I | INTRODUCTION |
Kansas, state in the western part of the central
United States. Kansas is usually designated as a Midwestern state. However, it
is commonly referred to as a plains state, and sections are often considered
part of the Southwest or West. Such variations in terminology reflect the fact
that Kansas does not belong wholly to one region and is an area of diversified
relief, climate, economy, and patterns of settlement. The landscape of the east,
with its hills, woodlands, grain-and-livestock farms, and comparatively large
cities, contrasts sharply with the dry treeless plains and vast wheat farms of
the sparsely populated west. In addition, the High Plains of the west include
areas of canyon country and sand dunes reminiscent of New Mexico and other parts
of the Southwest, while the rolling grasslands of the Flint and Smoky hills, in
central Kansas, resemble the rangelands of the West. Kansas entered the Union on
January 29, 1861, as the 34th state. Topeka is the capital of Kansas. Wichita is
the largest city.
Kansas, which has been called the Wheat State
and the Breadbasket of the Nation, leads all other states in production of
wheat. However, wheat dominates neither the landscape nor the economy of Kansas.
The sale of livestock, especially beef cattle, provides a larger percentage of
annual farm income than the sale of wheat. Moreover, manufacturing and service
industries are far more valuable to the state’s economy than agriculture.
The state is named for the Kansas River,
which, in turn, was named for the Kansa people, who once inhabited northeastern
Kansas. The word Kansas means “people of the south wind.” The nickname
preferred by most Kansans is the Sunflower State. The helianthus, or native wild
sunflower, grows profusely throughout Kansas and is the official state flower.
Kansas is also referred to as the Jayhawk or Jayhawker state. The origin and
meaning of the term “Jayhawker” are disputed. In Kansas it was used at the
beginning of the American Civil War (1861-1865) to refer to the bands of
guerrillas and irregular troops that were active along the Kansas-Missouri
border. The name was taken up by some regular troops in Kansas. Eventually it
became a nickname for all Kansans.
Until Alaska and Hawaii achieved statehood in
1959, the geographical center of the United States was located near Lebanon in
Kansas. Although the center subsequently shifted to North Dakota, Kansas is
still recognized as the site of the geographical center of the coterminous
United States, that is, of all the states except Alaska and Hawaii. The geodetic
center (which takes into account the curvature of the earth’s surface) of the
United States is located at Meades Ranch Triangulation Station in Osborne County
in north central Kansas. The station serves as the basic reference point for all
government mapping undertaken in the United States (except in Hawaii), Canada,
and Mexico. Selected in 1901, it has also served as the geodetic center of North
America since 1913.
II | PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY |
Kansas ranks 15th among the states in size.
It has a total area of 213,096 sq km (82,277 sq mi), including 1,197 sq km (462
sq mi) of inland water. The state is rectangular in shape, except for a small
section in the northeast where it is bounded by the Missouri River. It measures
661 km (411 mi) from east to west and 335 km (208 mi) from north to south.
The surface of Kansas can, in a very broad
sense, be described as a plain. However, it is neither entirely flat nor
entirely level, and minor variations in relief are conspicuous. The state’s
surface elevation increases gradually from east to west, rising from a minimum
elevation of 207 m (679 ft) above sea level in the Verdigris River valley to
1,231 m (4,039 ft) at Mount Sunflower, the highest point in the state. The
approximate mean elevation is 610 m (2,000 ft). Hills, ridges, and wooded river
valleys abound in eastern and central Kansas. Farther west they give way to the
flatter, generally treeless High Plains, which are frequently but inaccurately
thought of as characteristic of the entire state.
A | Natural Regions |
Kansas includes parts of two physiographic
provinces, or natural regions, of the United States, the Central Lowland and the
Great Plains. Together these two natural regions constitute part of the major
physiographic division of North America known as the Interior Plains. In
addition, a small area in extreme southeastern Kansas is part of the Ozark
Plateau physiographic province.
The Central Lowland covers the eastern
third of the state. It can be divided into two sections, the Dissected Till
Plains and the Osage Plains. The Dissected Till Plains occupy the northeastern
corner of the state. This section differs in appearance from the rest of the
Central Lowland in Kansas. The only part of the state that was glaciated during
the Ice Age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, it exhibits the gently rolling
hills, broad shallow valleys, boulder-strewn plains, and other landforms
characteristic of glaciated plains. It more closely resembles the typical
prairie areas of Iowa and other Midwestern states than do the other sections of
Kansas. The Osage Plains section is an area of varied relief, with flat or
gently rolling plains broken by a series of low, linear ridges that trend
north-south. The most prominent of these ridges are the Flint Hills, which lie
just east of the 97th meridian and extend from the Kansas River southward into
Oklahoma. The Flint Hills, which rise more than 120 m (400 ft) above the
surrounding plains, are composed primarily of limestone but derive their name
from a form of chert commonly called flint that is scattered over their
surface.
The Great Plains cover the central and
western portions of the state. This region can be divided into two sections, the
Plains Border and the High Plains. The Plains Border, which forms a transitional
zone between the Central Lowland and the High Plains, includes several broad
belts of hills. North of the Arkansas River they include the Smoky Hills and the
Blue Hills. South of the river, in the great loop between Wichita and Dodge
City, lies a broad plains area that forms, in effect, an eastward extension of
the High Plains. Much of this region is quite sandy. The sand plain is bounded
on the south by the Gypsum Hills, or Cimarron Breaks, a scenic area of mesas and
buttes that are composed of red shale capped with gypsum. The High Plains
section is a dry, gently rolling tableland. Some of the section’s most prominent
physical features are found where the rivers, especially those of the northwest,
have cut valleys well below the general surface, creating steep-sided bluffs.
Throughout the High Plains section are numerous shallow saucerlike depressions.
Some of these are products of wind erosion. Others have been formed by the
sinking of the land, which has been caused by the action of underground water on
soluble rocks.
A number of unusual geologic formations in
Kansas occur on the Great Plains, an area that is also noted for its abundant
fossils. In Gove County, Monument Rocks, also called the Kansas Pyramids, rise
abruptly above the valley of the Smoky Hill River. Sculpted by wind and water,
they represent the remnants of shale and chalk that, eons ago, covered what is
now the Smoky Hill Valley. Castle Rock, in Gove County east of the Monument
Rocks, is the most prominent of these formations, standing 21 m (70 ft) high.
About 30 km (about 20 mi) north of Salina lies Rock City, an area of more than
200 eroded sandstone concretions that resemble huge eggs.
B | Rivers and Lakes |
Kansas lies within the drainage basin of
the Mississippi-Missouri river system. The chief streams in the state are the
Kansas River (sometimes called the Kaw) which is a tributary of the Missouri
River, and the Arkansas River, which is a major tributary of the
Mississippi.
The Kansas River, together with its
headstreams and tributaries, drains most of the northern half of the state and
flows generally eastward to enter the Missouri River at the adjoining cities of
Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri. Its chief headstreams are the
Republican and Smoky Hill rivers, which join to form the Kansas River at
Junction City. Each of the headstreams has numerous tributaries. The Kansas
River proper is only 270 km (170 mi) long, but the Smoky Hill River has a length
of 870 km (540 mi), and the Republican River has a length of 720 km (450 mi).
The main tributary flowing into the Kansas River is the Big Blue River.
The Arkansas River, which rises in
Colorado, flows generally eastward and then southward across the southern half
of Kansas. Between Dodge City and Wichita the river curves northward in a wide
loop, which is known as the Great Bend of the Arkansas River. A small section of
the Cimarron River, a major tributary of the Arkansas, arcs through the
southwestern corner of the state. Southeastern Kansas is drained mainly by the
Verdigris and Neosho, which flow southward to join the Arkansas River in
Oklahoma.
There are no large natural lakes in
Kansas. The largest bodies of water have been created by the damming of rivers.
The largest is Tuttle Creek Lake, a long winding reservoir behind Tuttle Creek
Dam on the Big Blue River. Other major bodies of water include Cedar Bluff and
Kanopolis on the Smoky Hill River; Milford on the Republican; Lovewell on White
Rock Creek and Keith Sebelius on Prairie Dog Creek, both tributaries of the
Republican; Wilson on the Saline River; Cheney on the North Fork of the
Ninnescah; John Redmond and Council Grove on the Neosho; Toronto on the
Verdigris; Waconda on the Solomon, and Webster and Kirwin on the forks of the
Solomon; Perry on the Delaware; Clinton on the Wakarusa; Marion on the
Cottonwood; Pomona, Melvern, and Hillsdale on the Marais des Cygnes system; and
Fall River Lake, a reservoir on the river of that name.
C | Climate |
The climate of Kansas is warm to hot
during summer and cool to cold in winter. Although there is a large difference
between summer and winter temperatures, during each season of the year
temperatures do not vary greatly from place to place. In winter the prevailing
winds are from the north. In summer they are from the south or southwest.
C1 | Temperature |
Average January temperatures range from
about 1° C (about 34° F) in the southeastern part of the state to between -3°
and -2° C (26° and 28° F) in northern Kansas. The average January temperature at
Topeka is about -2° C (about 28° F). Throughout the state, daytime lows in the
lower -20°s C (below 0° F) sometimes occur in winter, and lows of -34° C (-30°
F), although infrequent, have been recorded.
Average July temperatures range from
below 24° C (76° F) in northwestern Kansas to above 27° C (80° F) in sections of
central and southern Kansas. The average July temperature at Topeka is about 26°
C (about 78° F). Throughout the state, daytime highs are often in the lower 30°s
C (lower 90°s F), and extreme summer temperatures in the lower 40°s C (upper
100°s F) have been recorded in most areas.
C2 | Precipitation |
Precipitation (rainfall and snowfall)
diminishes from east to west, ranging from between 860 and 1,020 mm (34 and 40
in) in the east to between 410 and 510 mm (16 and 20 in) in the west. The
eastern third of Kansas, the wettest part of the state, usually receives more
than 760 mm (30 in) of precipitation. However, precipitation is extremely
variable from year to year and, to a lesser extent, from place to place. In each
decade, cycles of comparatively wet years alternate with cycles of dry years. In
dry years drought conditions vary in severity and extent, but they are more
common in the western part of the state than elsewhere. During the most severe
droughts the combination of hot rainless days and high winds create dust-bowl
conditions in western Kansas and in other parts of the Great Plains.
Most of the annual precipitation in
Kansas falls as rain, occurring mainly during the period from April through
August, when it is most needed for growing crops. However, it is often in the
form of heavy thundershowers or hailstorms, which can damage crops. In winter,
precipitation is generally light and usually in the form of snow. Blizzard
conditions occur when the snow is accompanied by strong winds. Tornadoes, which
are violent windstorms, occur with some regularity in Kansas, usually in the
spring.
C3 | Growing Season |
The growing season, or period between
the last killing frost in the spring and the first killing frost in the fall,
ranges from about 160 days in the northwest to more than 190 days in the south
and southeast. In the spring the last killing frost usually occurs in the first
two weeks of April in the southeast and in the last week of April in the
northwest. The fall killing frost usually occurs in the first week of October in
the northwest and in middle or late October in the southeast.
D | Soils |
Almost all of the soils in Kansas are
called mollisols. They generally are fertile, but their productivity varies
considerably, usually in proportion to the amount of water they receive.
Udolls, one type of mollisol, cover large
areas of eastern Kansas, which is the wettest part of the state. In these areas,
especially in the Dissected Till Plains section, field crops are raised on the
deep productive loams. In the Flint Hills section, however, fragments of flint
in the soil make cultivation difficult. Much of this area is better utilized as
grazing land. The dark-brown udolls of the Osage Plains in southeastern Kansas
often contain a faint reddish tint caused by oxidized iron. Relatively high
precipitation in this area has leached more plant nutrients from these soils
than is the case elsewhere in the state. This leaching must be counteracted by
fertilizer if farmers hope to produce good crops.
A second type of mollisol, called ustoll,
is characteristic of Kansas west of the Flint Hills. These, too, are fertile
soils. Ustolls are slightly lighter in color than the udolls and contain more
carbonate. These loams are well suited for the cultivation of wheat and are
highly productive in years of adequate precipitation.
In extreme western Kansas the ustolls
become lighter still in color and contain even more carbonate. These soils,
which cover the driest areas of the state, are not usually highly productive. In
times of drought they have been subject to wind erosion and the consequent loss
of topsoil.
E | Plant Life |
Forests in Kansas cover only 3 percent of
the state. Much of the woodland is found along river and stream valleys, and
tree growth is heaviest in the eastern part of the state. In addition, trees
have been planted throughout the state as windbreaks.
Among the most common trees of eastern
Kansas are the cottonwood, which is the state tree, species of oak, hickory, and
elm, and black walnut, sycamore, box elder, green ash, and hackberry.
Cottonwood, willow, and red cedar are the principal trees in western Kansas. The
Osage orange is found in hedgerows in some areas of the state. The red cedar is
the only conifer native to Kansas.
Before the middle of the 19th century
grasslands covered most of Kansas. In the tallgrass prairie grasslands of the
east the most common grasses were big bluestem, little bluestem, switchgrass,
and Indian grass. In the dry shortgrass prairie of the west grew buffalo grass,
blue grama, and little bluestem. Central Kansas was a transitional zone where
tall and short grasses were mixed. During the second half of the 19th century
much of the state’s vast grassland area was ploughed over as cultivation was
extended throughout the state. The largest remnant is in the Flint Hills.
Kansas still has a great variety and
abundance of wildflowers. The helianthus, or wild native sunflower, is the state
flower. Other common wild flowers include the aster, prairie phlox, goldenrod,
gayfeather, primrose, verbena, daisy, clover, and thistle. Tumbleweed, a
characteristic plant of the High Plains, occurs in western Kansas, and the
prickly pear and yucca are most abundant in the driest parts of the area.
More than 1,800 species of flowering
plants, conifers, and ferns occur in Kansas. Nearly 500 species have been
introduced from Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world.
F | Animal Life |
In the mid-19th century, Kansas still had
varied and abundant wildlife, including numerous large game animals. Huge herds
of American bison, commonly called buffalo, roamed the open plains. There were
also whitetailed deer, elk (or wapiti), and antelope, and wild horses that were
descendants of stock brought to America by early Spanish explorers. In the
woodlands of the east were black bears, cougars, gray wolves, and other, smaller
mammals. By the end of the 19th century, indiscriminate hunting and changes in
the natural habitat had resulted in the near extinction of all the large mammals
except for deer. Today, small herds of buffalo and elk are preserved in wildlife
management areas and private ranches. Small mammals include the coyote, red fox,
badger, blacktailed prairie dog, weasel, woodchuck, raccoon, opossum, striped
skunk, fox squirrel, jack rabbit, and cottontail.
Many species of birds, including resident
and migrant species, are found in Kansas. Year-round residents include the
cardinal, robin, bluejay, Carolina wren, several species of woodpecker, eastern
meadowlark, and western meadowlark, which is the official state bird. Among the
summer residents are the barn swallow, ruby-throated hummingbird, catbird, and
brown thrasher. Winter residents include the longspur, slate-colored junco, and
tree sparrow. Among the many migrant birds that pass through the state are
several species of hawks, warblers, sparrows, and waterbirds. Bald eagles are
recovering in numbers in the state. The most common game birds, which include
resident and migrant species, are the ring-necked pheasant, bobwhite, wild
turkey, prairie chicken, mallard, and canvasback.
There are numerous reptiles, especially in
the dry western sections. Poisonous snakes include the copperhead and three
species of rattlesnake. Among the nonpoisonous snakes are the coachwhip snake,
the blue racer, the bull snake, and the prairie king snake. Lizards common in
the state include the horned toad, the six-lined racerunner, and several species
of skink. Fish in the rivers and lakes of Kansas include several varieties of
catfish, and the crappie, carp, walleye, black bass, and bluegill.
G | Conservation |
The three major conservation goals in
Kansas are soil conservation, flood control, and protection of the state’s
native plant and animal life. Federal agencies active in conservation include
the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the
Forestry Service, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the United States Army Corps of
Engineers. State agencies involved in conservation include a forestry, fish and
game commission, a water resources board, a conservation commission, and a park
and resources authority.
Soil erosion has damaged extensive areas
of farmland in Kansas. The most severe damage has occurred in the central and
western parts of the state, where in some places as much as 75 percent of the
topsoil has been stripped off by erosion. Much of the damage occurred during the
prolonged drought of the 1930s, the notorious Dust Bowl years on the Great
Plains. During those years, wheatlands left fallow and over-grazed grasslands
with little grass cover were exposed to the forces of erosion. High winds picked
up the loose topsoil and carried it away in great swirling dust storms. Since
the 1930s the widespread adoption of improved farming techniques has helped
prevent further serious soil losses. Wind and water erosion have been reduced by
terracing and the planting of wind barriers. Farm ponds help to control water
runoff.
The statewide soil conservation programs
have also helped to reduce springtime flooding caused by runoff. However, the
principal flood-control programs are those regulating the flow of water in the
rivers of the state. The programs are integrated with those of adjoining states
and are often part of multiple-purpose projects that include provisions for
flood control, irrigation, hydroelectric power generation, and recreation. The
largest of these federally organized projects is the Missouri River Basin
Project, which includes flood-control dams and storage reservoirs on the
Republican and Smoky Hill rivers as well as on some of their tributaries.
A major environmental problem is runoff
from agricultural land, which is carrying agricultural chemicals into drinking
water. In 2006 the state had 10 hazardous waste sites on a national priority
list for cleanup due to their severity or proximity to people. Between 1995 and
2000, the amount of toxic chemicals discharged into the environment remained
stable, changing by less than half a percent.
III | ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES |
Kansas remained a homeland for Native
Americans until the 1850s, although many thousands of European-American migrants
passed through the region on overland routes to the West and Southwest. After
the Kansas region was opened to non-Native American settlement in 1854, farming
and commerce developed as the chief economic activities. Beginning in the
following decade, railroads brought hordes of land-hungry settlers to the state
and established depots that became the famous cow towns on the Chisholm Trail
and other cattle trails from Texas. By the end of the 19th century, Kansas was a
cattle producer in its own right and an important wheat-growing state.
Agriculture, with an emphasis on wheat production, remained the principal
economic activity until the 1940s. Mining developed as a major activity during
the early decades of the 20th century, but manufacturing remained in large part
concentrated on the processing of agricultural products. In the 1940s, spurred
by the demands of World War II (1939-1945) and a government decision to place
war industries away from coastal areas, the state’s industrial plants greatly
increased in number and productivity. Transportation equipment became the
state’s most valuable manufactured product. By the mid-1950s, manufacturing had
joined agriculture to become one of the two leading economic activities in
Kansas. In the mid-1990s manufacturing contributed four times the value to the
gross state product as did agriculture.
There were 1,466,000 workers in Kansas in
2006. The largest share of them, 35 percent, were in services such as hospitals
and restaurants. Another 19 percent were in wholesale or retail trade; 19
percent in federal, state, or local government, including those in the military;
13 percent in manufacturing; 4 percent in farming (including agricultural
services), forestry, or fishing; 16 percent in finance, insurance, or real
estate; 19 percent in transportation or public utilities; 5 percent in
construction; and 0.7 percent in mining. In 2005, 7 percent of the workers in
Kansas were members of a labor union.
A | Agriculture |
In 2005 there were 64,500 farms in
Kansas. A fairly large share of the farms compared to other states, 57 percent,
had annual sales of more than $10,000. Farmland occupied 19.1 million hectares
(47.2 million acres), of which 63 percent was cropland. The rest was mostly
rangeland and pastureland. Some 9 percent of the cropland was irrigated.
The sale of livestock and livestock
products was the largest source of income for Kansas farmers in 2004, accounting
for 68 percent of total farm income. The sale of cattle and calves accounted for
the largest share of farm income from livestock products. Although 63 percent of
farmland is under cultivation, crops accounted for only 32 percent of farm
income. Wheat sales contributed the largest share of income from crops.
A1 | Crops |
Kansas ranks first among the states in
wheat production and usually accounts for about one-fifth of the annual U.S.
wheat harvest. Wheat is grown throughout Kansas, but most of it is in the
western and central portions of the state. These areas of Kansas form the heart
of the Winter Wheat Belt, one of the two major wheat-growing regions in the
United States. In this region, wheat is planted in the fall and harvested the
following summer. Crop yields fluctuate, especially in western Kansas, where the
amount of rainfall, never very great, varies considerably from year to year.
Many farmers plant their fields every other year, so that the land can store up
enough soil moisture in the year it lies fallow to produce a good crop the
following year. In small areas of the extreme western section of the state some
wheat is grown under irrigation.
Kansas is the leading producer of
sorghum grain in the United States. Sorghum, the third most valuable crop in
Kansas, is grown throughout the state and is used mainly for feeding livestock.
Other crops used primarily as livestock feed are corn, the state’s second most
valuable crop, which is grown in eastern, northern, and western Kansas;
soybeans, which are raised in the east; and hay, including alfalfa and wild hay,
which are gathered in central and eastern Kansas. Greenhouse and nursery
products, vegetables, and fruits and nuts are minor sources of farm income.
A2 | Livestock |
Livestock production in Kansas is based
largely on the availability of natural grass pastures and rangeland and feed
crops. Beef cattle are raised throughout the state, but beef-cattle production
is concentrated in the Flint Hills, in the Smoky Hills, and other hilly
grassland areas in the Plains Border and Osage Plains sections. The bluestem
grasses of the Flint Hills provide excellent grazing lands. Beef cattle,
including both local herds and cattle shipped in from other states, are grazed
in the Flint Hills throughout the year. The cattle are then either sent directly
to market or are fattened further on grain in the Flint Hills area, in the
irrigated areas of western Kansas, or elsewhere. Hogs, as well as beef cattle,
are raised in northeastern Kansas. Dairy cattle and poultry are raised in the
eastern part of the state, especially in the vicinity of the larger cities.
Sheep are also raised, primarily in central and southwestern Kansas, on grazing
lands and in feedlots.
A3 | Patterns of Farming |
Operators of the farms in Kansas use
machinery to cultivate extensive areas without the need for a large labor force.
The average Kansas farm covered 296 hectares (732 acres) in 2005. In the
wheatlands of the High Plains, farms of more than 400 hectares (1,000 acres) are
common. Farms in the northeast average between 80 and 120 hectares (200 and 300
acres).
Farming practices in the Dissected Till
Plains section of northeastern Kansas are similar to those of other areas within
the great Corn Belt in the Middle West. Cattle and hogs are the principal source
of income, and corn and other field crops are raised both for livestock feed and
for sale as cash crops. This pattern is also prevalent in the eastern part of
the Osage Plains section. However, the land in this area is not as productive.
The raising of livestock predominates in the Flint Hills, although there is also
some cropland in the area on which wheat, corn, and alfalfa are grown. On the
Great Plains, in central and western Kansas, wheat is the dominant dryland crop.
Sorghum and cattle also are important. The widespread adoption of irrigation in
far western Kansas, using water pumped from underground from the High Plains
Aquifer, has altered the traditional mixture of crops there radically since the
early 1970s. Corn and alfalfa are the major crops irrigated. More corn is now
grown in western Kansas than in the east.
B | Mining |
Natural gas is the most valuable product
of the Kansas mining industry, accounting for one-half of its income. Oil is
second in value of production. Other minerals adding to the economy include
stone, salt, and helium. Production of petroleum has fallen in recent years
because the principal fields have been in production for more than one-half
century. The value of oil produced in the early 1990s was less than one-half
that of the mid-1980s. Meanwhile, during the same period, the value of natural
gas produced nearly doubled.
The major oil-producing areas are located
in central Kansas, in Ellis, Barton, Russell, and Butler counties. However, oil
is also produced in small quantities throughout much of the state. Most of the
state’s natural gas comes from the immense Hugoton field, which underlies
several counties in southwestern Kansas and extends into Oklahoma and
Texas.
Helium is extracted from helium-bearing
natural gas at plants in Rice, Haskell, Grant, Scott, Seward, Morton, and Rush
counties. Much of this nonflammable gas is shipped directly by pipeline to the
Cliffside Gas Field, a government helium storage facility near Amarillo,
Texas.
Coal occurs in fairly thick beds in
eastern Kansas. Although coal production has declined considerably since the
beginning of the 20th century, the state’s total reserves remain quite large.
Lead and zinc ores were mined in the southeast from 1877 to 1970.
Stone, mainly limestone, is quarried in
nearly half of all the counties in Kansas. Salt is produced from underground
mines in Rice, Reno, Barton, Ellsworth, and Sedgwick counties in central Kansas.
One section of a large salt mine in Reno County has been converted into a
records-storage facility for government agencies and industrial firms.
Sand-and-gravel production is widespread in Kansas. Much of it is used, together
with stone and gypsum, as raw material in making cement and concrete.
C | Manufacturing |
The production of transportation
equipment, primarily aircraft and aircraft parts, is the leading manufacturing
activity in Kansas. In the late 1990s it accounted for one-fifth of the state’s
income from all manufacturing activities. Moreover, the transportation industry
employs more workers, and has larger payrolls, than any other industry in the
state. Printing and publishing is the second leading industry, followed by food
processing. Other important industries are the manufacture of chemicals;
industrial machinery; rubber and plastic products; electrical equipment;
fabricated metal components; stone, clay, and glass products; and paper
products. Wichita and Kansas City are the chief manufacturing centers.
The production of aircraft and aircraft
parts, for both civilian and military use, is concentrated in the Wichita area.
Airplane plants in this area include those of two of the world’s leading
manufacturers of light aircraft. Aircraft parts are also made at Salina,
Wellington, and Winfield. Locomotive parts and other types of railroad equipment
are manufactured at Wichita, Atchison, and other centers. There are major
railroad repair shops at Wichita, Kansas City, and Topeka. The assembly of
automobiles is carried on in Kansas City. Closely associated with the
transportation industry is the manufacture of rubber tires, especially in the
Topeka area.
Food processing is carried on throughout
the state. Two of the most important food-processing activities, based on the
state’s chief agricultural products, are meat packing and flour milling. The
chief flour-milling centers are Hutchinson, Atchison, Abilene, Salina, Kansas
City, Wichita, and Topeka. Meat-packing, formerly concentrated in Kansas City,
is now found principally in the southwestern section of the state.
The manufacture of chemicals and chemical
products and of oil and coal products is based on the state’s output of
minerals, particularly oil. The state’s oil-refining centers include El Dorado,
Coffeyville, McPherson, Wichita, Arkansas City, and Augusta.
D | Electricity |
Of the electricity generated in Kansas in
2005, 80 percent was produced in steam-driven power plants burning fossil fuels.
Some 19 percent was produced in a nuclear power plant. Much of the electricity
is provided by privately owned utilities. Coal is the principal fuel burned in
the power plants. Natural gas and, to a much lesser extent, oil are also used as
fuels in producing electricity in urban centers. The state’s only nuclear power
plant, located near Burlington, went into commercial operation in 1985.
E | Transportation |
During the 19th century, two of the most
famous overland routes in U.S. history, the Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail,
extended across parts of the Kansas region. Railroads and settlements first
became a permanent feature of the Kansas landscape in the second half of the
19th century. This period also included the relatively brief era of the great
cattle drives along the Chisholm Trail and other trails to railroad shipping
centers in Kansas. Railroads remained the dominant form of transportation in
Kansas until the 20th century. At that time automobiles and trucks came into
increasingly widespread use, challenging the railroads’ long-held supremacy.
Many of the railroad lines and highways across Kansas form sections of major
transcontinental and regional routes. The transportation network in Kansas is as
important to the nation as it is to the state.
E1 | Highways |
In 2005 Kansas had 218,005 km (135,462
mi) of public highways, roads, and streets, a greater mileage than that of all
other states except Texas, California, and Illinois. The road network consists
of modern highways superimposed on an older grid pattern in which roads tend to
follow the section lines drawn when the land was first surveyed. There were
1,407 km (874 mi) of interstate highways, including the Kansas Turnpike, a toll
road.
E2 | Railroads |
Kansas is served by 7,944 km (4,936 mi)
of railroad trackage, much of it operated by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe
Railway and by the Union Pacific Railroad. A number of other important lines
serve the state. Greater Kansas City, which includes both Kansas City, Missouri,
and Kansas City, Kansas, is one of the principal rail centers in the Middle
West. Farm products made up 47 percent of the goods originating in the state and
shipped by rail.
E3 | Waterways |
The state’s only navigable waterways
are the Missouri River, along the Kansas-Missouri state line, and a few miles of
the lower course of the Kansas River. Barge traffic plies the Missouri, and the
chief ports on the Kansas side of the river are Atchison, Leavenworth, and
Kansas City.
E4 | Airports |
Kansas has 10 airports and airfields.
Most of them are small airfields that handle private aircraft and local
commercial flights. Airports at the largest cities in the state are scheduled
airline stops on routes that serve the Middle West and Southwest.
E5 | Pipelines |
Pipelines are an important part of the
transportation facilities serving Kansas. Vast quantities of crude oil, oil
products, and natural gas are carried by pipelines to communities and industrial
centers throughout Kansas.
F | Trade |
Wholesale and retail trade is
concentrated in the largest cities of the state, Wichita, Kansas City, Topeka,
Lawrence, Salina, and Hutchinson, all of which lie in central or eastern Kansas.
There are no very large trade centers in western Kansas, although Garden City,
Dodge City, and Liberal are of local and regional commercial importance. Many
retail trade centers in Kansas are serviced by wholesale companies located in
adjoining states such as Kansas City in Missouri, Denver in Colorado, and
Oklahoma City in Oklahoma.
IV | THE PEOPLE OF KANSAS |
A | Population Patterns |
According to the 2000 census, Kansas
ranked 32nd among the states, with a population of 2,688,418. This represented
an increase of 8.5 percent over the 1990 census.
The pattern of increasing urban
population and decreasing rural population, begun in the 19th century, continued
into the 21st century. In 1950 the population of Kansas was still half rural. In
2000 some 71 percent of the state’s people lived in urban areas. In 2006 Kansas
had an average population density of 13 persons per sq km (34 per sq mi).
Eastern Kansas is much more densely populated than western Kansas.
In 2000 whites made up 86.1 percent of
the population, blacks 5.7 percent, Asians 1.7 percent, Native Americans 0.9
percent, and those of mixed heritage or not reporting race 5.5 percent. Native
Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders numbered 1,313. Hispanics, who may be of
any race, were 7 percent of the people. Although a few black people in Kansas
live in rural areas, the majority live in the Wichita, Topeka, and Kansas City
metropolitan areas.
Germans, Swedes, and other groups from
western Europe were important components of the early settlement of Kansas.
Mexicans, Croatians, and Italians came shortly after 1900. In more recent
decades, however, foreign-born residents have not been numerous. They numbered
2.5 percent of the state’s total population in 1990.
B | Principal Cities |
The largest cities are located in central
or eastern Kansas. The largest of them, Wichita, had an estimated 2006
population of 357,698. The Wichita metropolitan area had 592,126 residents.
Wichita is one of the two leading manufacturing cities in Kansas and is a major
trade center. It is noted as one of the chief centers of the
aircraft-manufacturing industry. Kansas City had 144,210 inhabitants. Together
with Kansas City, Missouri, it forms the hub of the metropolitan area known as
Greater Kansas City, which had a total 2006 population of 1,967,405 people.
Kansas City, Kansas, is the major center for health services in the state and
maintains a long-standing reputation as a manufacturing city. The Fairfax
district there, begun in 1938, is nationally famous as one of the oldest and
most successful examples of what have come to be known as industrial parks.
Soap, fiberglass insulation, chemicals, food products, automobiles, and metal
goods are manufactured. It is also one of the state’s principal trade and
transportation centers. Overland Park had a population of 166,722 in 2006. The
city lies in northeastern Kansas and is a residential suburb of Kansas City.
Topeka had a population of 122,113 in
2006. The city serves as the state capital. In addition it is a center for flour
milling, meatpacking, printing and publishing, and the repairing of railroad
equipment. In Topeka is the famous Menninger Foundation, an organization engaged
in psychiatric research and treatment. The Topeka metropolitan area had 228,894
inhabitants. Lawrence, with a population of 88,605, is a trade center and the
site of the University of Kansas and the Haskell Indian Nations University
(1884). Also in the Kansas City metropolitan area is Olathe, with 114,662
residents. Salina, with a 2006 population of 46,140, is a leading trade center
for the central and western parts of Kansas and is one of the state’s chief
grain-storage and flour-milling centers.
Other cities in central and eastern
Kansas include Hutchinson, noted for its grain-storing and grain-shipping
facilities; Manhattan, the seat of Kansas State University; Leavenworth, a
commercial center and the site of a large federal penitentiary and a major
military post; Emporia, the site of a state university and the home of the
famous journalist and author William Allen White; Pittsburg, the site of another
state university and a manufacturing and coal-shipping city; Atchison, an early
river port and outfitting center, now a manufacturing center; and Abilene, once
a famous cow town of the cattle trail days and the boyhood home of President
Dwight D. Eisenhower.
The small cities in southwestern Kansas
serve primarily as meatpacking centers and focal points for local retail trade.
They include Garden City; Dodge City, which was one of the most famous towns of
the old West; and Liberal. Hays, in west central Kansas, has a state
university.
C | Religion |
During the early part of the 19th
century, missionaries from a number of different Christian denominations were
sent to Kansas to convert Native Americans to Christianity and to educate them.
In 1824 Presbyterians and members of associated denominations established the
first mission, among Native Americans living in what is now Neosho County.
Shawnee Methodist Mission, near Kansas City, was founded in 1830. It later
became a manual training school for Native American children. Other missions
were opened in the 1830s by Baptists, Quakers, and Roman Catholics.
Plymouth Congregational Church, the first
church established after the Kansas Territory was opened to white settlement,
was organized in Lawrence in 1854. During the 1850s, when proslavery and
antislavery factions vied for control of the Kansas Territory, many
church-sponsored antislavery groups from the North ventured to Kansas. Chief
among the abolitionist societies was the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony, which
founded a settlement in Wabaunsee County. In the 1870s a number of Mennonites
migrated to the state from southern Russia.
The largest religious groups in Kansas
are the Roman Catholics and Methodists. Each has about an equal number of
adherents.
V | EDUCATION AND CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS |
A | Education |
In the 1820s and 1830s, missionaries
established the first schools in Kansas to instruct Native Americans in reading,
writing, and Christianity. In 1855 the first territorial legislature passed laws
providing for free public schools for the children of white settlers. Equal
educational opportunities for all, regardless of sex or race, were guaranteed in
the state constitution that was drawn up in 1859. Public education in Kansas was
almost entirely supported by local taxes until 1937, when annual state
appropriations were authorized for needy elementary schools. A system of state
aid to all elementary and secondary schools, regardless of need, is now in
effect.
School attendance was first made
compulsory in 1874 and is now required for all children in Kansas from the ages
of 7 to 18. Some 9 percent of elementary and high school students in the state
attend private or parochial institutions. Haskell Indian Nations University,
founded in Lawrence in 1884, is maintained as a school for Native American
students.
In the 2002–2003 school year Kansas spent
$8,268 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of $9,299.
There were 14.4 students for every teacher (the national average was 15.9). Of
those age 25 or older, 88.5 percent had a high school diploma, compared to an
average for the United States of 84.1 percent.
A1 | Higher Education |
Private colleges and universities were
established in Kansas before the territory became a state. Two of these, Baker
University, founded in 1858, and Benedictine College (formerly called Saint
Benedict’s College), opened in 1859, are still in existence today. Other private
institutions of higher education include Southwestern College, in Winfield;
Friends University, in Wichita; Bethel College, in North Newton; Bethany
College, in Lindsborg; McPherson College, in McPherson; and Ottawa University,
in Ottawa.
Provision for state institutions of
higher education was made in the state constitution of 1859. As a result, the
University of Kansas was established at Lawrence, with classes beginning in
1866. This school has the largest enrollment of any university in the state.
Kansas State University, a state-supported school in Manhattan, was established
in 1863 as Kansas State Agricultural College. Other state-operated institutions
include Wichita State University, which was known as the University of Wichita
until 1964, and colleges that were founded for the training of teachers in
Emporia, Hays, and Pittsburg. Among the municipally operated schools of higher
education are Washburn University of Topeka and a number of junior colleges.
Also in the state is the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, in Fort
Leavenworth. In 2004–2005 Kansas was served by 36 public and 27 private
institutions of higher education.
B | Libraries |
Kansas had 323 public library systems in
2002, including the large municipal libraries in Kansas City, Wichita, Johnson
County, and Topeka. Libraries circulate an average of 10.1 books per resident
each year. The Kansas State Library has collections of legal materials, federal
and state documents, and materials for the blind. The library also provides
reference services and promotes the development of public libraries in the
state. The largest library in the state is that of the University of Kansas. The
state archives and many books and other materials relating to Kansas history are
housed in the Kansas State Historical Society, in Topeka. The society also
maintains one of the largest state-wide collections of newspapers in the
country. Personal and state papers of President Eisenhower are housed in the
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, in Abilene.
C | Museums |
Noted collections of European, American,
and Asian art are housed in the University of Kansas’s Spencer Museum of Art in
Lawrence. The Wichita Art Museum, the largest art museum in the state, is known
for its collection of American art. The Natural History Museum maintained by the
University of Kansas contains exhibits of birds, mammals, and fossil
skeletons.
The museum of the Kansas State Historical
Society houses an extensive collection of archaeological relics and materials
from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The society also maintains a number of
the state’s historic sites and monuments. In addition, there are local
historical museums and historic buildings in a number of Kansas communities. The
Eisenhower Center at Abilene houses numerous mementos of the former U.S.
president’s long career in government service.
D | Communications |
The first periodical or newspaper
established in Kansas was the Shawnee Sun, initially published on a
monthly basis but later on an irregular schedule. Printed in the Shawnee
language, it began publication in 1835 in what is now Johnson County. The
Kansas Weekly Herald, the first English-language newspaper in Kansas, was
founded in Leavenworth in 1854. In 2002 there were 43 daily newspapers published
in Kansas. The leading daily newspapers in the state include the Wichita
Eagle, the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Hutchinson News, the
Salina Journal, and the Kansas City Kansan. Two tabloid
publications with national circulation, Grit and Capper’s, are
published in Topeka.
Two of the United States’ most famous
small-town journalists were editors of Kansas papers. Edgar Watson Howe, editor
of the Atchison Globe and later of E. W. Howe’s Monthly, is
particularly noted for his classic novel The Story of a Country Town
(1883), which exposed the narrowness of Midwestern small-town life. William
Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette for nearly 50 years, exercised
national influence in social and political matters. He received a Pulitzer Prize
in 1923 for his editorial writing, and his autobiography, published after his
death, was honored with a Pulitzer Prize in 1947. Another influential Kansas
journalist was Arthur Capper, who became publisher of the Topeka Daily
Capital in 1892 and also published Capper’s Weekly and other widely
read farm journals.
The first radio station in Kansas was KFH,
licensed in Wichita in 1922. KTVH, the state’s first commercial television
station, began operating in Hutchinson in 1953. In 2002 there were 49 AM and 83
FM radio stations and 20 television stations in Kansas.
E | Music and Theater |
A choral festival featuring the
Messiah by German composer George Frideric Handel and other religious
music is held in Lindsborg annually during Easter Week, in cooperation with
Bethany College. Other music festivals held in the state include one in Wichita,
presented in cooperation with Friends University, jazz festivals in Overland
Park and Manhattan, and bluegrass festivals in Lawrence and Winfield. There are
symphony orchestras in Kansas City, Wichita and Topeka. Little theater groups
are active in Wichita, Topeka, and other cities across the state. Professional
and touring companies appear in Lawrence, Topeka, Overland Park, and
Wichita.
VI | RECREATION AND PLACES OF INTEREST |
Kansas has a wide variety of interesting
places to visit. They range from the fossil beds and unusual geological
formations such as Rock City, on the High Plains, to the wheel ruts still
discernible along the old Santa Fe and Oregon trails, to the many historic sites
and buildings found throughout the state.
There are also numerous facilities for
outdoor recreation in the state. Nearly every state park and recreation area in
Kansas either includes or adjoins a water area, and almost all of them offer
facilities for boating, fishing, and swimming. In addition, many of the
state-administered park areas also have facilities for picnicking, camping,
hiking, and horseback riding. Three national wildlife refuges are administered
by the federal government: the Flint Hills refuge in the east, the Kirwin refuge
in the north central part of the state, and the Quivira refuge in south central
Kansas. Cheyenne Bottoms, near Great Bend, and other wildlife areas are
administered by the state.
A | National Parks |
Brown v. Board of Education National
Historic Site in Topeka commemorates the landmark decision by the Supreme Court
of the United States, which in 1954 overturned racial segregation in the
nation’s education systems. The site is located at the Monroe Elementary School,
which was attended by Linda Brown whose lawsuit against the school system
brought about the supreme court ruling.
Other historic sites in Kansas preserve
military forts used during the westward expansion. Fort Larned National Historic
Site was an outpost established midway along the Santa Fe Trail to protect
travelers and mail deliveries. Its stone buildings are among the best-preserved
relics of the western wars with Native Americans. Fort Scott National Historic
Site, first established by the United States Army to enforce the peace among
settlers and Native Americans, played a role in the Mexican War (1846-1848) and
was reopened during the Civil War. Fort Leavenworth, in northeastern Kansas near
Leavenworth, dates from 1827 and is the oldest active U.S. military post west of
the Mississippi River. It is the seat of the U.S. Army General Staff College.
Fort Riley was established as a cavalry post early in the 1850s. It is also an
active post. The first Capitol of Kansas lies within Fort Riley in northeastern
Kansas. The building, located at what was then called Pawnee, served very
briefly as the seat of the territorial government in July 1855. It is now
maintained as a public museum. Also at Fort Riley is the United States Cavalry
Museum.
The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve
protects another kind of historic resource, the native grasslands that once
covered a large portion of the interior of the United States. The preserve,
dedicated in 1998, contains 4,409 hectares (10,894 acres) of prairie land
located in the Flint Hills area of east-central Kansas. The National Park
Service administers the preserve, which is part of the largest tract of
tallgrass prairie still remaining on the continent.
B | State Parks |
There are 25 state parks and recreation
areas in Kansas and many historic sites. The largest recreation area is centered
on Milford Lake, located in the central part of the state. Other large state
parks include Fall River, Toronto, and Elk City, all located in southeastern
Kansas; Cheney, Kanopolis, and Sand Hills, all in the central part of the state;
Clinton, Perry, and Tuttle Creek, all in northeastern Kansas; Prairie Dog, Cedar
Bluff, and Lake Scott, which are in the northwestern part of the state; and Glen
Elder, in north central Kansas.
Pawnee Rock Park, a historic site in
central Kansas near Great Bend, contains a sandstone mass 24 m (80 ft) high that
was one of the most famous landmarks on the Santa Fe Trail. The John Brown
Museum, at Osawatomie in eastern Kansas, includes the log cabin where the famous
abolitionist often stayed. The site of a former Pawnee village, now containing
an archaeological museum, lies in northern Kansas near Republic. The Hollenberg
Pony Express Station, in northeastern Kansas near Hanover, is claimed to be the
only pony express station in the country that has been preserved in its
original, unaltered condition. It houses a small pioneer museum. Other state
historic sites are the Iowa, Sac, and Fox Mission at Highland, the Shawnee
Mission in Johnson County, the Kaw Indian Mission at Council Grove, Marais des
Cygnes Massacre Memorial Park in Linn County, the Fort Hays Historical Park at
Hays, and the Edward H. Funston House near Iola, home to two prominent
Kansans.
C | Other Places to Visit |
Many of the places of interest in Kansas
are closely associated with 19th-century history, including Old Front Street and
the Boot Hill Museum, in Dodge City, which is a replica of the city’s notorious
Front Street as it appeared in the late 1870s. There are similar front street
reproductions in Abilene and Wichita. The Dalton Museum in Coffeyville preserves
relics of the notorious bank robbers, the Dalton Gang.
A number of museums and buildings in the
state commemorate famous Kansans. In Medicine Lodge is the Kansas home of the
ardent prohibitionist Carry Nation. Near Athol is the one-room cabin home of Dr.
Brewster H. Higley, a pioneer physician who wrote the words to “Home on the
Range,” now the state song. The famous aviator Amelia Earhart was born in 1897
in a white frame house still standing in Atchison. Perhaps the most noted person
associated with Kansas is former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who grew up in
Abilene. Adjoining his boyhood home is the Eisenhower Museum, which houses
mementos of Eisenhower’s life and souvenirs of his presidency. The Dwight D.
Eisenhower Library, opposite the museum, contains papers dating from his years
in office.
Of scientific interest are the chalk beds
of western Kansas, one of the richest sources of fossils in the country. In the
Sternberg Memorial Museum at Fort Hays State University, in Hays in west central
Kansas, is an outstanding collection of fossils taken from these deposits.
Numerous fossils of reptiles have also been unearthed in northwestern Kansas
near Oakley. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, in Hutchinson, boasts a
major collection of space artifacts. Places of geological interest in Kansas
include Monument Rocks, Rock City, and the grass-covered sand dunes located just
south of the Arkansas River in Finney and Kearny counties.
The Bartlett Arboretum, near Belle
Plaine, has several thousand kinds of trees, shrubs, and flowers growing in a
formal garden. In Gage Park in Topeka is the Reinisch Rose Garden.
D | Annual Events |
Of the many fairs held in Kansas each
year, the most outstanding is the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson, held in
September. In October maple leaf festivals are held in Baldwin and Hiawatha and
the Apple Butter Festival in Newton. Kansas Day, the anniversary of statehood,
is celebrated throughout the state on January 29. On Shrove Tuesday, the day
before Ash Wednesday, homemakers from Liberal, Kansas, and Olney, England,
compete in the International Pancake Race, which is held simultaneously in the
two communities. The Messiah Festival, an internationally known music festival,
is presented during Easter Week by Bethany College, in Lindsborg. Of national
interest are the Kansas Relays, which are held in April on the University of
Kansas campus in Lawrence. Early in June the Flint Hills Rodeo is held in Strong
City. In the summer months nearly every community in Kansas hosts a festival. A
parade and carnival has marked the Richmond Free Fair for more than 70 years,
while the Frontier Day celebration in Haddam has occurred more than 125 times.
Also in July is the Kansas City Indian Club Powwow, a gathering of Native
Americans; and Dodge City Days, with a rodeo, car races, and concerts. In August
the Central Kansas Free Fair, which includes the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo, is held
in Abilene.
VII | GOVERNMENT |
The present constitution of Kansas was
approved by the electorate in 1859, about 16 months before the state entered the
Union. Proposed amendments to the constitution must be approved by two-thirds of
the state legislature or by a constitutional convention. To become effective
they must be approved by a majority of the electorate voting on the amendment in
a general election.
A | Executive |
The head of the executive branch of the
state government is the governor, who is elected to a four-year term jointly
with the lieutenant governor and may succeed to office once. The governor may
veto legislation, but the legislature can override a veto by a two-thirds
majority vote in each legislative house. Other elected executive officials
include the secretary of state, the attorney general, the treasurer of state,
and the commissioner of insurance, who are also elected to four-year terms.
There are many state boards and commissions, most of whose members are appointed
to office by the governor.
B | Legislative |
The state legislature is made up of two
houses: a 40-member Senate and a 125-member House of Representatives. State
senators are elected to four-year terms, and state representatives are elected
to two-year terms. Regular sessions of the legislature are convened annually at
Topeka on the second Monday in January. The governor is authorized to call
special sessions. There is a legislative coordinating council composed of
leading members of both houses of the legislature.
C | Judicial |
The highest court in Kansas is the
Supreme Court, consisting of seven justices. Supreme court justices are
appointed by the governor from a list of people nominated by a committee. After
the first year in office, judges must be confirmed by voters in a general
election. The office of chief justice is filled by the justice who is senior in
years of continuous service. A court of appeals was established in the
mid-1970s. The highest state courts of original jurisdiction are the district
courts, to which judges are elected for four-year terms. Probate court judges
preside over the probate court in each county and are elected for two years.
Kansas also has county courts and municipal courts.
D | Local Government |
Each of the state’s 105 counties is
governed by a board of three to five commissioners, who are elected to four-year
terms. The counties are divided into more than 1,300 townships, each of which is
governed by an elected board made up of a trustee, a treasurer, and a clerk.
Among the 627 incorporated municipalities, the most common type of municipal
government is the mayor and council form. A number of cities have the council
and city manager and commission forms.
E | National Representation |
Kansas is represented in the Congress of
the United States by four members in the House of Representatives and two
members in the Senate, giving the state six electoral votes in presidential
elections.
VIII | HISTORY |
A | Earliest Inhabitants |
Beginning about 10,000 years ago, five
different prehistoric cultures appeared in the area of present-day Kansas. They
were the predecessors of later Plains peoples: the Wichita, Pawnee, Kansa (or
Kaw), Osage, and Kiowa-Apache. When Europeans first arrived in the area of
present-day Kansas in the 16th century, the peoples of the region were basically
of two types, semisedentary and nomadic. The semisedentary peoples, including
the Kansa, Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita, generally lived along the rivers of
eastern Kansas, just east of the Great Plains region. They lived in
semipermanent settlements of earth or grass lodges and cultivated some crops,
although hunting bison, or buffalo, was their primary means of livelihood. The
nomadic peoples most closely associated with Kansas, the Arapaho, Cheyenne,
Kiowa, Kiowa-Apache, and Comanche peoples, arrived in the area of Kansas in the
early 17th century and ranged widely over the High Plains of western Kansas as
well as over other parts of the Great Plains. The Plains peoples relied almost
wholly on buffalo hunting for their livelihood, and entire peoples were almost
continually on the move pursuing buffalo herds. They traveled almost exclusively
on horseback and were among the best riders in North America.
B | Early European Exploration |
The Spanish explorer and conqueror
Francisco Vásquez de Coronado was the first white person to enter the Kansas
region. In April 1541 Coronado led an expedition from the region of Spanish New
Mexico in search of a fabled wealthy kingdom called Quivira, which was actually
only a village of the Wichita people living in what is now Kansas. The
expedition was guided by a native inhabitant known as the Turk (because his
headwrapping looked to the Spanish like a turban), who had promised the
Spaniards the gold and silver of Quivira. After a difficult journey, Coronado
finally reached Quivira in July, but finding none of the promised riches and
suspecting that his guide had misled him, Coronado had the Turk killed. The
Spaniards remained among the native inhabitants for nearly a month and then
returned to the New Mexico region. Spain showed little interest in the Kansas
area until more than 150 years later.
In 1682 René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de
La Salle, finished a journey down the Mississippi River by claiming all the land
drained by the river for France, including present-day Kansas. The French then
conducted an extensive fur trading operation along the Mississippi and its
tributaries. As part of that effort, they sent traders and explorers into the
lower Missouri River valley to win the friendship of the peoples there. In 1720
the Spanish, now concerned about French activity, dispatched a small force under
Pedro de Villasur from Santa Fe to drive out the French. Pawnee attacked and
killed Villasur’s men, and the French took undisputed possession of the Missouri
Valley region. From 1744 until 1764 the French occupied Fort Cavagnial, a
trading and military post, near present-day Leavenworth. From there they traded
with the local peoples.
In 1763 after the French and Indian
War, the last in a series of battles between Great Britain and France for
domination in North America, France lost nearly all its North American
territory, called the Louisiana Territory (Louisiane, in French). But in 1762
France had secretly ceded all its lands west of the Mississippi to Spain,
France’s ally in the war. France then regained the land in 1800 under another
secret agreement with Spain, and in 1803 the United States acquired what is now
Kansas as part of the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France (see
Louisiana Purchase).
C | United States Exploration |
In 1803 U.S. President Thomas Jefferson
commissioned Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the new acquisition
west of the Mississippi River. The Lewis and Clark Expedition started from St.
Louis, Missouri, in 1804 and reached the junction of the Kansas and Missouri
rivers on June 26. They explored the surrounding area for three days, then
continued up the Missouri River on their way to the Pacific Ocean.
In 1806 Zebulon Montgomery Pike led
another expedition to explore the West. Pike traveled mostly overland rather
than along the rivers, as Lewis and Clark had done, crossing Kansas from east to
west. After crossing the Great Plains he reported that they were largely
uninhabitable and that U.S. settlement would be confined to east of the Missouri
River. In 1819 and 1820, Major Stephen H. Long headed another expedition that
explored part of Kansas and reaffirmed Pike’s earlier conclusions about the
land.
D | Indian Territory |
Because U.S. leaders believed the
Kansas region to be unfit for white settlement, Congress passed legislation in
1830 and 1834 allowing the federal government to use large sections of eastern
Kansas—part of a much larger resettlement area west of the Mississippi River
that whites called Indian Territory—to resettle Native American peoples who were
relocated from east of the Mississippi River. In total, between 1825 and 1840
the U.S. government moved about 11,000 Native Americans to the Kansas area. In
1834 and 1835 some of the Shawnee were moved; the Iowa people were relocated to
northeastern Kansas in 1837; in the 1830s and 1840s groups of Potawatomis and
Ottawas were moved to reservations in Kansas; in 1842 the Wyandot were forced to
leave their Michigan and Ohio lands and move to Kansas; in 1846 most of the
Miami people were relocated to Kansas; and in 1846 the Kansa were moved from
their lands along the lower Kansas River to a reservation at Council Grove; in
1873 they were moved once more, this time to Oklahoma, where they have since
remained. Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries moved to Kansas in the
1830s to work among the Native Americans.
E | Trails Across Kansas |
In the early 19th century, white
settlers began crossing the Great Plains to reach the West, and trails like the
Santa Fe Trail and the Oregon Trail crossed Kansas. Only a small number of
whites (fewer than 1000) settled in Kansas. As part of Indian Territory, Kansas
remained forbidden to white settlers, except for missionaries. The Santa Fe
Trail, which was a regular trade route between western Missouri and Santa Fe,
New Mexico, as early as 1821, was used almost continuously until 1880, when a
railroad reached Santa Fe. The trail crossed Kansas from the northeast to the
southwest corner.
Several military forts were built along
these trails to protect travelers, especially from the Comanche. The first of
these was Fort Leavenworth, built in 1827 under the direction of Colonel Henry
Leavenworth. The first permanent white settlement in the Kansas region grew up
around this post. The U.S. Army also built Fort Scott (1842), Fort Riley (1853),
and Fort Larned (1859).
F | White Expansion |
When Kansas became a territory it was
illegal to sell any of the land; it belonged to the native peoples, to whom it
had been promised when they moved there. Even before Kansas became a territory,
U.S. Indian Agent George Manypenny was in Kansas negotiating new treaties with
Native Americans. Under these treaties Native Americans in Kansas lost most of
their lands and were forced to move to the remaining Indian Territory in what is
now Oklahoma. By the 1870s almost all Native American land in Kansas had been
ceded to the United States, and by 1880 all but a very few Native Americans had
been forced out of Kansas.
In many cases the treaties were not
needed. White settlers moved to Kansas, encouraged by federal laws that allowed
them to purchase the land they lived on—even if they had occupied the land
illegally. The United States also encouraged settlers in Kansas and elsewhere by
refusing to expel whites who trespassed on Native American lands. Once settlers
were certain that the U.S. government would not remove them, migration increased
dramatically. Native Americans resisted as best they could; fighting between
whites and Native Americans in western Kansas was especially vicious. Whites,
however, continued to settle in Kansas.
G | Kansas Territory and Statehood |
As the demand for land increased in the
early 1850s, the Congress of the United States considered plans to open Kansas
to white settlement and to create a territorial government. Numerous bills were
introduced in Congress to create a Nebraska Territory that would include both
the Kansas and Nebraska regions, but each was defeated. Then, in 1854, Congress
passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which created separate Kansas and Nebraska
territories. It also allowed territorial inhabitants to decide for themselves
whether to allow slavery in the territory, thus repealing a provision of the
Missouri Compromise of 1820 that had prohibited slavery in the territories north
of latitude 36°30’ (except Missouri).
The bill was sponsored by U.S. Senator
Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. By opening up what had been Native American
country to white settlement, Douglas and other Northern leaders hoped to
encourage construction of a transcontinental railroad through their states
rather than through the Southern part of the country. (The portion of the
railroad built in Kansas became the Union Pacific Railroad.) Instead the bill
encouraged both the proslavery and antislavery factions to rush to Kansas as
fast as possible to prevent the other factions from securing political control
of the new state. The Kansas-Nebraska Act greatly increased the tension between
North and South in the years before the American Civil War (1861-1865).
On May 30, 1854, President Franklin
Pierce signed the Kansas-Nebraska Act creating the two new territories. Andrew
H. Reeder of Pennsylvania was appointed the first governor of Kansas Territory,
which included a considerable part of present-day Colorado. In 1855 the governor
chose Pawnee, on the present-day Fort Riley Reservation, as the territorial
capital.
G1 | Bleeding Kansas |
The Kansas-Nebraska Act resulted in a
struggle between U.S. citizens from Southern states who were eager to extend
slavery into the new territory and those from Northern states who were
determined to stop the spread of slavery (called free-soilers). The chaos and
violence that marked this period earned the territory the name Bleeding Kansas,
during what was called the Border War.
Early in 1854 proslavery and
antislavery advocates in other parts of the country began to organize societies
to encourage the settlement of Kansas. These societies included the proslavery
Blue Lodges in the neighboring slave state of Missouri and other slaveholding
states, and the New England Emigrant Aid Company and other antislavery societies
in the Northeast. In June 1854 proslavery and antislavery partisans began to
settle in rival communities in the Kansas Territory. Lawrence and Topeka soon
became the leading antislavery centers and Leavenworth and Atchison were the
main proslavery strongholds. Not every new arrival was an ardent advocate or
opponent of slavery. Economic opportunity, and not the slavery issue, brought
many early settlers, particularly from the Ohio and upper Mississippi river
valleys.
Elections for the first Kansas
territorial legislature were held in March 1855. On election day, several
thousand men, known as Border Ruffians, crossed into Kansas from Missouri.
Stuffing ballot boxes, bullying voters, and intimidating judges, they helped the
proslavery faction defeat the free-soil voters and elect a predominantly
proslavery legislature. In July that body convened first at Pawnee, and later at
Shawnee Methodist Mission in present-day Johnson County, to pass strong
proslavery laws and expel its few free-soil members. Governor Reeder, a
proslavery moderate, refused to recognize the acts of the legislature, and at
the legislature’s request he was removed from office by President Pierce and in
1856 had to flee the territory in disguise.
In September 1855 antislavery
settlers met at Big Springs, midway between Lawrence and Topeka. They repudiated
the earlier legislature, established the Free State Party, and organized local
militia forces. At a convention at Topeka in October, they drew up a state
constitution prohibiting slavery. Early in 1856 they elected their own governor
and legislature, neither of which the federal government recognized.
On May 21, 1856, after several months
of inflammatory newspaper editorials on both sides, threats, and the murder of a
Free Stater, a proslavery force attacked the Free State community of Lawrence,
looting and burning several buildings. The Connecticut-born abolitionist John
Brown and his sons avenged this crime on May 24, 1856, by killing five
proslavery supporters at Pottawatomie Creek. This act, as well as his success in
withstanding a large party of attacking proslavery Missourians at Osawatomie in
August, made Brown nationally famous as a foe of slavery. Several raids and
armed skirmishes followed, until the intervention of federal troops in September
brought some degree of peace to the territory. However, factional violence in
Kansas did not end until 1858, following the Marais des Cygnes Massacre of Free
Staters by Missourians in what is now Linn County.
H | Statehood |
In July 1857 the territorial governor,
Robert J. Walker, persuaded the Free State Party to participate in the
territorial election later in October. In the election, which was well
supervised compared with earlier elections, the Free State Party gained control
of the legislature.
Despite the defeat, proslavery settlers
continued to press for Kansas’s admission to the Union as a slave state. In
November 1857 it held a convention at Lecompton and proposed a state
constitution that would guarantee the right to hold slaves in Kansas. Proslavery
forces then arranged the ballot so that territorial voters would vote not on the
constitution but on the question of whether there would be a “constitution with
slavery” or a “constitution with no slavery.” This meant that the electorate
could prohibit the introduction of slaves into Kansas in the future but could
not interfere with slavery already existing there. Free Staters refused to
participate in such an election; instead, the Free State legislature scheduled a
vote on the constitution for January 1858. This time the proslavery forces
refused to vote, and the Lecompton constitution was rejected almost unanimously.
A new constitution drawn up by the Free Staters was approved by the voters in
May but was rejected by the U.S. Congress, which instead arranged another vote
in which the Lecompton constitution was finally and overwhelmingly
defeated.
In July 1859 a new proposed state
constitution that included an article prohibiting slavery was drawn up at
Wyandotte, now part of Kansas City, Kansas. Kansas voters approved the new
constitution by a two-to-one margin in an October election and on January 29,
1861, Kansas entered the Union as the 34th state. The boundaries of the new
state were drawn to exclude the Kansas Territory’s western section, which
eventually became part of Colorado. Charles Robinson was elected the state’s
first governor, and Topeka became the state capital.
I | Mid-19th Century Development |
Economic difficulties resulted from a
national depression in 1857 and a severe drought in 1859 and 1860. However, the
discovery of gold in 1858 in the eastern Rocky Mountains of present-day
Colorado, then in western Kansas Territory, brought prosperity to some. Miners
purchased supplies in the Missouri River towns of Atchison and Leavenworth;
stagecoach and freight companies—such as Russell, Majors, and Waddell—became big
businesses; and the Smoky Hill Trail across central Kansas was opened.
The Pony Express, a mail service
between Saint Joseph, Missouri, and Sacramento, California, began on April 3,
1860, under the direction of the Central Overland California and Pike’s Peak
Express Company. At that time, regular mail service took up to three weeks to
cross the continent, but the Pony Express carried mail on horseback between
Saint Joseph and Sacramento in ten days. Pony Express riders were expected to
cover 120 km (75 mi) a day. William Frederick Cody, who later became a scout and
showman, known as Buffalo Bill, rode the Pony Express, which lasted only a
little more than a year because of the completion of the transcontinental
telegraph.
J | The Civil War |
Shortly after Kansas achieved statehood
the Civil War began. Kansas contributed more than 20,000 men (two-thirds of the
adult males in the state) to the Union effort. Blacks and Native Americans each
contributed soldiers to the Union troops raised in Kansas. Kansas troops served
on the plains, saw action in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and the Indian
Territory, and the Eighth Kansas Infantry distinguished itself at Lookout
Mountain and Chickamauga. There were no major battles in Kansas, but Kansas
troops helped pursue a retreating Confederate force under General Sterling Price
in October 1864, following his defeat at the battle of Westport in present-day
Kansas City, Missouri. The Confederates were caught in Kansas, but Price managed
to escape.
Confederate guerrillas led by William
Quantrill raided several communities in eastern Kansas, and some Kansans engaged
in similar activity in western Missouri. On August 21, 1863, Quantrill attacked
Lawrence, Kansas, at dawn, destroyed its businesses, and killed 150 people, most
of them civilians. In October Quantrill raided Baxter Springs and then attacked
troops on their way to Fort Smith, Arkansas. Disguised in Union uniforms, the
guerrillas took the Union force by surprise and inflicted heavy casualties.
K | Postwar Economic Development |
The decades after the Civil War were
the most intensive period of settlement in the history of Kansas. Between 1860
and 1890 the population of Kansas increased from about 100,000 to 1.4 million.
The population growth between 1870 and 1890 exceeded population growth in the
following 80 years.
Before the Civil War almost all white
settlement took place in eastern Kansas, where growing corn and vegetables and
raising livestock were the main economic activities. Toward the end of the Civil
War and immediately after, the U.S. Army built five new military posts in
western Kansas to protect travelers on the Smoky Hill and the Santa Fe trails
from the Plains peoples who raided settlers and communities in retaliation for
continuing white settlement and corrupt treaty negotiations. Attacks and
counterattacks followed, and massacres in other states were revenged in Kansas.
As settlement slowly moved west and railroad construction resumed, the army
moved to defeat the native peoples to protect settlers and rail workers.
Military occupation of the posts—Forts Hays, Harker, Dodge, Zarah, and
Wallace—ended in the early 1880s; the U.S. Army had defeated and removed almost
all Native Americans by 1878.
In the late 1870s and the 1880s many
farmers migrated to central and western Kansas. Many of them took land for
homesteads from the government or purchased land from the federally subsidized
railroads. Many came from the Mississippi River valley but many also emigrated
from central and northern Europe. Unused to conditions on the plains, especially
the lack of water and timber, farmers found life difficult. Settlers also had to
contend with sporadic Native American raids until 1878 and with occasional
droughts, blizzards, and plagues of grasshoppers, called locusts. In the face of
these difficulties thousands of settlers abandoned their farms after only a few
years and moved to other parts of the country.
Those that remained, however, adapted
to the plains environment. They adopted drought-resistant crops and new
agricultural techniques, such as moisture-conserving tilling. They used sod for
building houses, and buffalo and cow manure for fuel. Windmills brought water up
from deep wells, and in the 1880s farmers began using irrigation in western
Kansas. In increasing numbers the plains farmers cultivated drought-resistant
strains of wheat developed from Turkey Red, a wheat that immigrants from
southern Russia had introduced in Kansas in 1874. The climatic conditions of
central and western Kansas suited these wheat strains, and wheat production
increased. By the early 20th century wheat had replaced corn as the state’s most
important crop.
The growth of ranching and farming
during the last few decades of the 19th century stimulated the state’s
flour-milling and meat-packing industries, principally in eastern Kansas. In
addition, a mining industry developed, based on the state’s deposits of coal,
oil, lead, salt, and other minerals.
L | The Cattle Industry |
The first railroad line in central
Kansas, the Union Pacific, had reached Abilene in 1867. Shortly thereafter,
extensive corrals for cattle were built in Abilene, which became the first
Kansas cow town. Texas cattlemen drove their stock north along the Chisholm
Trail to the Abilene stockyards. The cattle were then shipped by rail to Kansas
City, Missouri, Chicago, Illinois, or other markets east of the Mississippi.
Later, other cattle trails met the railroads at the Kansas towns of Wichita,
Ellsworth, Caldwell, and Dodge City.
Kansas, with its Native Americans,
cowboys, cattle drives, and dusty frontier towns, became part of the legendary
“Wild West” that was romanticized in stories and films. Buffalo Bill Cody lived
in Kansas, providing buffalo meat for railroad workers. Abilene City Marshal
James Butler Hickok (called Wild Bill Hickok), Wyatt Earp, and Ford County
Sheriff Bat Masterson, tried to keep law and order in these towns and were made
famous later in books and motion pictures.
In the 1870s the cattle drivers found
it more profitable to raise their own stock on Kansas rangelands than to drive
half-wild herds of cattle from Texas. They could thus avoid the long, arduous
cattle drives, and also raise better grades of beef cattle using controlled
breeding in one location. As a result, cattle raising increased in central and
western Kansas, and cattle drives became more infrequent, ending completely by
the mid-1880s. By that time formerly open rangeland had been enclosed by a new
invention called barbed wire; stringent legislation had restricted the Texas
cattle drives; and railroads had reached Texas, eliminating the original reason
for the drives.
M | Farm Discontent |
Kansas farmers battled declining prices
for agricultural products through most of the late 19th century, and paid what
they considered to be excessive prices for storing and shipping their produce.
Many went heavily into debt and, when they were unable to repay, lost their
houses, their land, or both. As a result, Kansas farmers and those in related
industries supported major political and economic reforms advocated by a number
of organizations, including the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry
(called the National Grange), the Farmers’ Alliance, and the Populist Party,
which was the strongest political reform organization in Kansas.
The Populist Party called for the
unlimited, or free, coinage of silver dollars and wanted the government to put
larger amounts of paper money in circulation. The party hoped that these
measures would make it easier for farmers to repay their debts. The party also
wanted other reforms: an end to the national banking system; government-run
railroads; a tax on income; the direct, popular election of U.S. senators; and
the referendum, with which voters could approve or reject the laws their
legislators made.
In 1892 and 1896 Kansas elected
governors who received the support of both the Populist and the Democratic
parties. In addition, the Populists gained control of the state legislature for
a time, and a number of Populist candidates were elected to the U.S. Congress.
Despite these electoral successes, however, the Populists managed to pass only
limited reforms, and when farm prices began to rise in the last few years of the
19th century, the strength of the Populist Party declined.
Republicans who believed that
government should play a larger role in economic affairs, called Progressives,
later took on many Populist causes. Between 1904 and 1912 Kansas strengthened
its child labor laws, enacted compensation for injured workers, strengthened
state regulation of railroad rates, and passed a law authorizing the state to
examine and approve all sales of business securities in Kansas. William Allen
White, an editor from Emporia, was an important member of this group, most of
whom supported President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) in his attempts to
reform the government.
N | Early 20th Century |
Kansas prospered in the period between
1900 and 1930. Agricultural production grew rapidly, and Kansas became one of
the leading wheat-producing regions in the United States. World War I
(1914-1918) increased the demand for wheat, which encouraged the expansion of
acreage under cultivation. In addition, mechanization, widespread use of
dry-farming techniques, and the increasing use of irrigation also contributed to
the state’s increased agricultural productivity. Although the oil industry
expanded rapidly following the opening of major oil fields in eastern Kansas
during World War I, meat packing and flour milling remained the leading
manufacturing industries in the early 20th century.
Economic depression in the 1930s
brought hardship to Kansas. A prolonged drought from 1931 to 1937 worsened the
plight of Kansas farmers. The Great Plains suffered from soil erosion, and high
winds churned the loose topsoil into enormous swirling dust storms, or black
blizzards. In Kansas and the rest of what was called the Dust Bowl, thousands of
farmers, unable to farm profitably, if at all, abandoned their farms and
migrated to other parts of the country, particularly the West. Between 1930 and
1940 the state’s total population decreased, despite the fact that the urban
population increased slightly.
In the late 1930s, rainfall increased,
reducing the dust storms. The federal and state governments also began
widespread conservation efforts to help Kansans recover from the depression.
These included stabilizing and diversifying the state’s agricultural economy by
encouraging the use of better crop rotation and the greater production of
sorghum grains and other crops. Kansas also benefited considerably from various
federal public works programs such as the Works Progress Administration, which
provided money to build public buildings and roads, as well as for Kansas
artists.
O | World War II and Early Postwar Years |
During World War II (1939-1945) the
increased demand for farm products once again helped Kansas agriculture. In
addition, wartime demands for machinery and military equipment greatly expanded
industrial production, particularly in aircraft manufacturing in the Wichita
area. By the end of the war the manufacture of aircraft and other transportation
equipment was a major economic activity. As a result, Kansas’s economy became
less dependent on agriculture. The trend toward industrialization was paralleled
by an increase in urbanization.
P | Desegregation |
The 1954 decision by the Supreme Court
of the United States in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka,
Kansas, represented a turning point in the history of the United States.
Reversing the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, which said that
racially “separate but equal” public institutions were legal, the court held
that segregated public schools were “inherently unequal” and denied black
children equal protection under the law. It later directed that the state
provide desegregated educational facilities “with all deliberate speed.” Kansas
had been only one of many states that had “separate but equal” schools that were
affected by the decision. Although Southern white officials sought to obstruct
implementation of the Brown decision, many blacks saw the ruling as a sign that
the federal government might intervene on their behalf in other racial
matters.
Q | Postwar Economy |
Agricultural output in Kansas grew
during the 1960s and 1970s, but on fewer, larger, and more mechanized farms. The
decline in the number of farms continued at a diminished rate even into the
1990s, despite the fact that Kansas often leads the nation in wheat production.
Kansas became increasingly urbanized, and in 1970 nearly two-thirds of Kansans
lived in cities and towns.
However, beginning in 1990, population
in rural counties began increasing. In some cases it indicated the growth of
bedroom communities, or towns in which workers live although they work in other
cities; in others it was attributed to the advance of communication technologies
that allowed people to work considerable distances from urban centers.
Manufacturing, led by aircraft
production, continued to gain importance in the state’s economy. The production
of military aircraft declined after the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam
War (1959-1975), but each decline was accompanied by increasing production of
small civilian aircraft. Other industries, such as the manufacture of
automobiles and related products like tires and batteries, also grew.
New manufacturing plants continue to
be built in Kansas. Large corporate headquarters for insurance and communication
companies have also found homes in eastern Kansas. As a result, despite the loss
of jobs in some historically important businesses, such as railroading, the
unemployment rate has remained low in the 1990s.
R | Recent Developments |
R1 | Political Developments |
The Republican Party has dominated
Kansas politics for a century. Only five Democrats had been elected governor
prior to 1956, and each served only one term. In the 20th century the Democrats
controlled the state senate only once and the house only for four legislative
sessions. However, since 1957 Kansas Democrats have been more successful,
especially with the governorship. Democrat George Docking served two, two-year
terms (1957-1961) and his son, Robert Docking, served four terms (1967-1975),
following John Anderson, Jr., and William Avery, both Republicans. Republican
Robert Bennett was elected to the first four-year gubernatorial term in 1974 but
was defeated for reelection in 1978 by John Carlin, a Democrat, who served until
1987. The Republican Mike Hayden won in 1986, but he was beaten in 1990 by
Democrat Joan Finney, the first woman to be the governor of Kansas. She did not
run again and a Republican, Bill Graves, took office in 1995 and was reelected
in 1998. In 2002 a Democrat, Kathleen Sebelius, won the governor’s office.
Kansas’s seats in the U.S. Congress
have been held mostly by Republicans. Robert Dole represented Kansas in the U.S.
Senate from 1968 to 1996, when he resigned his seat to campaign full time for
U.S. president. Dole received the Republican Party nomination but lost in the
general election to Bill Clinton. Kansas has generally voted for Republican
presidential candidates, but the state voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt in
1936 (although the Republican candidate was the state’s popular and respected
governor, Alf Landon) and for Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964.
Kansas has elected women to
congressional seats several times and has elected women to the offices of state
treasurer, insurance commissioner, lieutenant governor, and governor. Georgia
Neese Clark Gray served as the United States treasurer under President Harry S.
Truman (1945-1953). The state lost a congressional seat following
reapportionment in the 1990s and was reduced to four representatives.
R2 | Social, Health, and Environmental Issues |
Kansas, which had long prohibited
the sale of alcoholic beverages, voted to repeal the ban on alcohol sales in
1948, and in 1986 the constitution was amended again to allow liquor sales by
the drink. In 1986 the state also approved a state lottery and legalized betting
on horse and dog races. Casino gambling on Native American reservations was
authorized in 1995, and debates continue on whether to allow gambling in other
areas. The Sunday sale of alcoholic beverages became legal in 2004 on a
local-option basis, and in 2005 the privilege was extended to grocery and
convenience stores selling 3.2 percent beer.
Kansas was a pioneer in public
health and environmental concerns. In the 1990s county and regional mental
health programs were expanded. Concerns about child abuse, battered women, and
drug dependency grew in the 1970s, and in 1980 Kansas became the first state to
create a fund for child-abuse prevention programs.
Conservation efforts have continued
since the 1930s but concerns about water increased in the 1980s and 1990s. The
volume of the Ogallala Aquifer, which underlies much of western Kansas, has
decreased because of heavy irrigation. The construction of several reservoirs on
major streams since the 1950s alleviated water shortages and provided flood
control, but greater demand for water by an increasing urban population means
that the state must work harder to protect its most valuable natural
resource.
R3 | Teaching of Evolution |
As Kansas prepared to enter the 21st
century, it became the focus of a controversial decision in 1999 by the Kansas
Board of Education to remove most references to evolution from the state
curricula guidelines. Under those guidelines, the concept that evolution gives
rise to new species would not be taught in Kansas schools, and knowledge of
evolution would not be required in state assessment tests. The 6-4 vote in favor
of the new guidelines resulted in a backlash against religious conservatives who
supported the decision, and moderates regained control of the board in the 2000
elections.
But in the 2004 elections, religious
conservatives opposed to the teaching of evolution again won six seats on the
board. In November 2005 the board voted 6-4 for the state’s science curricula
standards to teach that evolution is controversial. The new standards were
opposed by leading scientists and scientific organizations, who argued that
evolution is an accepted fact in science and is not controversial. In February
2007, however, a newly elected board rescinded the guidelines.
R4 | Recent Supreme Court Decisions |
In January 2005 the Kansas Supreme
Court ruled that the legislature had not fulfilled its constitutional duty to
fund kindergarten through 12th grade schools. The court mandated an increased
amount. A special session of the state legislature was called, and ultimately
$290 million in new money was appropriated. The new statute also required that
65 percent of the added state dollars be used in the classroom. Also in 2005 the
Supreme Court ruled that the Kansas death penalty law was unconstitutional. That
ruling is currently on appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States, which
may rule on it in 2006.
The history section of this article
was contributed by Robert W. Richmond. The remainder of the article was
contributed by James R. Shortridge.
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