cells were upstairs. Mother [Nellie Sneed Gates] used to cook the meals for the prisoners and I took them up to the cells while she held a shotgun in her hands in case any of them got frisky.”

Purportedly, he also acted as deputy in his father’s absence.

Little is now known [by me, at any rate] of Curtis Gates’ adolescence: he played saxophone in a high school band and later attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs, studying medicine. However, he found he had more of an aptitude for singing and songwriting. He left college and headed for LA to try his luck in the music business. He became a staff singer for NBC radio.

Ken picked up his singing career again doing guest spots on radio and the stage. One such spot, for which he was reportedly recommended by friend and fellow Tommy Dorsey singer Jo Stafford, was on a radio show hosted by composer Johnny Mercer. [Probably Johnny Mercer’s Music Shop.] On the program he performed “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” and attracted the attention of Columbia Pictures. They cast him as their newest singing cowboy.

In 1945 and 1946, Ken made eight “western action musical” films with Columbia, which costarred a popular novelty singing group called the Hoosier Hot Shots. “What we had to sell was a product called stupid,” one of the Hot Shots once admitted.

Apparently operating under the theory that cowboy stars could only be counted on to answer to their own names, Ken’s character was called Curt in a majority of the films. He later dryly commented on these early roles: “I’d stop in the middle of a gun fight and sing a song.”

By 1947 Ken’s Columbia contract had ended and the Singing Cowboy era had begun to wane. For the next two years or so Ken worked mainly in radio with programs such as Hollywood Barn Dance and All Star Western Theater.

In 1949 Ken’s film career was partially revived when he starred in a few independent low budget westerns, including Riders of the Pony Express. The most significant career move for him that year, however, was joining The Sons of the Pioneers as lead singer. He was a good fit for the long established western singing group “Of course, western is my native music,” he said in a 1978 interview. Besides recording, touring and a radio show (The Lucky U Ranch program), The Sons of the Pioneers did soundtrack music for the John Ford films Wagon Master (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).

In 1953 The Sons of the Pioneers left their record label RCA-Victor because of slow sales and signed with Coral Records. At this point Ken decided to leave the group. The usual explanation given for his decision is that he left to pursue film and television projects. Judging from his credits, this would seem to be inaccurate. He didn’t make any films in 1953 or 1954 and did not begin his television career until 1959.

[Perhaps he just went on a really long honeymoon.] When the Sons returned to RCA in 1955, Ken rejoined them, but only for studio work, not touring. He soon left the group entirely.

Ken Curtis’ first stint as a TV series regular was, rather surprisingly, not on a western. The show was Ripcord, a half hour syndicated adventure about skydiving heroes, which debuted in September 1961 and had a 76 episode run. The series costarred Larry Pennell and fellow Son of the Pioneers, Shug Fisher. (Both actors would later have recurring roles on The Beverly Hillbillies as Dash Riprock and Shorty Kellems, respectively. Fisher also made numerous guest appearances on Gunsmoke and costarred in The Giant Gila Monster.)

Ken Curtis made his first appearance as Festus Haggen on Gunsmoke December 8th 1962 in the episode “Us Haggens.”

James Arness recently recalled how 'Festus' came to be: “Andy McLaglen, who had directed many of our shows, knew Kenny and had worked with him before [on Have Gun, Will Travel].

“He decided to bring this character in for one show and try it out. And he just seemed to feel right. He [Curtis] had charm,” said producer Norman MacDonnell, who already knew of Dennis Weaver’s desire to leave his role as Chester.

In 1975 Gunsmoke ended it’s 20 year run. It still holds the record for longest running scripted series on television and reruns are currently being broadcast on at least three cable networks [TV Land, Encore Westerns Channel and Hallmark Channel.] The break wasn’t easy for Ken. “I really miss Gunsmoke,” he said. "It was like losing my whole family.”

After Gunsmoke wrapped, Ken Curtis continued his association with Festus and took him on the road with “The Dodge City Four.” The group played fairs and rodeos across the country from 1974 to 1978. “I'm reading a lot of scripts these days,” he said at the time. “With all these deals and commitments it gets complicated. I have commitments to play Festus at all these fairs, so the problem is shaving for parts.”

In the 1983-84 television season Ken costarred as ranch hand Hoyt Coryell on the short lived but critically lauded [that means I liked it] series “The Yellow Rose” with Sam Elliott and Cybill Shepherd.

After the series ended Ken more or less retired, doing occasional personal appearances and autograph signings He made only four more television appearances: Airwolf (1986), Once Upon a Texas Train with Willie Nelson (1988), In the Heat of The Night (1990), and Conagher (1991) with Sam Elliott, which was broadcast after Ken’s death.

In February of 1992 the city of Clovis unveiled the Festus Statue created by local artist Sam Hutchings. Until recently it stood in "Old Town" outside the Clovis Big Dry Creek Historical Museum. Inside, the museum features some of Ken Curtis' personal memorabilia as well as local historical items.

The statue has now been moved in front of a local bank, because the museum is currently undergoing construction. The citizens of Clovis take pride in the landmark: “Ken 'Festus' Curtis embodies all the wonderful attributes held by our Clovis citizens and even more,” said Clovis historian Ron Sundquist. “He is the symbol of a great hero, so needed by everyone young and old.”