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The Lawrence Public Library’s “Hike Through History” project is on its way to becoming a permanent exhibit on Lawrence’s Burroughs Creek Trail.

Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area has awarded the Lawrence Public Library Foundation a $5,000 grant to support the development, design and fabrication of outdoor installations tracing “key historical points” along the Burroughs Creek Trail and Linear Park, the library announced Wednesday. The nine permanent panels will be stationed throughout the 1.7-mile trail, which follows the route of a former rail line once operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.

The signage panels (which document historical topics such as the Oregon Trail, Quantrill’s Raid, and Beat Generation icon/one-time Lawrencian/trail namesake William S. Burroughs) will be adapted from an original traveling exhibit that premiered at the library last summer and is currently on display at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Scholars and experts developed the exhibit’s content under the direction of Henry Fortunato, a visiting fellow at the Hall Center for the Humanities at the University as Kansas. Lawrence historian Katie Armitage served as project advisor.

In addition to the Freedom’s Frontier grant, the project has received financial support from former Journal-World owner Dolph Simons Jr. through the Douglas County Community Foundation.

The Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department is slated to install the “Hike Through History” panels in the spring as in in-kind donation to the project. A public unveiling event will be held at that time.