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American Heritage Dictionary:

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(kăn'zəs) pronunciation (Abbr. KS or Kans.)

A state of the central United States. It was admitted as the 34th state in 1861. Organized as a territory by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, it became a virtual battleground, known as Bleeding Kansas, for free and slave factions (1854-1859). Kansas was finally admitted as a free state. Topeka is the capital and Wichita the largest city. Population: 2,780,000.

Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:

Kansas

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Farm buildings on grassland, Kansas.
(click to enlarge)
Farm buildings on grassland, Kansas. (credit: © MedioImages/Getty Images)
State, central U.S. Area: 82,278 sq mi (213,099 sq km). Population: (2010) 2,853,118. Capital: Topeka. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Colorado. It is located on the Great Plains, rising more than 3,000 ft (915 m) from its eastern prairies to the high plains of the west. The region was occupied by the Kansa, Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita Indians before European settlement. The first European explorer was Francisco Vzquez de Coronado, who came from Mexico in 1541 in search of gold. La Salle claimed the region for France in 1682. Kansas was acquired by the U.S. as part of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. In the early 19th century the federal government relocated displaced eastern Indians to Kansas. The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the Kansas Territory and opened it to white settlement. It was the site of conflicts over slavery, including one spurred by John Brown ( Bleeding Kansas). Kansas entered the union as the 34th state in 1861. After the American Civil War, the coming of the railroads promoted the growth of cow towns; Texas cattlemen drove herds to Wichita and Abilene to reach the railheads. Agriculture became important as farmers worked on the Great Plains. During and following World War II, airplane production expanded, and farm products remained strong.

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Counties of the United States:

Kansas State Information

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Phone: 785-296-0111
Website: www.kansas.gov

Area (sq mi): 82,276.84 (Land: 81,814.88 Water: 461.96). Pop per sq mi: 33.5.

Pop 2005: 2,744,687. Pop changes: 2000-2005: +2.1%; 1990-2000: +8.5%. Pop 2000: 2,688,418 (White: 83.1%; Black: 5.7%; Hispanic or Latino: 7%; Asian: 1.7%; Other: 6.4%) Foreign born: 5%. Median age: 35.2.

Income 2000: per capita $20,506; median household $40,624; Pop below poverty: 9.9%.
Personal per capita income 2000-2003: $27,694-$29,438.

Unemployment 2004: 5.6%. Unemployment 2000: 3.8%; Change from 2000: +1.8%. Median travel time to work: 19 minutes. Working outside county of residence: 22.6%.

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Gale Encyclopedia of US History:

Kansas

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The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states of the United States is in Kansas, one mile north of the city of Lebanon. The geodetic center (which takes into account the curvature of the earth) of North America is in Osborne County in north-central Kansas. The state is rectangular, approximately 408 miles east to west, and 206 miles north to south. Kansas is bordered to the east by Missouri, to the south by Oklahoma, to the west by Colorado, and to the north by Nebraska. Because of its geographic center and because of its agricultural prominence, Kansas is often referred to as "the heartland of America."

The state is customarily divided into four different geologic regions. The northeastern part of Kansas is the Dissected Till Plains, so-called because the retreating glaciers of the last ice age left the land looking as though it had been divided and plowed. It has forests and an abundance of water. The southeastern part of Kansas, known as the Southeastern Plains, is marked by limestone hills, the Osage Plains, and grass. To the west of these two regions is the Plains Border, so called because its western edge borders the eastern edge of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. This region is plagued by severe droughts and tornadoes. Also prone to drought are the High Plains, which occupy the western part of Kansas and rise westward up into the Rockies. It is a dry area whose people rely on an underground aquifer for irrigation of their crops.

The most historically important of Kansas's rivers are the Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, and Cimarron. The Missouri River forms part of the northeastern border and has been important for shipping. The Kansas River begins in north central Kansas at the confluence of the Republican and Smoky Hill Rivers and flows eastward to the Missouri. It formed a natural boundary between the Native American tribes, in the northeast, and the rest of the state. The Arkansas River enters Kansas a third of the way north on Kansas's western border, meanders east, then northeast, then crosses the border into Oklahoma. The Santa Fe Trail, used by hundreds of thousands of migrants and traders, followed the Kansas River, then turned southwest to the Arkansas River and followed it to the west. Some people chose a quicker but more hazardous route by crossing south over the Arkansas River and heading southwest to cross the Cimarron River, which originates in the High Plains and flows southeastward to Oklahoma.

Prehistory

It is not known when humans first arrived in what is now Kansas. Archaeologists and paleoanthropologists have continued to push backward in time the era when the first people arrived in North America, probably more than 100,000 years ago. During the last ice age, a glacier extended southward into northeastern Kansas and would have obliterated evidence of habitation earlier than 11,000 B.C.

There is much evidence of humans south of the glacier in 11,000 B.C., including long sharpened stone points for spears. These Paleo-Indians, a term meaning people who predate the Native American cultures that existed after 7000 B.C., were nomads who hunted mammoths and giant bison, as well as other big game. By 7000 B.C., the glacier had retreated far to the north, leaving the gouged landscape of the Dissected Till Plains; as the climate of Kansas warmed, new cultures were introduced. The archaic Indians of 7000 B.C. were not the wanderers their predecessors had been. With the extermination of large game, they became focused on small animals and on plants as sources for food. During the period between 5000 B.C. and 3500 B.C., people formed small settlements, and they often hunted with atlatls, slotted spear throwers that added greater power than was possible when throwing a spear by hand alone. These people also developed techniques for making ceramics.

By A.D. 1, the people in Kansas lived off of the wildlife of Kansas's forest. They still used stone tools, but they were making great strides in their pottery making. During this era, bows and arrows began to supplant spears and atlatls, with spear points becoming smaller and sharper. Maize, first grown in Mexico and Central America, appeared in Kansas, perhaps between A.D. 800 and 1000, probably coming from an ancient trade route that extended southwestward into what is now Mexico. Settlements became larger, and in eastern Kansas large burial mounds were built, suggesting evolution of complex societies.

After A.D. 1000, Native Americans in Kansas grew not only maize, but squash and beans as well. They used the bow and arrow to hunt bison and small game. The

Native Americans of northern Kansas and southern Nebraska lived in large communal lodges built of sod. Those to the south made thatched-roofed, plaster-covered houses. These people likely traded with the Pueblo Indians to the southwest, and at least one habitation within what is now Kansas was built by the Pueblo.

By the time of the arrival of the first European explorers in 1541, the settled cultures probably had already been driven out by numerous invasions of warlike nomadic cultures such as the Apache. The Pawnees inhabited northwestern Kansas, the Kiowas the high western plains, the Comanches the central part of Kansas, and the Wichita the southern plains. The Kansas, "the people of the south wind," for whom the state is named, and the Osages had yet to migrate into eastern Kansas; they would arrive in the 1650s. There were frequent wars among these tribes, and they often fought the nomadic Apaches, who tended to follow the herds of bison.

Exploration

The first recorded European explorer of the Kansas region was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his followers, who were looking for riches. In Kansas, he found a land rich in farms and diverse Native American cultures. Some of the tribes he encountered resented Roman Catholic priests for trying to convert them, and one priest was killed. Pieces of Spanish chain mail have been uncovered in central Kansas, indicating that a few Spanish soldiers also may have died there.

France claimed the region of Kansas in 1682, but it was not until 1724 that explorers from Europe and European American colonies began coming to Kansas on a regular basis. The first was Étienne Veniard de Bourgmont, who traveled through Kansas as a trader, while exploring the land for the French government. In 1739, Paul and Pierre Mallet led several traders through Kansas to the southwest, blazing a trail for other traders. The French built Fort Cavagnial, near what would become Leavenworth, to aid French travelers and to provide a meeting place for Native Americans and French traders; the fort was closed in 1764. In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana territory, which included Kansas, from France.

Kansas was still a frontier when the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through it in 1804. In 1806, Zebulon M. Pike led an expedition through Kansas, helping to blaze trails from east to west that Americans would follow. In 1819, Major Stephen H. Long explored part of Kansas and the Great Plains, calling the region the Great American Desert, probably because of a drought and the seemingly endless dry, brown grass. Perhaps he missed or dismissed the large forest that still covered much of Kansas.

Early Settlements

Irrigation had been introduced to Kansas along Beaver Creek in western Kansas in 1650 by the Taos Indians, setting the stage for year-round settlements in the dry High Plains. The explorer William Becknell established the Santa Fe Trail in 1821, beginning the busy travel of traders through Kansas to the American southwest. In 1827, Fort Leavenworth was established by Colonel Henry Leavenworth to provide a place for settling disputes among the Native American tribal factions. That same year, Daniel Morgan Boone, son of Daniel Boone, became the first American farmer in Kansas. In 1839, Native Americans imported wheat from the east and became the first wheat farmers in Kansas, clearing and farming plots of land along rivers. Treaties with the American government supposedly protected the Native American farmers in what was called "Indian Country." In 1852, the Native American Mathias Splitlog established Kansas's first flour mill just west of the Missouri River in what is now Wyandotte County.

Bleeding Kansas

In 1854, in the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the U.S. Congress established Kansas as an official territory, but in so doing, Congress violated a compromise between slave states and free states that was supposed to make both Kansas and Nebraska free states. Instead, Congress said that the people of Kansas and Nebraska would vote on whether to make the territories free or slave states when they applied for statehood.

In 1855, Kansas tried to elect a legislature that would write a state constitution to present to Congress as part of its application for statehood. Most of the settlers in Kansas, such as Mennonites and Quakers, were antislavery (known as "free staters"), but proslavery men from outside Kansas were imported to vote in the election, and through intimidation of antislavery voters and ballot-box stuffing, they "won" the election. The new legislature quickly wrote a proslavery constitution, which Congress rejected because the state legislature was not recognized as legitimate. In 1855, the Topeka Movement favoring a free state was begun, and its followers wrote their own state constitution; this, too, was rejected by Congress because the authors had not been properly elected.

By 1856, proslavery terrorists were killing free-state farmers. On 21 August 1856, an out-of-state proslavery gang invaded Lawrence, Kansas, an overwhelmingly free-state community, and murdered over 150 people and burned down most of the town. The antislavery fanatic John Brown gathered some of his followers and invaded farms along Pottawatomie Creek, south of Kansas City, Kansas, murdering five proslavery men; this became known as the Pottawatomie Massacre. A proslavery militia later attacked John Brown and some of his followers, only to be captured by those they tried to kill. This made John Brown a hero among many antislavery people. These events inspired the nickname "Bleeding Kansas," and the violence and murders continued even after the conclusion of the Civil War (1861–1865).

Statehood

Beginning in 1860 and lasting until telegraph lines were established between America's West and East, the Pony Express passed through Kansas. By 1861, Kansas had managed to have an election that Congress recognized as valid, and the resulting territorial legislature wrote a state constitution forbidding slavery that Congress also recognized as valid. On 29 January 1861, Kansas was admitted as the thirty-fourth state in the Union, although a large chunk of its western territory was ceded to what eventually would become the state of Colorado. Topeka was declared the state capital. On 12 April 1861, the Civil War began, pitting proslavery Southern states, the Confederacy, against the rest of the country, the Union.

Over 20,000 Kansans, out of only 30,000 eligible men, enlisted in the Union army; at the war's end, 8,500 (28.33 percent) of the Kansas soldiers had been killed, the highest mortality rate of any Union state. The first skirmishes against Confederate regulars occurred in 1861 along the Missouri River, with the first significant combat for Kansan troops occurring near Springfield, Missouri, in the Battle of Wilson's Creek, with the First Kansas Volunteer Infantry suffering heavy losses. Kansan historians claim that the first African Americans to see significant combat in the Civil War were the First Kansas Colored Infantry, who were formed into a regiment in August 1862, and who fought Confederate troops at Butler, Missouri, on 29 October 1862 in the Battle of Toothman's Mound. Under Colonel James M. Williams, white and black Union troops fought together as a unit for the first time in a battle at Cabin Creek on 2 July 1863 in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), against Confederate troops who had raided a train.

The most significant battle in Kansas during the Civil War occurred when Union forces under the command of Major General James G. Blunt and Confederate forces under General Douglas Cooper met in a series of clashes involving more than 25,000 troops, concluding in the Battle of Mine Creek, in which 10,000 troops fought. The First Kansas Colored Infantry underwent a forced march northeastward through Kansas to the battle and was stationed in the Union line's center. The regiment advanced to within thirty yards of the Confederate center, enduring heavy losses until the Confederate line broke and fled, ending the major Confederate threat to Kansas.

During the war, Confederate guerrilla units raided Kansan settlements. Under the command of Captain William Clarke Quantrill, "Quantrill's Raiders" executed farm families and burned villages and towns. On 21 August 1863, Quantrill led 450 of his troops into Lawrence, Kansas; with most of the men of Lawrence off to war, Quantrill's Raiders killed nearly 200, few of them men. Quantrill remains despised in Kansas.

Building a State

From 1867 to 1869, a fierce war between the United States and Native Americans was fought in western Kansas. The Pawnees and others had objected to violations of treaties that guaranteed them the right of ownership of some of the land in Kansas. In 1868, General Phil Sheridan led an offensive against the warring tribes, and in 1869 the tribes were forced to settle in the Indian Territory, southwest of Kansas.

The 1870s and 1880s saw an influx of over 300,000 people into Kansas. Many were guided there by the New England Emigrant Aid Society (NEEAS) of Massachusetts. Among the people the NEEAS guided to Kansas were Mennonites from Russia, who in 1874 brought with them a hardy, drought-resistant, cold-resistant strain of dwarf wheat called "Turkey red wheat." This soon became the favorite winter wheat of Kansas, and it helped advance the growing of wheat throughout the United States.

One of the first actions of the new state legislature in 1861 was to grant women the right to vote in school board elections. It was a small advance for voting rights, but it was considered progressive at the time. Even so, some women activists scorned it, making enemies where they once had friends. During the 1870s and 1880s (known as the sodbuster decades for the sod houses that were built), many women activists were sidetracked by the prohibitionist movement, which was seen as a woman's issue because of the severe social problem of drunken husbands beating their wives. In 1880, Kansas voters approved the prohibition of sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages in the state. The law was ignored throughout Kansas; saloons operated openly in many towns.

In 1874, locusts invaded Kansas and much of the Midwest, denuding farmlands. It was an era of drought, and an adequate irrigation system did not yet exist. Over 30,000 people fled the drought. Once the rains returned in the late 1870s, the influx of settlers renewed. During 1879–1880, 30,000 "Exodusters" (a play on "sodbuster" and "exodus"), African Americans fleeing Southern states, migrated into Kansas.

Kansas was proud of its progressive image, and in 1887, women at last received the right to vote in municipal elections. Within a few weeks, the first female mayor elected in America, Susanna Madora Salter, became mayor of the town of Argonia. The next year, five towns had female mayors and city councils consisting entirely of women. The Populist Party (a.k.a. the People's Party) was founded in Topeka in 1890, and Populist Kansas governors, beginning with Lorenzo Lewelling in 1892, were supported by women. By 1911, over 2,000 women held public office in Kansas. In 1912, Kansas voted to give women full suffrage, the same voting rights as men had. In 1932, Kansas elected its first female member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kathryn O'Loughlin McCarthy.

In 1900, Kansas had an official population of 1,470,495 people. Before 1907, maize was the state's principal crop, but it was replaced in 1907 by wheat, much of it descended from the Turkey red wheat brought by Russian immigrants. The land still suffered from drought, about once every twenty years, but it was not until 1920 that farmers began to extensively irrigate their farmland. The irrigation system created a boom that made Kansas the world's leader in wheat production. In 1923, a motorized combine was introduced to Kansas, allowing a couple of men to do what had been the work of several horses and a score of men in 1900. In 1930, portable irrigation sprinkler systems were introduced, and the state became an example of prosperity.

Dust Bowl

Drought hit Kansas again during the 1930s. Most of the state's forest had been converted to farmland; its native grasses and other plants had been supplanted by sweeping farms, rich in wheat, maize, sorghum, and other cultivated grains. When streams dried up, and when the irrigation system could not find enough water for the central and western parts of the state, the soil dried. The topsoil had become powder. Kansas had always had high winds, and in the 1930s, the winds blew the powdery soil high into the air, often making day as dark as night. During 1934, the region became known as the "dust bowl."

Many farmers abandoned their farms. Some found work in Kansas's factories. Oil and natural gas strikes in southern Kansas and zinc mining in the western hills helped provide Kansas with income. By 1937, the prohibition law was seen as oppressive. Kansas changed the law to allow 3.2 percent beer to be produced and taxed; it also instituted a sales tax.

World War II and the 1950s

During World War II, Fort Riley, established in 1853 to protect travelers on the Santa Fe Trail, became a major military training base. In 1942, a prisoner of war camp was built near Concordia. The factories of Kansas became important parts of the production for war, and the oil and natural gas suppliers gained in importance. In 1943, Dwight David Eisenhower, who had been raised in Abilene, became Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe, and he helped the growth of the military industry in Kansas.

The "progressive" state of Kansas had long had a dirty secret: racial segregation. On 28 February 1951, the father of eleven-year-old Linda Brown, an African American, filed suit in the United States District Court against Topeka's Board of Education, asking that she be allowed to attend a whites-only school and alleging that segregation violated Amendment XIV of the U.S. Constitution. On 17 May 1954, a team of attorneys led by Thurgood Marshall won a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that racial segregation was inherently unequal and therefore a violation of the Constitution. Brown v. Board of Education became the landmark court decision that would change the course of American society during the next fifty years.

The Modern Era

By 1960, the population of Kansas had increased to over 2,000,000 people. In 1969, part of the Kansas National Guard was called to duty and sent to serve in Vietnam. In 1970, the student union at Kansas University was set afire, probably as part of protests against the war.

In 1972, the state's constitution was amended, reducing the number of elected officials in the executive branch and extending to four years from two the terms of the elected officials of the executive branch. During that year, the Kansas legislature ratified the ill-fated Equal Rights Amendment that would have added a statement to the United States Constitution that women and men were to have the same civil rights. In 1973, the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant was begun; it would not come on line until 1985. In 1978, Nancy Landon Kassebaum, daughter of Alf Landon, Republican nominee for president in 1936, was elected to the United States Senate. She was the first woman who was not a widow of a senator to be elected to the Senate.

In 1980, Kansas established and funded programs to prevent child abuse. In 1986, Kansas changed its alcoholic beverage laws to allow serving liquor "by the drink." It also approved a state lottery. Its population was just under 2,500,000 in 1990. In 1991, Joan Finney became Kansas's first woman governor. Former Governor Mike Hayden was placed in charge of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Park Service. During the 1990s, the elaborate irrigation system for the High Plains and Plains Border regions became severely strained because the underground aquifer, consisting of sand mixed with water, was being seriously diminished, creating sinkholes and threatening an end to the underground water supply. In 2000, nearly 3,000,000 people lived in Kansas, mostly in cities.

Bibliography

Anderson, George L., Terry H. Harmon, and Virgil W. Dean, eds. History of Kansas: Selected Readings. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1987.

Bader, Robert Smith. Hayseeds, Moralizers, and Methodists: The Twentieth-Century Image of Kansas. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1988.

Davis, Kenneth S. Kansas: A Bicentennial History. New York: Norton, 1976.

Masters, Nancy Robinson. Kansas. New York: Grolier, 1998.

Napier, Rita, ed. A History of the Peoples of Kansas. Lawrence: Independent Study, Division of Continuing Education, University of Kansas, 1985.

Shortridge, James R. Peopling the Plains: Who Settled Where in Frontier Kansas. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 1995.

Wedel, Waldo R. Central Plains Prehistory: Holocene Environments and Culture Change in the Republican River Basin. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1986.

Columbia Encyclopedia:

Kansas

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Kansas (kăn'zəs), midwestern state occupying the center of the coterminous United States. It is bordered by Missouri (E), Oklahoma (S), Colorado (W), and Nebraska (N).

Facts and Figures

Area, 82,264 sq mi (213,064 sq km). Pop. (2000) 2,688,418, an 8.5% increase since the 1990 census. Capital, Topeka. Largest city, Wichita. Statehood, Jan. 29, 1861 (34th state). Highest pt., Mt. Sunflower, 4,039 ft (1,232 m); lowest pt., Verdigris River, 680 ft (207 m). Nickname, Sunflower State. Motto, Ad Astra per Aspera [To the stars through difficulties]. State bird, Western meadowlark. State flower, native sunflower. State tree, cottonwood. Abbr., Kans.; KS

Geography

Almost rectangular in shape and mostly part of the Great Plains, Kansas is famous for its seemingly endless fields of ripe golden wheat. The land rises more than 3,000 ft (914 m) from the eastern alluvial prairies of Kansas to its western semiarid high plains, which stretch toward the foothills of the Rocky Mts. The rise is so gradual, however, that it is imperceptible, although the terrains of the east and the west are markedly different. The state is drained by the Kansas and Arkansas rivers, both of which generally run from west to east.

The average annual rainfall of 27 in. (69 cm) is not evenly distributed: the eastern prairies receive up to 40 in. (102 cm) of rain, while the western plains average 17 in. (43 cm). Occasional dust storms plague farmers and ranchers in the west. The climate is continental, with wide extremes-cold winters with blizzards and hot summers with tornadoes. Floods also wreak havoc in the state; hence, flood-control projects, such as dams, reservoirs, and levees, are a major undertaking.

Topeka is the capital; other important cities are Wichita (the state's largest city), Lawrence, and Kansas City (adjoining Kansas City, Mo.). Points of historical interest include the boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Eisenhower Library in Abilene. Medicine Lodge has the home of Carry Nation, who, at the turn of the 20th cent., waged war on the saloons. Fort Leavenworth is the site of a large federal penitentiary. The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve is one of the few large tracts of virgin prairie in the United States.

Economy

Kansas is historically an agricultural state. Manufacturing and services have surpassed agriculture as income producers, but farming is still important to the state's economy, and Kansas follows only Texas and Montana in total agricultural acreage. The nation's top wheat grower, Kansas is also a leading producer of grain sorghum and corn. Hay, soybeans, and sunflowers are also major crops. Cattle and calves, however, constitute the single most valuable agricultural item. Meatpacking and dairy industries are major economic activities, and the Kansas City stockyards are among the nation's largest. Food processing ranked as the state's third largest industry in the 1990s.

The two leading industries are the manufacture of transportation equipment and industrial and computer machinery. Wichita is a center of the aircraft industry, producing chiefly private planes. Other important manufactures are petroleum and coal products and nonelectrical machinery. The state is a major producer of crude petroleum and has large reserves of natural gas and helium. Kansas was once part of a great shallow sea and has commercially valuable salt deposits.

Government and Higher Education

Government in Kansas is based on the constitution of 1859, adopted just before Kansas attained statehood. An elected governor serves a term of four years. The legislature has a senate with 40 members and a house of representatives with 125 members. Kansas is represented in the U.S. Congress by four representatives and two senators and has six electoral votes in presidential elections. The state has long been a Republican stronghold but has had some Democratic governors. Republican Bill P. Graves, elected in 1994 and reelected in 1998, was succeeded by Democrat Kathleen Sebelius, who also won (2002, 2006) two terms. Sebelius resigned in 2009 to become U.S. secretary of health and human services and was succeeded by Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson, also a Democrat. Republican Sam Brownback was elected to the post in 2010.

Institutions of higher learning include the Univ. of Kansas, at Lawrence; Kansas State Univ., at Manhattan; Wichita State Univ., at Wichita; and Washburn Univ. of Topeka, at Topeka.

History

Early Inhabitants, Exploration, and Relocations

When the Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado visited (1541) the Kansas area in his search for Quivira, a fabled kingdom of riches, the area was occupied by various Native American groups of the Plains descent, notably the Kansa, the Wichita and the Pawnee. Another Spanish explorer, Juan de Oñate, penetrated the region in 1601. A result of Spanish entry into the region was the introduction of the horse, which revolutionized the life of the Native Americans. While not actually exploring the Kansas area, Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, claimed (c.1682) for France all territory drained by the Mississippi River, including Kansas.

French traders and Native Americans had a great deal of contact during most of the 18th cent. By the Treaty of Paris of 1763 ending the French and Indian Wars, France ceded the territory of W Louisiana (including Kansas) to Spain. In 1800, Spain secretly retroceded the territory to France, from whom the United States acquired it in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The region was little known, however, and subsequent explorations to include Kansas were the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803-6), the Arkansas River journey of Zebulon M. Pike in 1806, and the scientific expedition of Stephen H. Long in 1819.

Most of the territory that eventually became Kansas was in an area known as the "Great American Desert," considered unsuitable for U.S. settlement because of its apparent barrenness. In the 1830s the region was designated a permanent home for Native Americans, and northern and eastern tribes were relocated there. Forts were constructed for frontier defense and for the protection of the growing trade along the Santa Fe Trail, which crossed Kansas. Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827, Fort Scott in 1842, and Fort Riley in 1853.

Pro- and Antislavery Factions

Kansas, at this time mainly a region to be crossed on the way to California and Oregon, was organized as a territory in 1854. Its settlement, however, was spurred not so much by natural westward expansion as by the determination of both proslavery and antislavery factions to achieve a majority population in the territory. The struggle between the factions was further complicated by conflict over the location of a transcontinental railroad, with proponents of a central route (rather than a southern route) eager to resolve the slavery issue in the area and promote settlement.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), an attempted compromise on the extension of slavery, repealed the Missouri Compromise and reopened the issue of extending slavery north of lat. 36°30′ by providing for popular sovereignty in Kansas and Nebraska, allowing settlers of territories to decide the matter themselves. Meanwhile, the Emigrant Aid Company was organized in Massachusetts to foster antislavery immigration to Kansas, and proslavery interests in Missouri and throughout the South took counteraction. Towns were established by each faction-Lawrence and Topeka by the free-staters and Leavenworth and Atchison by the proslavery settlers.

Soon all the problems attendant upon organizing a territory for statehood became subsidiary to the single issue of slavery. The first elections in 1854 and 1855 were won by the proslavery group; armed Missourians intimidated voters and election officials and stuffed the ballot boxes. Andrew H. Reeder was appointed the first territorial governor in 1854. The first territorial legislature ousted (1855) all free-state members, secured the removal of Gov. Reeder, established the capital in Lecompton, and adopted proslavery statutes. In retaliation the abolitionists set up a rival government at Topeka in Oct., 1855.

The Wakarusa War and Bleeding Kansas

Violence soon came to the territory. The murder of a free-state man in Nov., 1855, led to the so-called Wakarusa War, a bloodless series of encounters along the Wakarusa River. The intervention of the new governor, Wilson Shannon, kept proslavery men from attacking Lawrence. However, civil war ultimately turned the territory into "bleeding Kansas." On May 21, 1856, proslavery groups and armed Missourians known as "Border Ruffians" raided Lawrence. A few days later a band led by the abolitionist crusader John Brown murdered five proslavery men in the Pottawatamie massacre. Guerrilla warfare between free-state men called Jayhawkers and proslavery bands-both sides abetted by desperadoes and opportunists-terrorized the land. After a new governor, John W. Geary, persuaded a large group of "Border Ruffians" to return to Missouri, the violence subsided.

The Lecompton legislature met in 1857 to make preparations for convening a constitutional convention. Gov. Geary resigned after it became clear that free elections would not be held to approve a new constitution. Robert J. Walker was appointed governor, and a convention held at Lecompton drafted a constitution. Only that part of the resulting proslavery constitution dealing with slavery was submitted to the electorate, and the question was drafted to favor the proslavery group. Free-state men refused to participate in the election with the result that the constitution was overwhelmingly approved.

Despite the dubious validity of the Lecompton constitution, President James Buchanan recommended (1858) that Congress accept it and approve statehood for the territory. Instead, Congress returned it for another territorial vote. The proslavery group boycotted the election, and the constitution was rejected. Lawrence became de facto capital of the troubled territory until after the Wyandotte constitution (framed in 1859 and totally forbidding slavery) was accepted by Congress. The Kansas conflict and the question of statehood for the territory became a national issue and figured in the 1860 Republican party platform.

Kansas became a state in 1861, with the capital at Topeka. Charles Robinson was the first governor and James H. Lane, an active free-stater during the 1850s, one of the U.S. Senators. In the Civil War, Kansas fought with the North and suffered the highest rate of fatal casualties of any state in the Union. Confederate William C. Quantrill and his guerrilla band burned Lawrence in 1863.

Life on the Prairie

With peace came the development of the prairie lands. The construction of railroads made cow towns such as Abilene and Dodge City, with their cowboys, saloons, and frontier marshals, the shipping point for large herds of cattle driven overland from Texas. The buffalo herds disappeared (some buffalo still roam in state parks and game preserves), and cattle took their place. Pioneer homesteaders, adjusting to life on the timberless prairie and living in sod houses, suffered privation. In 1874, Mennonite emigrants from Russia brought the Turkey Red variety of winter wheat to Kansas. This wheat was instrumental in making Kansas the Wheat State as winter wheat replaced spring wheat on an ever-increasing scale. Corn, too, soon became a major cash crop.

Agricultural production was periodically disrupted by national depressions and natural disasters. Repeated and prolonged droughts accompanied by dust storms, occasional grasshopper invasions, and floods all caused severe economic dislocation. Mortgages often weighed heavily on farmers, and discontent was expressed in farmer support of radical farm organizations and third-party movements, such as the Granger movement, Greenback party, and Populist party. Tax relief, better regulation of interest rates, and curbs on the power of railroads were sought by these organizations. Twice in the 1890s, Populist-Democrats were elected to the governorship.

As conditions improved, Kansas returned largely to its allegiance to the Republican party and gained a reputation as a conservative stronghold with a bent for moral reform, indicated in the state's strong support of prohibition; laws against the sale of liquor remained on the books in Kansas from 1880 to 1949. Over the years the use of improved agricultural methods and machines increased crop yield. Irrigation proved practicable in some areas, and winter wheat and alfalfa could be cultivated in dry regions.

Wars and Depression

Wheat production greatly expanded during World War I, but the end of the war brought financial difficulties. During the 1920s and 30s, Kansas was faced with labor unrest and the economic hardships of the depression. As part of the Dust Bowl, Kansas sustained serious land erosion during the long drought of the 1930s. Erosion led to the implementation of conservation and reclamation projects, particularly in the northern and western parts of the state. In 1924 an effort of the Ku Klux Klan to gain political control was fought by William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, who supported many liberal causes. Alfred M. Landon, elected governor in 1932, was one of the few Republican candidates in the country to win election in the midst of the sweeping Democratic victory that year. He was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate in 1936.

During World War II agriculture thrived and industry expanded rapidly. The food-processing industry grew substantially, the cement industry enjoyed a major revival, and the aircraft industry boomed. After the war agricultural prosperity once again declined when the state was hit by a severe drought and grasshopper invasion in 1948. Prosperity returned briefly during the Korean War, but afterward farm surpluses and insufficient world markets combined to make the state's tremendous agricultural ability part of the national "farm problem."

Modern Kansas

Kansas has become increasingly industrialized and urbanized, and industrial production has surpassed farm production in economic importance. Flood damage in the state, especially after a major flood in 1951, spurred the construction of dams (such as the Tuttle Creek, Milford, and Wilson dams) on major Kansas rivers, and their reservoirs have vastly increased water recreational facilities for Kansans. Since the 1970s, Kansas has become increasingly more urban and suburban. Accordingly, the economy has shifted its emphasis to finance and service industries located in and around the major urban centers.

Bibliography

See P. Gates, Fifty Million Acres: Conflicts over Kansas Land Policy, 1854-1890 (1954); R. S. Brownlee, Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy (1960); W. T. Nugent, The Tolerant Populists (1963); J. R. Cook, The Border and the Buffalo (1967); C. C. Howes, This Place Called Kansas (1984); H. E. Socolofsky and H. Self, Historical Atlas of Kansas (2d rev. ed. 1989); R. Richmond, Kansas: A Land of Contrasts (3d ed. 1989).

Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Geography:

Kansas

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State in the central United States bordered by Nebraska to the north, Missouri to the east, Oklahoma to the south, and Colorado to the west. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita.

  • In the 1850s, the state came to be known as “bleeding Kansas” because of the violence between hostile free-staters and pro-slavery settlers.

Local Time:

Kansas

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It is 8:55 AM, May 25, in Kansas.

It is 7:55 AM, May 25, in Kansas (exception).

US State Stats by Answers.com:

Kansas

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flag of Kansas

  • Abbreviation: KS
  • Capital City: Topeka
  • Date of Statehood: Jan. 29, 1861
  • State #: 34
  • Population: 2,688,418
  • Area: 82282 sq.mi. Land 81823 sq. mi. Water 459 sq.mi.
  • Economy:
    Agriculture: cattle, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, hogs, corn;
    Industry: transportation equipment, food processing, printing and publishing, chemical products, machinery, apparel, petroleum, mining
  • Where the name comes from: From the Sioux Indian for "south wind people"
  • State Bird: Western Meadowlark
  • State Flower: Sunflower
  • About the Flag: On a navy blue field are a sunflower (the state flower), the state seal and the word "Kansas". The thirty-four stars within the seal indicate the order of statehood. Over the stars is the motto "To the Stars Through Difficulties". On the seal a sunrise overshadows a farmer plowing a field near his log cabin, a steamboat sailing the Kansas River, a wagontrain heading west and Native Americans hunting bison. The flag was adopted in 1927.
  • State Motto: Ad astra per aspera -- To the stars through difficulties
  • State Nickname: Sunflower State
  • State Song: Home on the Range
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Kansas

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For other uses, see Kansas (disambiguation).
State of Kansas
Flag of Kansas State seal of Kansas
Flag Seal
Nickname(s): The Sunflower State (official);
The Wheat State
Motto(s): Ad astra per aspera
Map of the United States with Kansas highlighted
Official language(s) English[1]
Demonym Kansan
Capital Topeka
Largest city Wichita
Largest metro area Kansas portion of Kansas City, MO-KS Metro Area
Area  Ranked 15th in the U.S.
 - Total 82,277 sq mi
(213,096 km2)
 - Width 417 miles (645 km)
 - Length 211 miles (340 km)
 - % water 0.56
 - Latitude 37° N to 40° N
 - Longitude 94° 35′ W to 102° 3′ W
Population  Ranked 33rd in the U.S.
 - Total 2,871,238 (2011 est)[2]
 - Density 35.1/sq mi  (13.5/km2)
Ranked 40th in the U.S.
 - Median household income  $50,177 (25th)
Elevation  
 - Highest point Mount Sunflower[3][4]
4,041 ft (1232 m)
 - Mean 2,000 ft  (610 m)
 - Lowest point Verdigris River at Oklahoma border[3][4]
679 ft (207 m)
Before statehood Kansas Territory
Admission to Union  January 29, 1861 (34th)
Governor Sam Brownback (R)
Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer (R)
Legislature Kansas Legislature
 - Upper house Senate
 - Lower house House of Representatives
U.S. Senators Pat Roberts (R)
Jerry Moran (R)
U.S. House delegation Tim Huelskamp (R)
Lynn Jenkins (R)
Kevin Yoder (R)
Mike Pompeo (R) (list)
Time zones  
 - most of state Central: UTC-6/-5
 - 4 western counties Mountain: UTC-7/-6
Abbreviations KS US-KS
Website www.kansas.gov

Kansas (Listeni/ˈkænzəs/) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States.[5] It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area.[6] The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was probably not the term's original meaning.[7][8] Residents of Kansas are called "Kansans."

For thousands of years what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in the Eastern part of the state generally lived in villages along the river valleys. Tribes in the Western part of the state were semi-nomadic and hunted large herds of bison. Kansas was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861,[9][10] Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly, when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, sorghum and sunflowers.[11] Kansas is the 15th most extensive and the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States.

Contents

History

Main articles: History of Kansas and Kansas in the American Civil War

For millennia, the land that is currently Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans. The first European to set foot in present-day Kansas was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, who explored the area in 1541.

In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico, and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. From 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured goods from Missouri and silver and furs from Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wagon ruts from the trail are still visible in the prairie today.

In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first permanent settlement of white Americans in the future state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854, establishing the U.S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas, and opening the area to broader settlement by whites. Kansas Territory stretched all the way to the Continental Divide and included the sites of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo.

Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, Kansas

Missouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Kansas all along its eastern border. These settlers attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery. The secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri. Directly presaging the American Civil War, these forces collided, entering into skirmishes that earned the territory the name of Bleeding Kansas.

Kansas was admitted to the United States as a slave-free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. By that time the violence in Kansas had largely subsided. But, during the Civil War, on August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led several hundred men on a raid into Lawrence, destroying much of the city and killing nearly 200 people. He was roundly condemned by both the conventional Confederate military and the partisan rangers commissioned by the Missouri legislature. His application to that body for a commission was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal record.[12]

After the Civil War, many veterans constructed homesteads in Kansas. Many African Americans also looked to Kansas as the land of "John Brown" and, led by freedmen like Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, began establishing black colonies in the state. Leaving southern states in the late 1870s because of increasing discrimination, they became known as Exodusters.

At the same time, the Chisholm Trail was opened and the Wild West-era commenced in Kansas. Wild Bill Hickok was a deputy marshal at Fort Riley and a marshal at Hays and Abilene. Dodge City was another wild cowboy town, and both Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp worked as lawmen in the town. In one year alone, 8 million head of cattle from Texas boarded trains in Dodge City bound for the East, earning Dodge the nickname "Queen of the Cowtowns."

In part as a response to the violence perpetrated by cowboys, on February 19, 1881 Kansas became the first U.S. state to adopt a Constitutional amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages.

Geography

Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; and Colorado on the west. The state is divided into 105 counties with 628 cities, and is located equidistant from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous states is located in Smith County near Lebanon. The geodetic center of North America was located in Meades Ranch, Kansas, Osborne County until 1983. This spot was used until that date as the central reference point for all maps of North America produced by the U.S. government. The geographic center of Kansas is located in Barton County.

Geology

Main article: Geology of Kansas

Kansas is underlain by a sequence of horizontal to gently westward dipping sedimentary rocks. A sequence of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks underlie the eastern and southern part of the state. The western half of the state consists of Cretaceous through Tertiary sediments derived from the erosion of the uplifted Rocky Mountains to the west. The northeastern corner of the state was subjected to glaciation in the Pleistocene and is covered by glacial drift and loess.

Topography

The western two-thirds of the state, lying in the great central plain of the United States, has a generally flat or undulating surface, while the eastern third has many hills and forests. The land gradually rises from east to west; its altitude ranges from 684 ft (208 m) along the Verdigris River at Coffeyville in Montgomery County, to 4,039 ft (1,231 m) at Mount Sunflower, one half mile from the Colorado border, in Wallace County. It is a popular belief that Kansas is the flattest state in the nation, reinforced by a well-known 2003 study[13] stating that Kansas was indeed "flatter than a pancake".[14] This has since been called into question, with most scientists ranking Kansas somewhere between 20th and 30th flattest state, depending on measurement method. Its average elevation is 2,000 feet, higher than 36 states.[15]

Rivers

Spring River, Kansas

The Missouri River forms nearly 75 mi (121 km) of the state's northeastern boundary. The Kansas River (locally known as the Kaw), formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican rivers at appropriately-named Junction City, joins the Missouri at Kansas City, after a course of 170 mi (270 km) across the northeastern part of the state. The Arkansas River (pronunciation varies), rising in Colorado, flows with a bending course for nearly 500 mi (800 km) across the western and southern parts of the state. It forms, with its tributaries (the Little Arkansas, Ninnescah, Walnut, Cow Creek, Cimarron, Verdigris, and the Neosho), the southern drainage system of the state. Other important rivers are the Saline and Solomon Rivers, tributaries of the Smoky Hill River; the Big Blue, Delaware, and Wakarusa, which flow into the Kansas River; and the Marais des Cygnes, a tributary of the Missouri River. Spring River is located between Riverton (Fuglies), Kansas and Baxter Springs, Kansas.

National parks and historic sites

Areas under the protection of the National Park Service include:[16]

Climate

Clouds in northeastern Kansas

Kansas contains three climatic types, according to the Köppen climate classification: it has humid continental, semi-arid steppe, and humid subtropical. The eastern two-thirds of the state (especially the northeastern portion) has a humid continental climate, with cool to cold winters and hot, often humid summers. Most of the precipitation falls in the summer and spring. The western third of the state – from about the U.S. Route 281 corridor westward – has a semiarid steppe climate. Summers are hot, often very hot, and generally less humid. Winters are highly changeable between warm and very cold. The western region receives an average of about 16 inches (410 mm) of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in the winter can warm western Kansas all the way into the 80 °F (27 °C) range. The far south-central and southeastern reaches of the state have a humid subtropical climate with hot, humid summers, milder winters and more precipitation than the rest of the state. Although not strictly falling in all of the zones, some features of all three climates can be found in most of the state, with droughts and changeable weather between dry and humid not uncommon, and both warm and cold spells in the winter.

Precipitation ranges from about 47 inches (1200 mm) annually in the southeast of the state, to about 16 inches (400 mm) in the southwest. Snowfall ranges from around 5 inches (130 mm) in the fringes of the south, to 35 inches (900 mm) in the far northwest. Frost-free days range from more than 200 days in the south, to 130 days in the northwest. Thus, Kansas is the 9th or 10th sunniest state in the country, depending on the source. Western Kansas is as sunny as California and Arizona.

Kansas is prone to severe weather, especially in the spring and early summer. In spite of the frequent sunshine throughout much of the state, due to its location at a climatic boundary prone to multiple air masses the state is vulnerable to strong and severe thunderstorms . Many of these storms become Supercell thunderstorms. These can spawn tornadoes, often of EF3 strength or higher. According to statistics from the National Climatic Data Center, Kansas has reported more tornadoes (for the period January 1, 1950 through October 31, 2006) than any state except for Texas – marginally even more than Oklahoma. It has also – along with Alabama – reported more F5 or EF5 tornadoes than any other state. These are the most powerful of all tornadoes. Kansas averages over 50 tornadoes annually.[17] Severe thunderstorms sometimes drop very large Hail over Kansas as well as bringing flash flooding and damaging straight line winds.

According to NOAA, the all-time highest temperature recorded in Kansas is 121 °F (49.4 °C) on July 24, 1936, near Alton, and the all-time low is −40 °F (−40 °C) on February 13, 1905, near Lebanon.

Kansas's record high of 121 °F (49.4 °C) ties with North Dakota for the fifth-highest record high in an American state, behind California (134 °F/56.7 °C), Arizona (128 °F/53.3 °C), Nevada (125 °F/51.7 °C), and New Mexico (122 °F/50 °C).

Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Kansas Cities
City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Concordia 36/17 43/22 54/31 64/41 74/52 85/62 91/67 88/66 80/56 68/44 51/30 40/21
Dodge City 41/19 48/24 57/31 67/41 76/52 87/62 93/67 91/66 82/56 70/44 55/30 44/22
Goodland 39/16 45/20 53/26 63/35 72/46 84/56 89/61 87/60 78/50 66/38 50/25 41/18
Topeka 37/17 44/23 55/33 66/43 75/53 84/63 89/68 88/65 80/56 69/44 53/32 41/22
Wichita 40/20 47/25 57/34 67/44 76/54 87/64 93/69 92/68 82/59 70/47 55/34 43/24
[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Demographics

Historical populations
Census Pop. %±
1860 107,206
—
1870 364,399 239.9%
1880 996,096 173.4%
1890 1,428,108 43.4%
1900 1,470,495 3.0%
1910 1,690,949 15.0%
1920 1,769,257 4.6%
1930 1,880,999 6.3%
1940 1,801,028 −4.3%
1950 1,905,299 5.8%
1960 2,178,611 14.3%
1970 2,246,578 3.1%
1980 2,363,679 5.2%
1990 2,477,574 4.8%
2000 2,688,418 8.5%
2010 2,853,116 6.1%
Source: 1910–2010[18]

The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Kansas was 2,871,238 on July 1, 2011, a 0.6% increase since the 2010 United States Census.[2]

As of 2007, Kansas had an estimated population of 2,775,997, an increase of 20,180, or 0.7%, from the prior year and an increase of 87,579, or 3.3%, since the year 2000.[19] This includes a natural increase since the last census of 93,899 people (that is 246,484 births minus 152,585 deaths) and a decrease due to net migration of 20,742 people out of the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 44,847 people, and migration within the country produced a net loss of 65,589 people.[20] The population density of the state is 52.9 people per square mile.[21] The center of population of Kansas is located in Chase County, at 38°27′N 96°32′W / 38.45°N 96.533°W / 38.45; -96.533, approximately three miles north of the community of Strong City.[22]

Demographics of Kansas (csv)
By race White Black AIAN* Asian NHPI*
2000 (total population) 91.19% 6.41% 1.78% 2.10% 0.12%
2000 (Hispanic only) 6.63% 0.23% 0.19% 0.05% 0.02%
2005 (total population) 90.87% 6.60% 1.67% 2.45% 0.12%
2005 (Hispanic only) 7.89% 0.28% 0.20% 0.06% 0.02%
Growth 2000–05 (total population) 1.74% 5.04% -4.13% 19.15% 3.43%
Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only) 0.19% 4.28% -5.09% 19.19% 2.86%
Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only) 21.51% 25.88% 3.71% 17.69% 5.86%
* AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
Population pyramid

As of 2004, the population included 149,800 foreign-born (5.5% of the state population). The ten largest reported ancestry groups, which account for over 85% of the population, in the state are: German (33.75%), Irish (14.4%), English (14.1%), American (7.5%), French (4.4%), Scottish (4.2%), Dutch (2.5%), Swedish (2.4%), Italian (1.8%), and Polish (1.5%).[23] People of German ancestry are especially strong in the northwest, while those of English ancestry and descendants of white Americans from other states are especially strong in the southeast. Mexicans are present in the southwest and make up nearly half the population in certain counties. Many African Americans in Kansas are descended from the Exodusters, newly freed blacks who fled the South for land in Kansas following the Civil War.

Religion

The 2008 Pew Religious Landscape Survey showed the religious makeup of Kansas was as follows:

As of the year 2000, the RCMS[24] reported that the three largest denominational groups in Kansas are Mainline Protestant, Evangelical Protestant, and Catholic. The Catholic Church has the highest number of adherents in Kansas (at 405,844), followed by the United Methodist Church with 206,187 members reported and the Southern Baptist Convention, reporting 101,696 adherents.

Though small, the Kansas Baha'i community has the distinction of being the second in the western hemisphere, founded in 1897 in Enterprise, Kansas.[25]

Urban and rural populations

In 2012 it was reported there has been a growth in Mormons and Catholics.[26]

Rural flight

Main article: Rural flight

Kansas is one of the slowest-growing states in the nation. Known as a rural flight, the last few decades have been marked by a migratory pattern out of the countryside into cities.

Out of all the cities in these Midwestern states, 89% have fewer than 3,000 people, and hundreds of those have fewer than 1,000. In Kansas alone, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns and dwindling communities,[27] according to one Kansas historian, Daniel C. Fitzgerald.

At the same time, some of the communities in Johnson County (metropolitan Kansas City) are among the fastest-growing in the country.

Economy

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that the total GDP in 2008 was $122.7 billion, making it the United States's 32nd highest state by GDP.[28] Per capita personal income in 2008 was $35,013. As of January 2010, the states unemployment rate is 6.4%.[29]

The agricultural outputs of the state are cattle, sheep, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, hogs, corn, and salt. Eastern Kansas is part of the Grain Belt, an area of major grain production in the central United States. The industrial outputs are transportation equipment, commercial and private aircraft, food processing, publishing, chemical products, machinery, apparel, petroleum and mining.

Largest Employers (as of 2007)[30]
Rank Business Employees Location Industry
No. 1 Sprint Nextel 12,000 Overland Park Telecommunications
No. 2 Cessna 11,300 Wichita Aviation
No. 3 Spirit AeroSystems 10,900 Wichita Aviation
No. 4 Hawker Beechcraft 6,767 Wichita Aviation
No. 5 Embarq 3,800 Overland Park Telecommunications
No. 6 Black & Veatch 3,800 Overland Park Engineering
No. 7 Boeing 3,005 Wichita Aviation
No. 8 Farmers Insurance 3,000 Olathe Insurance
No. 9 YRC Worldwide 2,600 Overland Park Trucking
No. 10 Garmin 2,500 Olathe GPS Technology
No. 11 Learjet 2,250 Wichita Aviation
No. 12 Koch Industries 2,000 Wichita Chemicals/Materials
No. 13 Schwan Food Company 2,000 Salina Food
No. 14 Collective Brands 1,700 Topeka Apparel
No. 15 Blue Cross and Blue Shield 1,603 Topeka Insurance

Kansas ranks 8th in U.S. oil production. Production has experienced a steady, natural decline as it becomes increasingly difficult to extract oil over time. Since oil prices bottomed in 1999, oil production in Kansas has remained fairly constant, with an average monthly rate of about 2.8 million barrels (450,000 m3) in 2004. The recent higher prices have made carbon dioxide sequestration and other oil recovery techniques more economical.

Kansas ranks 8th in U.S. natural gas production. Production has steadily declined since the mid-1990s with the gradual depletion of the Hugoton Natural Gas Field—the state's largest field which extends into Oklahoma and Texas. In 2004, slower declines in the Hugoton gas fields and increased coalbed methane production contributed to a smaller overall decline. Average monthly production was over 32 billion cubic feet (0.9 km³).

The Kansas economy is also heavily influenced by the aerospace industry. Several large aircraft corporations have manufacturing facilities in Wichita and Kansas City, including Spirit AeroSystems, Boeing, Cessna, Learjet, and Hawker Beechcraft (formerly Raytheon).

Major company headquarters in Kansas include the Sprint Nextel Corporation (with world headquarters in Overland Park), Embarq (with national headquarters in Overland Park), YRC Worldwide (Overland Park), Garmin (Olathe), Payless Shoes (national headquarters and major distribution facilities in Topeka), and Koch Industries (with national headquarters in Wichita).

Taxes

Kansas has three income brackets for income tax calculation, ranging from 3.5% to 6.45%. The state sales tax in Kansas is 6.3%. Various cities and counties in Kansas have an additional local sales tax. Except during the 2001 recession (March–November 2001) when monthly sales tax collections were flat, collections have trended higher as the economy has grown and two rate increases have been enacted. Total sales tax collections for 2003 amounted to $1.63 billion, compared to $805.3 million in 1990.

Revenue shortfalls resulting from lower than expected tax collections and slower growth in personal income following a 1998 permanent tax reduction has contributed to the substantial growth in the state's debt level as bonded debt increased from $1.16 billion in 1998 to $3.83 billion in 2006. Some increase in debt was expected as the state continues with its 10-year Comprehensive Transportation Program enacted in 1999. As of June 2004, Moody's Investors Service ranked the state 14th for net tax-supported debt per capita. As a percentage of personal income, it was at 3.8%—above the median value of 2.5% for all rated states and having risen from a value of less than 1% in 1992. The state has a statutory requirement to maintain cash reserves of at least 7.5% of expenses at the end of each fiscal year, however, lawmakers can vote to override the rule, and did so during the most recent budget agreement.

Transportation

The current state license plate design, introduced in April 2007.
Interstate 35 as it enters Kansas in Rosedale.

Kansas is served by two Interstate highways with one beltway, two spur routes, and three bypasses, with over a total of 874 miles (1,407 km) in all. The first section of Interstate in the nation was opened on I-70 just west of Topeka on November 14, 1956. I-70 is a major east/west route connecting to St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, in the east and Denver, Colorado, in the west. Cities along this route (from east to west) include Kansas City, Lawrence, Topeka, Junction City, Salina, Hays, and Colby. I-35 is a major north/south route connecting to Des Moines, Iowa, in the north and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in the south. Cities along this route (from north to south) include Kansas City (and suburbs), Ottawa, Emporia, El Dorado, and Wichita.

Spur routes serve as connections between the two major routes. I-135, a north/south route, connects I-70 at Salina to I-35 at Wichita. I-335, a northeast/southwest route, connects I-70 at Topeka to I-35 at Emporia. I-335 and portions of I-35 and I-70 make up the Kansas Turnpike. Bypasses include I-470 around Topeka and I-235 around Wichita. I-435 is a beltway around the Kansas City Metropolitan Area while I-635 bypasses through Kansas City, Kansas.

US Route 69 runs north and south, from Minnesota to Texas. The highway passes through the eastern section of Kansas, from the Kansas City area, through Louisburg, Fort Scott, Frontenac, Pittsburg, and Baxter Springs before entering Oklahoma.

Map of the Kansas road system.

Kansas also has the second largest state highway system in the country after California. This is because of the high number of counties and county seats (105) and the intertwining of them all.

In January 2004, the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) announced the new Kansas 511 traveler information service.[31] By dialing 511, callers will get access to information about road conditions, construction, closures, detours and weather conditions for the state highway system. Weather and road condition information is updated every 15 minutes.

The state's only major commercial (Class C) airport is Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, located along US-54 on the western edge of the city. Manhattan Regional Airport in Manhattan offers daily flights to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, making it the second-largest commercial airport in the state.[32] Most air travelers in northeastern Kansas fly out of Kansas City International Airport, located in Platte County, Missouri. For those in the far western part of the state, Denver International Airport is a popular option. Connecting flights are also available from smaller Kansas airports in Dodge City, Garden City, Great Bend, Hays, Hutchinson, and Salina. Forbes Field in Topeka sustained commercial flights on Allegiant Air for short period of time until that service was terminated in 2007.

Law and government

State and local politics

Kathleen Sebelius accepting her nomination by President Barack Obama as Secretary of Health and Human Services.
See also: Government of Kansas and Political party strength in Kansas

Executive branch: The executive branch consists of six elected officers. The Governor and Lt Governor are elected on the same slate, the Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and State Insurance Commissioner are elected separately. The six top executive offices of Kansas are all Republican. Governor Sam Brownback and Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer were elected in 2010 on the same ticket to a maximum of two consecutive four-year terms. Also elected in 2010 were the Attorney General Derek Schmidt of Independence; the Secretary of State Kris Kobach, of Piper; the State Treasurer Ron Estes, of Wichita; and the Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger, of Topeka.

Legislative branch: The bicameral Kansas Legislature consists of the Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 members serving two-year terms, and the Kansas Senate, with 40 members serving four-year terms. Currently, 32 of the 40 Senators are Republican and 92 of the 125 Representatives are Republican.

Judicial branch: The Judicial branch of the state government is headed by the Kansas Supreme Court. The court has seven judges. A vacancy is filled by the Governor picking one of three nominees selected by a 9-member judicial selection board. The board consists of five Kansas lawyers elected by other Kansas lawyers and four members selected by the Governor.

State symbols

Kansas has a reputation as a progressive state with many firsts in legislative initiatives—it was the first state to institute a system of workers' compensation (1910) and to regulate the securities industry (1911). Kansas also permitted women's suffrage in 1912, almost a decade before the federal constitution was amended to require it. Suffrage in all states would not be guaranteed until ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The council-manager government was adopted by many larger Kansas cities in the years following World War I while many American cities were being run by political machines or organized crime, notably the Pendergast Machine in neighboring Kansas City, Missouri. Kansas was also at the center of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, a 1954 Supreme Court decision that banned racially segregated schools throughout the U.S.

Kansas was one of the few states in which Franklin D. Roosevelt had limited political support, winning Kansas only twice in his four campaigns, although he won the state over Kansas governor Alfred M. Landon during the landslide of 1936. The state backed Republicans Wendell Willkie and Thomas E. Dewey in 1940 and 1944, respectively. Kansas also supported Dewey in 1948 despite the presence of incumbent president Harry S. Truman, who hailed from Independence, Missouri, approximately 15 miles east of the Kansas-Missouri state line. Since FDR carried Kansas in 1932 and 1936, only one Democrat has won Kansas' electoral votes, Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Over the past four decades, Kansas has remained more socially conservative than many parts of the nation. The 1990s brought new restrictions on abortion, the defeat of prominent Democrats, including Dan Glickman, and the Kansas State Board of Education's 1999 decision to eliminate evolution from the state teaching standards, a decision that was later reversed.[33] In 2005, voters accepted a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. The next year, the state passed a law setting a minimum age for marriage at 15 years.[34] In 2008, Governor Sebelius vetoed permits for the construction of new coal-fired energy plants in Kansas, saying: "We know that greenhouse gases contribute to climate change. As an agricultural state, Kansas is particularly vulnerable. Therefore, reducing pollutants benefits our state not only in the short term – but also for generations of Kansans to come."[35] However, shortly after Mark Parkinson became governor in 2009 upon Sebelius's resignation, Parkinson announced a compromise plan to allow construction of a coal-fired plant.

In 2010, Sam Brownback was elected governor with 63 percent of the state vote. He was sworn in as governor in 2011, Kansas' first Republican governor in eight years. Brownback campaigned on a five-point Road Map for Kansas, which consisted of five quantifiable objectives:

  1. Increase in net personal income.
  2. Increase in private sector employment.
  3. Increase in the percentage of 4th graders reading at grade level.
  4. Increase in the percentage of high school graduates who are college or career ready.
  5. Decrease in the percentage of Kansas’ children who live in poverty.

For the 2012 legislative session, Brownback has identified five major objectives:

  1. Major reform of the taxation system as a way to reduce Kansas' unemployment.
  2. Reduction in the ever-increasing amounts paid for Medicaid.
  3. Revision of the school finance formula, which has become outdated and ineffective.
  4. Structural government reform to reduce the cost of government to keep the budget in balance.
  5. Elimination of over $8 billion in unfunded liabilities of the state employee pension program (KPERS), which is one of the most financial unstable in the nation.

Brownback had established himself as a very conservative member of the U.S. Senate in years prior, but since becoming governor has made several controversial decisions. In May 2011, much to the opposition of art leaders and enthusiasts in the state, Brownback eliminated the Kansas Arts Commission, making Kansas the first state without an arts agency.[36] In July 2011, Brownback announced plans to close the Lawrence branch of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services as a cost-saving measure. Hundreds rallied against the decision.[37] Lawrence City Commission later voted to provide the funding needed to keep the branch open.[38]

Federal politics

See also: U.S. Congressional Delegations from Kansas

The state's current delegation to the Congress of the United States includes Republican Senators Pat Roberts of Dodge City and Jerry Moran of Hays; and Republican Representatives Tim Huelskamp of Fowler (District 1), Lynn Jenkins of Topeka (District 2), Kevin Yoder of Overland Park (District 3), and Mike Pompeo of Wichita (District 4).

Historically, Kansas has been strongly Republican, dating from the Antebellum age when the Republican Party was created out of the movement opposing the extension of slavery into Kansas Territory. Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since the 1932 election, when Franklin D. Roosevelt won his first term as President in the wake of the Great Depression. This is the longest Senate losing streak for either party in a single state. Senator Sam Brownback was a candidate for the Republican party nomination for President in 2008. Brownback was not a candidate for re-election to a third full term in 2010, but he was elected Governor in that year's general election. Moran defeated Tiahrt for the Republican nomination for Brownback's seat in the August 2010 primary, then won a landslide general election victory over Democrat Lisa Johnston.

The only non-Republican presidential candidates Kansas has given its electoral vote to are Populist James Weaver and Democrats Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt (twice), and Lyndon Johnson. In 2004, George W. Bush won the state's six electoral votes by an overwhelming margin of 25 percentage points with 62% of the vote. The only two counties to support Democrat John Kerry in that election were Wyandotte, which contains Kansas City, and Douglas, home to the University of Kansas, located in Lawrence. The 2008 election brought similar results as John McCain won the state with 57% of the votes. Douglas, Wyandotte, and Crawford County were the only counties in support of President Barack Obama.[39]

In 1996, when Kansas Republican Senator Bob Dole failed in his bid to become President on the party's national ticket, the state became the second in the nation (following Minnesota and preceding Arizona by identical twelve-year intervals) to produce two losing major-party presidential candidates, and the first in which the said candidates ran on the GOP ticket (following Alfred Landon's loss to FDR in 1936).

State law

See also: Alcohol laws of Kansas

The legal drinking age in Kansas is 21. In lieu of the state retail sales tax, a 10% Liquor Drink Tax is collected for liquor consumed on the licensed premises and an 8% Liquor Enforcement Tax is collected on retail purchases. Although the sale of cereal malt beverage (also known as 3.2 beer) was legalized in 1937, the first post-Prohibition legalization of alcoholic liquor did not occur until the state's constitution was amended in 1948. The following year the Legislature enacted the Liquor Control Act which created a system of regulating, licensing, and taxing, and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) was created to enforce the act. The power to regulate cereal malt beverage remains with the cities and counties. Liquor-by-the-drink did not become legal until passage of an amendment to the state's constitution in 1986 and additional legislation the following year. As of November 2006, Kansas still has 29 dry counties and only 17 counties have passed liquor-by-the-drink with no food sales requirement.[40] Today there are more than 2600 liquor and 4000 cereal malt beverage licensees in the state.[41]

Important cities and towns

See also: List of cities in Kansas
Cities with population of at least 15,000
City Population* Growth rate** Metro area
1 Wichita 382,368 11.1% Wichita
2 Overland Park 173,372 16.3% Kansas City, MO-KS
3 Kansas City 145,786 -0.7% Kansas City
4 Topeka 127,473 4.2% Topeka
5 Olathe 125,872 35.4% Kansas City
6 Lawrence 87,643 9.4% Lawrence
7 Shawnee 62,209 29.6% Kansas City
8 Manhattan 52,281 16.6% Manhattan
9 Lenexa 48,190 19.8% Kansas City
10 Salina 47,707 4.4% ‡
11 Hutchinson 42,080 3.2% ‡
12 Leavenworth 35,251 -0.5% Kansas City
13 Leawood 31,867 15.2% Kansas City
14 Dodge City 27,340 8.6% ‡
15 Garden City 26,658 -6.3% ‡
16 Emporia 24,916 -6.9% ‡
17 Junction City 23,353 13.0% Manhattan
18 Derby 22,158 24.4% Wichita
19 Prairie Village 21,447 -2.8% Kansas City
20 Liberal 20,525 4.4% ‡
21 Hays 20,510 2.5% ‡
22 Pittsburg 20,233 5.1% ‡
23 Newton 19,132 11.3% Wichita
24 Gardner 19,123 103.5% Kansas City
25 Great Bend 15,995 4.2% ‡
*2010 Census[42]
**Growth rate 2000–2010
‡Defined as a micropolitan area

Kansas has 627 incorporated cities. By state statute, cities are divided into three classes as determined by the population obtained "by any census of enumeration." A city of the third class has a population of less than 5,000, but cities reaching a population of more than 2,000 may be certified as a city of the second class. The second class is limited to cities with a population of less than 25,000, and upon reaching a population of more than 15,000, they may be certified as a city of the first class. First and second class cities are independent of any township and are not included within the township's territory.

Northeast Kansas

The northeastern portion of the state, extending from the Eastern border to Junction City and from the Nebraska border to south of Johnson County is home to more than 1.5 million people in the Kansas City (Kansas portion), Manhattan, Lawrence,and Topeka metropolitan areas. Overland Park, a young city incorporated in 1960, has the largest population and the largest land area in the county. It is home to Johnson County Community College, the state's largest community college, and the corporate campus of Sprint Nextel, the largest private employer in the metro area. In 2006 the city was ranked as the 6th best place to live in America; the neighboring city of Olathe was 13th.[43] Olathe is the county seat and home to Johnson County Executive Airport. The cities of Olathe, Shawnee, and Gardner have some of the state's fastest growing populations. The cities of Overland Park, Lenexa, Olathe, and Gardner are also notable because they lie along the former route of the Santa Fe Trail. Among cities with at least one thousand residents, Mission Hills has the highest median income in the state.

Several institutions of higher education are located in Northeast Kansas including Baker University (the oldest university in the state, founded in 1858 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church) in Baldwin City, Benedictine College (sponsored by St. Benedict's Abbey and Mount St. Scholastica Monastery and formed from the merger of St. Benedict's College (1858) and Mount St. Scholastica College (1923)) in Atchison, MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Ottawa University in Ottawa and Overland Park, Kansas City Kansas Community College and KU Medical Center in Kansas City, and KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Less than an hour's drive to the west, Lawrence is home to the University of Kansas, the largest public university in the state, and Haskell Indian Nations University.

To the north, Kansas City, Kansas, with the second largest land area in the state, contains a number of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Its attractions include the Kansas Speedway, Kansas City T-Bones and The Legends at Village West retail and entertainment center. Further up the Missouri River, the city of Lansing is the home of the state's first maximum-security prison. Historic Leavenworth, founded in 1854, was the first incorporated city in Kansas. North of the city, Fort Leavenworth is the oldest active Army post west of the Mississippi River. The city of Atchison was an early commercial center in the state and is well known as the birthplace of Amelia Earhart.

To the west, nearly a quarter million people reside in the Topeka metropolitan area. Topeka is the state capital and home to Washburn University. Built at a Kansas River crossing along the old Oregon Trail, this historic city has several nationally registered historic places. Further westward along Interstate 70 and the Kansas River is Junction City with its historic limestone and brick buildings and nearby Fort Riley, well known as the home to the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division, also known as the "Big Red One". A short distance away, the city of Manhattan is home to Kansas State University, the second largest public university in the state and the nation's oldest land-grant university, dating back to 1863. South of the campus, Aggieville dates back to 1889 and is the state's oldest shopping district of its kind.

Wichita

Wichita, Kansas, the largest city in the state of Kansas

In south-central Kansas, the Wichita metropolitan area is home to over 600,000 people. Wichita is the largest city in the state in terms of both land area and population. 'The Air Capital' is a major manufacturing center for the aircraft industry and the home of Wichita State University. With a number of nationally registered historic places, museums, and other entertainment destinations, it has a desire to become a cultural mecca in the Midwest. Wichita's population growth has grown by double digits and the surrounding suburbs are among the fastest growing cities in the state. The population of Goddard has grown by more than 11% per year since 2000.[44] Other fast-growing cities include Andover, Maize, Park City, Derby, and Haysville.

Up river (the Arkansas River) from Wichita is the city of Hutchinson. The city was built on one of the world's largest salt deposits, and it has the world's largest and longest wheat elevator. It is also the home of Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Prairie Dunes Country Club and the Kansas State Fair. North of Wichita along Interstate 135 is the city of Newton, the former western terminal of the Santa Fe Railroad and trailhead for the famed Chisholm Trail. To the southeast of Wichita are the cities of Winfield and Arkansas City with historic architecture and the Cherokee Strip Museum (in Ark City). The city of Udall was the site of the deadliest tornado in Kansas on May 25, 1955; it killed 80 people in and near the city.[45] To the southwest of Wichita is Freeport, the state's smallest incorporated city (population 5).

Around the state

Kansas Population Density Map

Located midway between Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita in the heart of the Bluestem Region of the Flint Hills, the city of Emporia has several nationally registered historic places and is the home of Emporia State University, well known for its Teachers College. It was also the home of newspaper man William Allen White.

Southeast Kansas

Southeast Kansas has a unique history with a number of nationally registered historic places in this coal-mining region. Located in Crawford County (dubbed the Fried Chicken Capital of Kansas), Pittsburg is the largest city in the region and the home of Pittsburg State University. The neighboring city of Frontenac in 1888 was the site of the worst mine disaster in the state in which an underground explosion killed 47 miners. "Big Brutus" is located a mile and a half outside the city of West Mineral. Along with the restored fort, historic Fort Scott has a national cemetery designated by President Lincoln in 1862.

Central and North-Central Kansas

Salina is the largest city in central and north-central Kansas. South of Salina is the small city of Lindsborg with its numerous Dala horses. Much of the architecture and decor of this town has a distinctly Swedish style. To the east along Interstate 70, the historic city of Abilene was formerly a trailhead for the Chisholm Trail and was the boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. To the west is Lucas, the Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas.

Northwest Kansas

Kansas City, Kansas

Westward along the Interstate, the city of Russell, traditionally the beginning of sparsely-populated northwest Kansas, is the home of former U.S. Senator Bob Dole and the boyhood home of U.S. Senator Arlen Specter. The city of Hays is home to Fort Hays State University and the Sternberg Museum of Natural History, and is the largest city in the northwest with a population of around 20,000. Two other landmarks are located in smaller towns in Ellis County: the "Cathedral of the Plains" is located 10 miles (16 km) east of Hays in Victoria, and the boyhood home of Walter Chrysler is 15 miles (24 km) west of Hays in Ellis. West of Hays, population drops dramatically, even in areas along I-70, and only two towns containing populations of more than 4,000: Colby and Goodland, which are located 35 miles apart along I-70.

Southwest Kansas

Dodge City, famously known for the cattle drive days of the late 19th century, was built along the old Santa Fe Trail route. The city of Liberal is located along the southern Santa Fe Trail route. The first wind farm in the state was built east of Montezuma. Garden City has the Lee Richardson Zoo.

Education

Main article: Education in Kansas

Education in Kansas is governed at the primary and secondary school level by the Kansas State Board of Education. The state's public colleges and universities are supervised by the Kansas Board of Regents.

Twice since 1999 the Board of Education has approved changes in the state science curriculum standards that encouraged the teaching of intelligent design. Both times, the standards were reversed after changes in the composition of the board in the next election.

Sports

Professional

Club Sport League City
Sporting Kansas City Soccer Major League Soccer Kansas City
Kansas City T-Bones Baseball American Association Kansas City
Kansas Magic Indoor soccer Professional Arena Soccer League Overland Park
Kansas Koyotes Indoor Football American Professional Football League Topeka
Topeka Golden Giants Baseball National Baseball Congress Topeka
Kansas City Storm Football Independent Women's Football Kansas City
Topeka Roadrunners Ice hockey North American Hockey League Topeka
Wichita Thunder Ice hockey Central Hockey League Wichita
Wichita Wild Indoor Football Indoor Football League Park City
Wichita Wings Indoor Soccer Major Indoor Soccer League Park City
Wichita Wingnuts Baseball American Association Wichita

Sporting Kansas City, who have played their home games at CommunityAmerica Ballpark since 2008, are the first top-tier professional sports league and first Major League Soccer team to be located within Kansas. From the start of the 2011 season, the team will move to Livestrong Sporting Park, a brand new $165m soccer specific stadium.

Historically, many Kansans have supported the major league sports teams of Kansas City, Missouri, including the Kansas City Royals (MLB), the Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) and the Kansas City Brigade (AFL) – in part because the home stadiums for these teams are just miles from the Kansas border. The Chiefs and the Royals play at the Truman Sports Complex, located about 10 miles (16 km) from the Kansas-Missouri state line. The Kansas City Brigade play in the newly opened Sprint Center, which is even closer to the state line. From 1973 to 1997 the flagship radio station for the Royals was WIBW in Topeka, Kansas.[46]

Western Kansans sometimes also support the major league teams from Denver, while those who live close to the Oklahoma state line may support the Dallas Cowboys. All Chiefs games are televised throughout Kansas by television stations in Topeka and Wichita.

Two major auto racing facilities are located in Kansas. The Kansas Speedway located in Kansas City hosts races of the NASCAR, IRL, and ARCA circuits. Also, the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) holds drag racing events at Heartland Park Topeka. The Sports Car Club of America has its national headquarters in Topeka.

History

The history of professional sports in Kansas probably dates from the establishment of the minor league baseball Topeka Capitals and Leavenworth Soldiers in 1886 in the Western League.[47][48] The African-American Bud Fowler played on the Topeka team that season, one year before the "color line" descended in professional baseball.[48]

In 1887, the Western League was dominated by a reorganized Topeka team called the Golden Giants – a high-priced collection of major leaguer players, including Bug Holliday, Jim Conway, Dan Stearns, Perry Werden and Jimmy Macullar, which won the league by 15½ games.[48] On April 10, 1887, the Golden Giants also won an exhibition game from the defending World Series champions, the St. Louis Browns (the present-day Cardinals), by a score of 12–9. However, Topeka was unable to support the team, and it disbanded after one year.

College

See List of college athletic programs in Kansas

The governing body for intercollegiate sports in the United States, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), was headquartered in the Kansas City suburb of Mission from 1973 until moving to Indianapolis in 1999.

NCAA Division I schools

While there are no franchises of the four major professional sports within the state, many Kansans are fans of the state's major college sports teams, especially the Jayhawks of the University of Kansas, commonly referred to as "KU", and the Wildcats of Kansas State University, known as "KSU" or "K-State". Wichita State University, which also fields teams (called the Shockers) in Division I of the NCAA, is best known for its baseball program, winning the College World Series in 1989.

Both KU and K-State have tradition-rich programs in men's basketball. The Jayhawks are a perennial national power, ranking second in all-time victories among NCAA programs, behind Kentucky. In 2008, the Jayhawks won their fifth national crown (third NCAA tournament title). K-State also had a long stretch of success on the hardwood, lasting from the 1940s to the 1980s. After a 12-year absence, the Wildcats returned to the NCAA tournament in 2008 and made it into the Elite Eight in 2010. KU is fifth all-time with 13 Final Four appearances, while K-State is tied for 17th with four appearances. Wichita State has also made one Final Four appearance.

However, success on the gridiron has been less frequent for both KSU and KU. When the two teams met in 1987, KU's record was 1–7 and K-State's was 0–8. Fittingly, the Governor's Cup that year, dubbed the "Toilet Bowl" by the media, ended in a 17–17 tie when the Jayhawks blocked a last-second K-State field goal attempt. However, there have been recent breakthroughs for both schools. KU won the Orange Bowl for the first time in three tries in 2008, capping a 12–1 season, the best in school history. And when Bill Snyder arrived to coach at KSU in 1989, he turned the Wildcats from one of the worst college football programs in the nation into a national force for most of the 1990s and early 2000s. The team won the Fiesta Bowl in 1997, achieved an undefeated (11–0) regular season and No. 1 ranking in 1998, and took the Big 12 Conference championship in 2003.

Smaller colleges

Notable success has also been achieved by the state's smaller schools in football. Pittsburg State University, a NCAA Division II participant, has claimed four national titles in football, two in the NAIA and most recently the 2011 NCAA Division II national title. Pittsburg State became the winningest NCAA Division II football program in 1995. PSU passed Hillsdale College at the top of the all-time victories list in the 1995 season on its march to the national runner-up finish. The Gorillas, in 96 seasons of intercollegiate competition, have accumulated 579 victories – posting a 579–301–48 overall mark.

Washburn University, in Topeka, won the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship in 1987. The Fort Hays State University men won the 1996 NCAA Division II title with a 34–0 record, and the Washburn women won the 2005 NCAA Division II crown. St. Benedict's College (now Benedictine College), in Atchison, won the 1954 and 1967 Men's NAIA Basketball Championships.

The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference has its roots as one of the oldest college sport conferences in existence and participates in the NAIA and all ten member schools are in the state of Kansas. Other smaller school conference that have some members in Kansas are the Heartland Conference, the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference, the Midwest Christian College Conference, and the Heart of America Athletic Conference. Many junior colleges also have active athletic programs.

High school

The Kansas State High School Activities Association (KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees interscholastic competition in the state of Kansas at the high school level. It oversees both athletic and non-athletic competition, and sponsors championships in several sports and activities.

Notable residents

Main article: List of people from Kansas

Landmarks

Main article: List of Kansas landmarks
See also: National Register of Historic Places listings in Kansas

See also

Portal icon Kansas portal

References

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  44. ^ "Population Estimates". U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division. http://www.census.gov/popest/estimates.php.  Annual estimates of the population through 2006-07-01. Released 2007-06-28.
  45. ^ "The Blackwell Tornado of 25 May 1955". NWS Norman, Oklahoma. June 13, 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-10-08. http://web.archive.org/web/20061008140031/http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/wxevents/19550525/. Retrieved 2007-01-28. 
  46. ^ "Making Airwaves Through History". Findarticles.com. 2002-12-02. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4179/is_20021202/ai_n11792020/pg_3/. Retrieved 2010-07-31. 
  47. ^ Evans, Harold (1940). "Baseball in Kansas, 1867–1940". Kansas Historical Quarterly. http://www.kancoll.org/khq/1940/40_2_evans.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-18. 
  48. ^ a b c Madden, W.C.; Stewart, Patrick (2002). The Western League: A Baseball History, 1885 through 1999. ISBN 0-7864-1003-5. 

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Preceded by
Oregon		 List of U.S. states by date of statehood
Admitted on January 29, 1861 (34th)		 Succeeded by
West Virginia
 Wyoming  Nebraska  Iowa
 Colorado  Missouri
   Kansas: Outline • Index    
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Coordinates: 38°30′N 98°00′W / 38.5°N 98°W / 38.5; -98


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Translations:

Kansas

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - Kansas

Français (French)
n. - Kansas

Deutsch (German)
n. - Kansas

Português (Portuguese)
n. - Kansas

Español (Spanish)
n. - Kansas

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
堪萨斯州

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 堪薩斯州

한국어 (Korean)
캔자스 (미국 중부의 주; 주도 Topeka; (약) Kan., Kans.; 속칭 Sunflower State, Jayhawker)

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮קנזס‬

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 1994-2012 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more
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Columbia Encyclopedia The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more
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Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Geography The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more
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