Lindsborg ? Repairs have begun on a national historic site that marks a spot where Spanish explorers stopped centuries ago in central Kansas to give access to more people, and a historical association said it could be the first of several projects designed to revitalize the monument.

The road to the Coronado Heights monument northwest of Lindsborg has crumbled, slowing access to the spot where it is believed Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado stopped in 1541 to survey what became the Smoky Hill River Valley. The monument has been a popular tourist draw since about 90 men built the road and a large stone structure on top of the butte in the 1930s, as part of the Public Works Administration.

The Smoky Valley Historical Association, which owns the hill, will spend about $6,000 to tear out and replace the road. It had Coronado Heights added to the National Registry of Historic Places in an effort to seek more grants for renovation projects, The Salina Journal reported Monday.

“Every time we fix the road, it goes bad,” said Chris Abercrombie, president of the association. “A lot of it is due to water drainage. It washes parts of the road away. Gravity has had its way a few times.”

The group raised $4,000 in private donations to help with the expected $6,000 cost.

During the 1920s, Coronado Heights, originally called the Spanish buttes or Smoky Hill, was a site for picnicking and family events, according to Dr. Duane Fredrickson, an association board member.

When the road is done, the association hopes to restore the picnic areas, which have been vandalized and destroyed.

“People have tried to break the picnic tables and even hit them with sledgehammers,” Fredrickson said. “They love to knock things loose.”

Visitors have also carved into the walls and erected monuments or memorials on the site.

A castle-like monument near the buttes has been vandalized by paintballs and people have tried to knock down and set fire to the castle’s support beams.

The association now bans paintball guns and the erection of monuments or memorials in the area without written permission, Abercrombie said.

Coronado Heights was recently named one of the “8 Wonders of Geography” by the Kansas Sampler Foundation and continues to attract people from across the country. Fredrickson estimated that 200 people travel up the hill each week.