Kansas (listen) is a U.S. state in the Midwestern
United States. Its capital is Topeka and its
largest city is Wichita. Kansas is named after
the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited
the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze)
is often said to mean "people of the (south)
wind" although this was probably not the term's
original meaning. For thousands of years,
what is now Kansas was home to numerous and
diverse Native American tribes. Tribes in
the eastern part of the state generally lived
in villages along the river valleys. Tribes
in the western part of the state were semi-nomadic
and hunted large herds of bison.
Kansas was first settled by European Americans
in 1812, in what is now Bonner Springs, but
the pace of settlement accelerated in the
1850s, in the midst of political wars over
the slavery debate. When it was officially
opened to settlement by the U.S. government
in 1854 with the Kansas–Nebraska Act, abolitionist
Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery
settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed
to the territory to determine whether Kansas
would become a free state or a slave state.
Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and
chaos in its early days as these forces collided,
and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists
prevailed, and on January 29, 1861, Kansas
entered the Union as a free state. After the
Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly
when waves of immigrants turned the prairie
into farmland.
By 2015, Kansas was one of the most productive
agricultural states, producing high yields
of wheat, corn, sorghum, and soybeans. Kansas,
which has an area of 82,278 square miles (213,100
square kilometers) is the 15th-largest state
by area and is the 34th most-populous of the
50 states with a population of 2,911,641.
Residents of Kansas are called Kansans. Mount
Sunflower is Kansas's highest point at 4,041
feet (1,232 meters).
== History ==
For a millennium, the land that is currently
Kansas was inhabited by Native Americans.
The first European to set foot in present-day
Kansas was the Spanish conquistador Francisco
Vázquez de Coronado, who explored the area
in 1541. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was
acquired by the United States as part of the
Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however,
was still a part of Spain, Mexico, and the
Republic of Texas until the conclusion of
the Mexican–American War in 1848, when these
lands were ceded to the United States. From
1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri
Territory. The Santa Fe Trail traversed Kansas
from 1821 to 1880, transporting manufactured
goods from Missouri and silver and furs from
Santa Fe, New Mexico. Wagon ruts from the
trail are still visible in the prairie today.
In 1827, Fort Leavenworth became the first
permanent settlement of white Americans in
the future state. The Kansas–Nebraska Act
became law on May 30, 1854, establishing Nebraska
Territory and Kansas Territory, and opening
the area to broader settlement by whites.
Kansas Territory stretched all the way to
the Continental Divide and included the sites
of present-day Denver, Colorado Springs, and
Pueblo.
Missouri and Arkansas sent settlers into Kansas
all along its eastern border. These settlers
attempted to sway votes in favor of slavery.
The secondary settlement of Americans in Kansas
Territory were abolitionists from Massachusetts
and other Free-Staters, who attempted to stop
the spread of slavery from neighboring Missouri.
Directly presaging the American Civil War,
these forces collided, entering into skirmishes
that earned the territory the name of Bleeding
Kansas.
Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free
state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th
state to join the United States. By that time
the violence in Kansas had largely subsided,
but during the Civil War, on August 21, 1863,
William Quantrill led several hundred men
on a raid into Lawrence, destroying much of
the city and killing nearly 200 people. He
was roundly condemned by both the conventional
Confederate military and the partisan rangers
commissioned by the Missouri legislature.
His application to that body for a commission
was flatly rejected due to his pre-war criminal
record.After the Civil War, many veterans
constructed homesteads in Kansas. Many African
Americans also looked to Kansas as the land
of "John Brown" and, led by freedmen like
Benjamin "Pap" Singleton, began establishing
black colonies in the state. Leaving southern
states in the late 1870s because of increasing
discrimination, they became known as Exodusters.
At the same time, the Chisholm Trail was opened
and the Wild West-era commenced in Kansas.
Wild Bill Hickok was a deputy marshal at Fort
Riley and a marshal at Hays and Abilene. Dodge
City was another wild cowboy town, and both
Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp worked as lawmen
in the town. In one year alone, eight million
head of cattle from Texas boarded trains in
Dodge City bound for the East, earning Dodge
the nickname "Queen of the Cowtowns."
In response to demands of Methodists and other
evangelical Protestants, in 1881 Kansas became
the first U.S. state to adopt a constitutional
amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages,
which was only repealed in 1948.
== Geography ==
Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north;
Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south;
and Colorado on the west. The state is divided
into 105 counties with 628 cities, and is
located equidistant from the Pacific and Atlantic
oceans. The geographic center of the 48 contiguous
states is in Smith County near Lebanon. Until
1989, the Meades Ranch Triangulation Station
in Osborne County was the geodetic center
of North America: the central reference point
for all maps of North America. The geographic
center of Kansas is in Barton County.
=== Geology ===
Kansas is underlain by a sequence of horizontal
to gently westward dipping sedimentary rocks.
A sequence of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian
and Permian rocks outcrop in the eastern and
southern part of the state. The state's western
half has exposures of Cretaceous through Tertiary
sediments, the latter derived from the erosion
of the uplifted Rocky Mountains to the west.
These are underlain by older Paleozoic and
Mesozoic sediments which correlate well with
the outcrops to the east. The state's northeastern
corner was subjected to glaciation in the
Pleistocene and is covered by glacial drift
and loess.
=== Topography ===
The western two-thirds of the state, lying
in the great central plain of the United States,
has a generally flat or undulating surface,
while the eastern third has many hills and
forests. The land gradually rises from east
to west; its altitude ranges from 684 ft (208
m) along the Verdigris River at Coffeyville
in Montgomery County, to 4,039 ft (1,231 m)
at Mount Sunflower, 0.5 miles (0.80 kilometers)
from the Colorado border, in Wallace County.
It is a common misconception that Kansas is
the flattest state in the nation — in 2003,
a tongue-in-cheek study famously declared
the state "flatter than a pancake". In fact,
Kansas has a maximum topographic relief of
3,360 ft (1,020 m), making it the 23rd flattest
U.S. state measured by maximum relief.
=== Rivers ===
Nearly 75 mi (121 km) of the state's northeastern
boundary is defined by the Missouri River.
The Kansas River (locally known as the Kaw),
formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill and
Republican rivers at appropriately-named Junction
City, joins the Missouri River at Kansas City,
after a course of 170 mi (270 km) across the
northeastern part of the state.
The Arkansas River (pronunciation varies),
rising in Colorado, flows with a bending course
for nearly 500 mi (800 km) across the western
and southern parts of the state. With its
tributaries, (the Little Arkansas, Ninnescah,
Walnut, Cow Creek, Cimarron, Verdigris, and
the Neosho), it forms the southern drainage
system of the state.
Kansas's other rivers are the Saline and Solomon
Rivers, tributaries of the Smoky Hill River;
the Big Blue, Delaware, and Wakarusa, which
flow into the Kansas River; and the Marais
des Cygnes, a tributary of the Missouri River.
Spring River is located between Riverton and
Baxter Springs.
=== National parks and historic sites ===
Areas under the protection of the National
Park Service include:
Brown v. Board Of Education National Historic
Site in Topeka
California National Historic Trail
Fort Larned National Historic Site in Larned
Fort Scott National Historic Site
Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
Nicodemus National Historic Site at Nicodemus
Oregon National Historic Trail
Pony Express National Historic Trail
Santa Fe National Historic Trail
Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve near Strong
City
=== Flora and fauna ===
=== Climate ===
According to the Köppen climate classification,
Kansas's climate can be characterized in terms
of three types: it has humid continental,
semi-arid steppe, and humid subtropical. The
eastern two-thirds of the state (especially
the northeastern portion) has a humid continental
climate, with cool to cold winters and hot,
often humid summers. Most of the precipitation
falls during both the summer and the spring.
The western third of the state – from roughly
the U.S. Route 83 corridor westward – has
a semiarid steppe climate. Summers are hot,
often very hot, and generally less humid.
Winters are highly changeable between warm
and very cold. The western region receives
an average of about 16 inches (410 millimeters)
of precipitation per year. Chinook winds in
the winter can warm western Kansas all the
way into the 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees
Celsius) range.
The far south-central and southeastern portions
of the state, including the Wichita area,
have a humid subtropical climate with hot
and humid summers, milder winters, and more
precipitation than elsewhere in Kansas. Some
features of all three climates can be found
in most of the state, with droughts and changeable
weather between dry and humid not uncommon,
and both warm and cold spells in the winter.
Temperatures in areas between U.S. Routes
83 and 81, as well as the southwestern portion
of the state along and south of U.S. 50, reach
100 °F (38 °C) or above on most days of
June, July, and August. High humidity added
to the high temperatures sends the heat index
into life-threatening territory, especially
in Wichita, Hutchinson, Salina, Russell, Hays,
and Great Bend. Temperatures are often higher
in Dodge City, Garden City, and Liberal, but
the heat index in those three cities is usually
lower than the actual air temperature.
Although temperatures of 100 °F (38 °C)
or higher are not as common in areas east
of U.S. 81, higher humidity and the urban
heat island effect lead most summer days to
heat indices between 107 °F (42 °C) and
114 °F (46 °C) in Topeka, Lawrence, and
the Kansas City metropolitan area. During
the summer, nightly low temperatures in the
northeastern part of the state, especially
in the aforementioned large cities, struggle
to fall below 80 °F (27 °C). Also, combined
with humidity between 85 and 95 percent, dangerous
heat indices can be experienced at every hour
of the day.
Precipitation ranges from about 47 inches
(1,200 mm) annually in the state's southeast
corner to about 16 inches (410 mm) in the
southwest. Snowfall ranges from around 5 inches
(130 mm) in the fringes of the south, to 35
inches (890 mm) in the far northwest. Frost-free
days range from more than 200 days in the
south, to 130 days in the northwest. Thus,
Kansas is the country's ninth or tenth sunniest
state, depending on the source. Western Kansas
is as sunny as California and Arizona.
Kansas is prone to severe weather, especially
in the spring and the early-summer. Despite
the frequent sunshine throughout much of the
state, due to its location at a climatic boundary
prone to intrusions of multiple air masses,
the state is vulnerable to strong and severe
thunderstorms. Some of these storms become
supercell thunderstorms; these can produce
some tornadoes, occasionally those of EF3
strength or higher. Kansas averages over 50
tornadoes annually. Severe thunderstorms sometimes
drop some very large hail over Kansas as well.
Furthermore, these storms can even bring in
flash flooding and damaging straight line
winds.
According to NOAA, the all-time highest temperature
recorded in Kansas is (121 °F or 49.4 °C)
on July 24, 1936, near Alton in Osborne County,
and the all-time low is −40 °F (−40 °C)
on February 13, 1905, near Lebanon in Smith
County. Alton and Lebanon are approximately
50 miles (80 km) apart.
Kansas's record high of 121 °F (49.4 °C)
ties with North Dakota for the fifth-highest
record high in an American state, behind California
(134 °F or 56.7 °C), Arizona (128 °F or
53.3 °C), Nevada (125 °F or 51.7 °C), and
New Mexico (122 °F or 50 °C).
== Demographics ==
The United States Census Bureau estimates
that the population of Kansas was 2,907,289
on July 1, 2016, a 1.9% increase since the
2010 United States Census and an increase
of 58,523, or 2.05%, since the year 2010.
This includes a natural increase since the
last census of 93,899 people (that is 246,484
births minus 152,585 deaths) and a decrease
due to net migration of 20,742 people out
of the state. Immigration from outside the
United States resulted in a net increase of
44,847 people, and migration within the country
produced a net loss of 65,589 people.The population
density of Kansas is 52.9 people per square
mile. The center of population of Kansas is
located in Chase County, at 38°27′N 96°32′W,
approximately 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the
community of Strong City.The focus on labor-efficient
grain-based agriculture - such as large wheat
farm that requires only one or a few people
with large farm machinery to operate, rather
than a vegetable farm that requires many people
during planting and harvest or a non-agricultural
facility that requires many employees – is
causing the de-population of rural areas across
Kansas.
=== Ancestry ===
According to the 2010 Census, the racial makeup
of the population was:
83.8% of the population was White American
(77.5% non-Hispanic white)
5.9% was Black or African American
1.0% American Indian and Alaska Native
2.4% Asian American
0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander
3.0% from two or more races.Ethnically 10.5%
of the total population was of Hispanic or
Latino origin (they may be of any race).
As of 2004, the population included 149,800
foreign-born (5.5% of the state population).
The ten largest reported ancestry groups,
which account for over 85% of the population,
in the state are: German (33.75%), Irish (14.4%),
English (14.1%), American (7.5%), French (4.4%),
Scottish (4.2%), Dutch (2.5%), Swedish (2.4%),
Italian (1.8%), and Polish (1.5%). German
descendants are especially present in the
northwest, while those of descendants of English
and of white Americans from other states are
especially present in the southeast.
Mexicans are present in the southwest and
make up nearly half the population in certain
counties. Many African Americans in Kansas
are descended from the Exodusters, newly freed
blacks who fled the South for land in Kansas
following the Civil War.
As of 2011, 35.0% of Kansas's population younger
than one year of age belonged to minority
groups (i.e., did not have two parents of
non-Hispanic white ancestry).
=== Language ===
Spanish is the second-most-spoken language
in Kansas, after English [1].
=== Religion ===
The 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Survey showed
the religious makeup of adults in Kansas was
as follows:
Christian 76%
57% Protestant
31% Evangelical Protestant
24% Mainline Protestant
2% Black Protestant
18% Catholic
1% Mormon
1% Jehovah's Witness
Non-Christian faiths 4%
Jewish < 1%
Muslim 1%
Buddhist 1%
Hindu < 1%
Other World Religions < 1%
Other Faiths 2%
Unaffiliated 20%
Atheist 2%
Agnostic 3%
Nothing in particular 14%
Don't know < 1%
As of 2010, the Association of Religion Data
Archives (ARDA) reported that the Catholic
Church has the highest number of adherents
in Kansas (at 426,611), followed by the United
Methodist Church with 202,989 members, and
the Southern Baptist Convention, reporting
99,329 adherents.Kansas's capital Topeka is
sometimes cited as the home of Pentecostalism
as it was the site of Charles Fox Parham's
Bethel Bible College, where glossolalia was
first claimed as the evidence of a spiritual
experience referred to as the baptism of the
Holy Spirit in 1901. It is also the home of
Reverend Charles Sheldon, author of In His
Steps, and was the site where the question
"What would Jesus do?" originated in a sermon
of Sheldon's at Central Congregational Church.
Topeka is also home of the Westboro Baptist
Church, a hate group according to the Southern
Poverty Law Center. The church has garnered
worldwide media attention for picketing the
funerals of U.S. servicemen and women for
what church members claim as "necessary to
combat the fight for equality for gays and
lesbians." They have sometimes successfully
raised lawsuits against the city of Topeka.
=== Settlement ===
Known as rural flight, the last few decades
have been marked by a migratory pattern out
of the countryside into cities. Out of all
the cities in these Midwestern states, 89%
have fewer than 3,000 people, and hundreds
of those have fewer than 1,000. In Kansas
alone, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns
and dwindling communities, according to one
Kansas historian, Daniel C. Fitzgerald. At
the same time, some of the communities in
Johnson County (metropolitan Kansas City)
are among the fastest-growing in the country.
Kansas has 627 incorporated cities. By state
statute, cities are divided into three classes
as determined by the population obtained "by
any census of enumeration." A city of the
third class has a population of less than
5,000, but cities reaching a population of
more than 2,000 may be certified as a city
of the second class. The second class is limited
to cities with a population of less than 25,000,
and upon reaching a population of more than
15,000, they may be certified as a city of
the first class. First and second class cities
are independent of any township and are not
included within the township's territory.
=== Birth data ===
Note: Births in table don't add up, because
Hispanics are counted both by their ethnicity
and by their race, giving a higher overall
number.
Since 2016, data for births of White Hispanic
origin are not collected, but included in
one Hispanic group; persons of Hispanic origin
may be of any race.
=== Regions ===
==== Northeast Kansas ====
The northeastern portion of the state, extending
from the eastern border to Junction City and
from the Nebraska border to south of Johnson
County is home to more than 1.5 million people
in the Kansas City (Kansas portion), Manhattan,
Lawrence, and Topeka metropolitan areas. Overland
Park, a young city incorporated in 1960, has
the largest population and the largest land
area in the county. It is home to Johnson
County Community College and the corporate
campus of Sprint Nextel, the largest private
employer in the metro area. In 2006, the city
was ranked as the sixth best place to live
in America; the neighboring city of Olathe
was 13th.Olathe is the county seat and home
to Johnson County Executive Airport. The cities
of Olathe, Shawnee, De Soto and Gardner have
some of the state's fastest growing populations.
The cities of Overland Park, Lenexa, Olathe,
De Soto, and Gardner are also notable because
they lie along the former route of the Santa
Fe Trail. Among cities with at least one thousand
residents, Mission Hills has the highest median
income in the state.
Several institutions of higher education are
located in Northeast Kansas including Baker
University (the oldest university in the state,
founded in 1858 and affiliated with the United
Methodist Church) in Baldwin City, Benedictine
College (sponsored by St. Benedict's Abbey
and Mount St. Scholastica Monastery and formed
from the merger of St. Benedict's College
(1858) and Mount St. Scholastica College (1923))
in Atchison, MidAmerica Nazarene University
in Olathe, Ottawa University in Ottawa and
Overland Park, Kansas City Kansas Community
College and KU Medical Center in Kansas City,
and KU Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Less
than an hour's drive to the west, Lawrence
is home to the University of Kansas, the largest
public university in the state, and Haskell
Indian Nations University.
To the north, Kansas City, with the second
largest land area in the state, contains a
number of diverse ethnic neighborhoods. Its
attractions include the Kansas Speedway, Sporting
Kansas City, Kansas City T-Bones, Schlitterbahn,
and The Legends at Village West retail and
entertainment center. Nearby, Kansas's first
settlement Bonner Springs is home to several
national and regional attractions including
the Providence Medical Center Amphitheather,
the National Agricultural Center and Hall
of Fame, and the annual Kansas City Renaissance
Festival. Further up the Missouri River, the
city of Lansing is the home of the state's
first maximum-security prison. Historic Leavenworth,
founded in 1854, was the first incorporated
city in Kansas. North of the city, Fort Leavenworth
is the oldest active Army post west of the
Mississippi River. The city of Atchison was
an early commercial center in the state and
is well known as the birthplace of Amelia
Earhart.
To the west, nearly a quarter million people
reside in the Topeka metropolitan area. Topeka
is the state capital and home to Washburn
University and Washburn Institute of Technology.
Built at a Kansas River crossing along the
old Oregon Trail, this historic city has several
nationally registered historic places. Further
westward along Interstate 70 and the Kansas
River is Junction City with its historic limestone
and brick buildings and nearby Fort Riley,
well known as the home to the U.S. Army's
1st Infantry Division (nicknamed "the Big
Red One"). A short distance away, the city
of Manhattan is home to Kansas State University,
the second-largest public university in the
state and the nation's oldest land-grant university,
dating back to 1863. South of the campus,
Aggieville dates back to 1889 and is the state's
oldest shopping district of its kind.
==== Wichita ====
In south-central Kansas, the Wichita metropolitan
area is home to over 600,000 people. Wichita
is the largest city in the state in terms
of both land area and population. 'The Air
Capital' is a major manufacturing center for
the aircraft industry and the home of Wichita
State University. Before Wichita was 'The
Air Capital' it was a Cowtown. With a number
of nationally registered historic places,
museums, and other entertainment destinations,
it has a desire to become a cultural mecca
in the Midwest. Wichita's population growth
has grown by double digits and the surrounding
suburbs are among the fastest growing cities
in the state. The population of Goddard has
grown by more than 11% per year since 2000.
Other fast-growing cities include Andover,
Maize, Park City, Derby, and Haysville.
Wichita was one of the first cities to add
the city commissioner and city manager in
their form of government. Wichita is also
home of the nationally recognized Sedgwick
County Zoo.Up river (the Arkansas River) from
Wichita is the city of Hutchinson. The city
was built on one of the world's largest salt
deposits, and it has the world's largest and
longest wheat elevator. It is also the home
of Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, Prairie
Dunes Country Club and the Kansas State Fair.
North of Wichita along Interstate 135 is the
city of Newton, the former western terminal
of the Santa Fe Railroad and trailhead for
the famed Chisholm Trail. To the southeast
of Wichita are the cities of Winfield and
Arkansas City with historic architecture and
the Cherokee Strip Museum (in Ark City). The
city of Udall was the site of the deadliest
tornado in Kansas on May 25, 1955; it killed
80 people in and near the city. To the southwest
of Wichita is Freeport, the state's smallest
incorporated city (population 5).
==== Around the state ====
Located midway between Kansas City, Topeka,
and Wichita in the heart of the Bluestem Region
of the Flint Hills, the city of Emporia has
several nationally registered historic places
and is the home of Emporia State University,
well known for its Teachers College. It was
also the home of newspaper man William Allen
White.
==== Southeast Kansas ====
Southeast Kansas has a unique history with
a number of nationally registered historic
places in this coal-mining region. Located
in Crawford County (dubbed the Fried Chicken
Capital of Kansas), Pittsburg is the largest
city in the region and the home of Pittsburg
State University. The neighboring city of
Frontenac in 1888 was the site of the worst
mine disaster in the state in which an underground
explosion killed 47 miners. "Big Brutus" is
located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) outside the city
of West Mineral. Along with the restored fort,
historic Fort Scott has a national cemetery
designated by President Lincoln in 1862.
==== Central and North-Central Kansas ====
Salina is the largest city in central and
north-central Kansas. South of Salina is the
small city of Lindsborg with its numerous
Dala horses. Much of the architecture and
decor of this town has a distinctly Swedish
style. To the east along Interstate 70, the
historic city of Abilene was formerly a trailhead
for the Chisholm Trail and was the boyhood
home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and
is the site of his Presidential Library and
the tombs of the former President, First Lady
and son who died in infancy. To the west is
Lucas, the Grassroots Art Capital of Kansas.
==== Northwest Kansas ====
Westward along the Interstate, the city of
Russell, traditionally the beginning of sparsely-populated
northwest Kansas, was the base of former U.S.
Senator Bob Dole and the boyhood home of U.S.
Senator Arlen Specter. The city of Hays is
home to Fort Hays State University and the
Sternberg Museum of Natural History, and is
the largest city in the northwest with a population
of around 20,001.
Two other landmarks are located in smaller
towns in Ellis County: the "Cathedral of the
Plains" is located 10 miles (16 km) east of
Hays in Victoria, and the boyhood home of
Walter Chrysler is 15 miles (24 km) west of
Hays in Ellis. West of Hays, population drops
dramatically, even in areas along I-70, and
only two towns containing populations of more
than 4,000: Colby and Goodland, which are
located 35 miles (56 km) apart along I-70.
==== Southwest Kansas ====
Dodge City, famously known for the cattle
drive days of the late 19th century, was built
along the old Santa Fe Trail route. The city
of Liberal is located along the southern Santa
Fe Trail route. The first wind farm in the
state was built east of Montezuma. Garden
City has the Lee Richardson Zoo. In 1992,
a short-lived secessionist movement advocated
the secession of several counties in southwest
Kansas.
== Economy ==
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates
that Kansas's total gross domestic product
in 2014 was US$140,964 billion. In 2015, the
job growth rate in was .8%, among the lowest
rate in America with only "10,900 total nonfarm
jobs" added that year. According to the Kansas
Department of Labor's 2016 report, the average
annual wage was $42,930 in 2015. As of April
2016, the state's unemployment rate was 4.2%.The
State of Kansas had a $350 million budget
shortfall in February 2017. In February 2017,
S&P downgraded Kansas's credit rating to AA-.Nearly
90% of Kansas' land is devoted to agriculture.
The state's agricultural outputs are cattle,
sheep, wheat, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, hogs,
corn, and salt. As of 2018, there were 59,600
farms in Kansas, 86 (0.14%) of which are certified
organic farms. The average farm in the state
is about 770 acres (more than a square mile),
and in 2016, the average cost of running the
farm was $300,000.By far, the most significant
agricultural crop in the state is wheat. Eastern
Kansas is part of the Grain Belt, an area
of major grain production in the central United
States. Approximately 40% of all winter wheat
grown in the US is grown in Kansas. Roughly
95% of the wheat grown in the state is hard
red winter wheat. During 2016, farmers of
conventionally grown wheat farmed 8.2 million
acres and harvested an average of 57 bushels
of wheat per acre.The industrial outputs are
transportation equipment, commercial and private
aircraft, food processing, publishing, chemical
products, machinery, apparel, petroleum, and
mining.
Kansas is ranked eighth in US petroleum production.
Production has experienced a steady, natural
decline as it becomes increasingly difficult
to extract oil over time. Since oil prices
bottomed in 1999, oil production in Kansas
has remained fairly constant, with an average
monthly rate of about 2.8 million barrels
(450,000 cubic meters) in 2004. The recent
higher prices have made carbon dioxide sequestration
and other oil recovery techniques more economical.
Kansas is also ranked eighth in US natural
gas production. Production has steadily declined
since the mid-1990s with the gradual depletion
of the Hugoton Natural Gas Field—the state's
largest field which extends into Oklahoma
and Texas. In 2004, slower declines in the
Hugoton gas fields and increased coalbed methane
production contributed to a smaller overall
decline. Average monthly production was over
32 billion cubic feet (0.91 cubic kilometers).
The state's economy is also heavily influenced
by the aerospace industry. Several large aircraft
corporations have manufacturing facilities
in Wichita and Kansas City, including Spirit
AeroSystems, Bombardier Aerospace (LearJet),
and Textron Aviation (a merger of the former
Cessna, Hawker, and Beechcraft brands). Boeing
ended a decades-long history of manufacturing
in Kansas between 2012 and 2013.
Major companies headquartered in Kansas include
the Sprint Corporation (with world headquarters
in Overland Park), YRC Worldwide (Overland
Park), Garmin (Olathe), Payless Shoes (national
headquarters and major distribution facilities
in Topeka), and Koch Industries (with national
headquarters in Wichita), and Coleman (headquarters
in Wichita) . Telephone company Embarq formerly
had its national headquarters in Overland
Park before its acquisition by CenturyTel
in 2009, and still employs several hundred
people in Gardner.
Kansas is also home to three major military
installations: Fort Leavenworth (Army), Fort
Riley (Army), and McConnell Air Force Base
(Air Force). Approximately 25,000 active duty
soldiers and airmen are stationed at these
bases which also employ approximately 8,000
civilian DoD employees. The US Army Reserve
also has the 451st Expeditionary Sustainment
Command headquartered in Wichita that serves
reservists and their units from around the
region. The Kansas National Guard has units
at Forbes Field in Topeka and operates the
Great Plains Joint Training Center (formerly
the Smoky Hill Bomb Range) which is one of
the largest and busiest bombing ranges in
the nation. During WWII, Kansas was home to
numerous Army Air Corps training fields for
training new pilots and aircrew. Many of those
airfields live on today as municipal airports.
=== Taxes ===
Revenue shortfalls resulting from lower than
expected tax collections and slower growth
in personal income following a 1998 permanent
tax reduction have contributed to the substantial
growth in the state's debt level as bonded
debt increased from $1.16 billion in 1998
to $3.83 billion in 2006. Some increase in
debt was expected as the state continues with
its 10-year Comprehensive Transportation Program
enacted in 1999.
In 2003, Kansas had three income brackets
for income tax calculation, ranging from 3.5%
to 6.45%.
The state sales tax in Kansas is 6.15%. Various
cities and counties in Kansas have an additional
local sales tax. Except during the 2001 recession
(March–November 2001), when monthly sales
tax collections were flat, collections have
trended higher as the economy has grown and
two rate increases have been enacted. If there
had been no change in sales tax rates or in
the economy, the total sales tax collections
for 2003 whould have been $1,797 million,
compared to $805.3 million in 1990. However,
they instead amounted to $1,630 million an
inflation adjusted reduction of 10%. The state
sales tax is a combined destination-based
tax, meaning a single tax is applied that
includes state, county, and local taxes, and
the rate is based on where the consumer takes
possession of the goods or services. Thanks
to the destination structure and the numerous
local special taxing districts, Kansas has
920 separate sales tax rates ranging from
6.5% to 11.5%. This taxing scheme, known as
"Streamlined Sales Tax" was adopted on October
1, 2005 under the governorship of Kathleen
Sebelius. Groceries are subject to sales tax
in the state. All sales tax collected is remitted
to the state department of revenue, and local
taxes are then distributed to the various
taxing agencies.
As of June 2004, Moody's Investors Service
ranked the state 14th for net tax-supported
debt per capita. As a percentage of personal
income, it was at 3.8%—above the median
value of 2.5% for all rated states and having
risen from a value of less than 1% in 1992.
The state has a statutory requirement to maintain
cash reserves of at least 7.5% of expenses
at the end of each fiscal year, however, lawmakers
can vote to override the rule, and did so
during the most recent budget agreement.
During his campaign for the 2010 election,
Governor Sam Brownback called for a complete
"phase out of Kansas's income tax". In May
2012, Governor Brownback signed into law the
Kansas Senate Bill Substitute HB 2117. Starting
in 2013, the "ambitious tax overhaul" trimmed
income tax, eliminated some corporate taxes,
and created pass-through income tax exemptions,
he raised the sales tax by one percent to
offset the loss to state revenues but that
was inadequate. He made cuts to education
and some state services to offset lost revenue.
The tax cut led to years of budget shortfalls,
culminating in a $350 million budget shortfall
in February 2017. From 2013 to 2017, 300,000
businesses were considered to be pass-through
income entities and benefited from the tax
exemption. The tax reform "encouraged tens
of thousands of Kansans to claim their wages
and salaries as income from a business rather
than from employment."The economic growth
that Brownback anticipated never materialized.
He argued that it was because of "low wheat
and oil prices and a downturn in aircraft
sales." The state general fund debt load was
$83 million in fiscal year 2010 and by fiscal
year 2017 the debt load sat at $179 million.
In 2016, Governor Brownback earned the title
of “most unpopular governor in America”.
Only 26 percent of Kansas voters approved
of his job performance, compared to 65 percent
who said they did not. In the summer of 2016
S&P Global Ratings downgraded Kansas's credit
rating. In February 2017, S&P lowered it to
AA-.In February 2017, a bi-partisan coalition
presented a bill that would repeal the pass-through
income exemption, the "most important provisions
of Brownback's overhaul", and raise taxes
to make up for the budget shortfall. Brownback
vetoed the bill but "45 GOP legislators had
voted in favor of the increase, while 40 voted
to uphold the governor's veto." On June 6,
2017 a "coalition of Democrats and newly-elected
Republicans overrode [Brownback's] veto and
implemented tax increases to a level that
is close to what it was before 2013. Brownback's
tax overhaul was described in a June 2017
article in The Atlantic as the United States'
"most aggressive experiment in conservative
economic policy". The drastic tax cuts had
"threatened the viability of schools and infrastructure"
in Kansas.
"The Brownback experiment didn’t work. We
saw that loud and clear."
== Transportation ==
=== Highways ===
Kansas is served by two Interstate highways
with one beltway, two spur routes, and three
bypasses, with over 874 miles (1,407 km) in
all. The first section of Interstate in the
nation was opened on Interstate 70 (I-70)
just west of Topeka on November 14, 1956.I-70
is a major east–west route connecting to
Denver, Colorado and Kansas City, Missouri.
Cities along this route (from west to east)
include Colby, Hays, Salina, Junction City,
Topeka, Lawrence, Bonner Springs, and Kansas
City.
I-35 is a major north–south route connecting
to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Des Moines,
Iowa. Cities along this route (from south
to north) include Wichita, El Dorado, Emporia,
Ottawa, and Kansas City (and suburbs).
Spur routes serve as connections between the
two major routes. I-135, a north–south route,
connects I-35 at Wichita to I-70 at Salina.
I-335, a southwest–northeast route, connects
I-35 at Emporia to I-70 at Topeka. I-335 and
portions of I-35 and I-70 make up the Kansas
Turnpike. Bypasses include I-470 around Topeka,
I-235 around Wichita, and I-670 in downtown
Kansas City. I-435 is a beltway around the
Kansas City metropolitan area while I-635
bypasses through Kansas City.
U.S. Route 69 (US-69) travels south to north,
from Oklahoma to Missouri. The highway passes
through the eastern section of Kansas, traveling
through Baxter Springs, Pittsburg, Frontenac,
Fort Scott, Louisburg, and the Kansas City
area.
Kansas also has the country's third largest
state highway system after Texas and California.
This is because of the high number of counties
and county seats (105) and their intertwining.
In January 2004, the Kansas Department of
Transportation (KDOT) announced the new Kansas
511 traveler information service. By dialing
511, callers will get access to information
about road conditions, construction, closures,
detours and weather conditions for the state
highway system. Weather and road condition
information is updated every 15 minutes.
==== Interstate Highways ====
I-35
I-135 (formerly known as I-35W)
I-235
I-335
I-435
I-635
I-70
I-470
I-670
==== U.S. Routes through Kansas ====
US-24
US-36
US-40
US-50
US-54
US-56
US-59
US-159
US-160
US-166
US-69
US-169
US-270
US-73
US-75
US-77
US-177
US-81
US-281
US-83
US-183
US-283
US-400
=== Aviation ===
The 
state's only major commercial (Class C) airport
is Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport,
located along US-54 on the western edge of
the city. Manhattan Regional Airport in Manhattan
offers daily flights to Dallas/Fort Worth
International Airport and Chicago's O'Hare
International Airport, making it the second-largest
commercial airport in the state. Most air
travelers in northeastern Kansas fly out of
Kansas City International Airport, located
in Platte County, Missouri, as well as Topeka
Regional Airport in the state's capital.
In the state's southeastern part, people often
use Tulsa International Airport in Tulsa,
Oklahoma or Joplin Regional Airport in Joplin,
Missouri. For those in the far western part
of the state, Denver International Airport
is a popular option. Connecting flights are
also available from smaller Kansas airports
in Dodge City, Garden City, Hays, Hutchinson,
Liberal, or Salina.
Dotted across the state are smaller regional
and municipal airports, including the Lawrence
Municipal Airport, which houses many aircraft
for the city of Lawrence and the University
of Kansas, Miami County Airport, Wamego Airport,
Osage City Municipal Airport, which is the
headquarters of Skydive Kansas, Garden City
Regional Airport, Manhattan Regional Airport,
and Dodge City Regional Airport.
=== Rail ===
==== Passenger Rail ====
The Southwest Chief Amtrak route runs through
the state on its route from Chicago to Los
Angeles. Stops in Kansas include Lawrence,
Topeka, Newton, Hutchinson, Dodge City, and
Garden City. An Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach
connects Newton and Wichita to the Heartland
Flyer in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Amtrak is
proposing to modify the Southwest Chief from
its status as a direct passenger rail operation.
Plans call for shortening the route to Los
Angeles to Albuquerque. Thruway buses would
replace the train on the route between Albuquerque
and Dodge City, where train service east to
Chicago would resume.
==== Freight Rail ====
Kansas is served by four Class I railroads,
Amtrak, BNSF, Kansas City Southern, and Union
Pacific, as well as many shortline railroads.
== Law and government ==
=== State and local politics ===
Executive branch: The executive branch consists
of one officer and five elected officers.
The governor and lieutenant governor are elected
on the same ticket. The attorney general,
secretary of state, state treasurer, and state
insurance commissioner are each elected separately.
Five of six top executive offices of Kansas
are Republican. Governor Jeff Colyer took
office on January 31, 2018 to fill the unexpired
term of governor Sam Brownback who resigned
to become a U.S. Ambassador. Elected in 2010
were the Attorney General Derek Schmidt of
Independence; the Secretary of State Kris
Kobach, of Kansas City; the State Treasurer
Jacob LaTurner, of Galena; and the Insurance
Commissioner Ken Selzer, of Topeka.
Legislative branch: The bicameral Kansas Legislature
consists of the Kansas House of Representatives,
with 125 members serving two-year terms, and
the Kansas Senate, with 40 members serving
four-year terms. Currently, 31 of the 40 Senators
are Republican and 85 of the 125 Representatives
are Republican.
Judicial branch: The judicial branch of the
state government is headed by the Kansas Supreme
Court. The court has seven judges. A vacancy
is filled by the Governor picking one of three
nominees selected by the nine-member Kansas
Supreme Court Nominating Commission. The board
consists of five Kansas lawyers elected by
other Kansas lawyers and four members selected
by the governor.
==== Political culture ====
Since the mid-20th century, Kansas has remained
one of the most socially conservative states
in the nation. The 1990s brought the defeat
of prominent Democrats, including Dan Glickman,
and the Kansas State Board of Education's
1999 decision to eliminate evolution from
the state teaching standards, a decision that
was later reversed. In 2005, voters accepted
a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex
marriage. The next year, the state passed
a law setting a minimum age for marriage at
15 years. Kansas's path to a solid Republican
state has been examined by historian Thomas
Frank in his 2004 book What's the Matter with
Kansas?.
Kansas has a history of many firsts in legislative
initiatives—it was the first state to institute
a system of workers' compensation (1910) and
to regulate the securities industry (1911).
Kansas also permitted women's suffrage in
1912, almost a decade before the federal constitution
was amended to require it. Suffrage in all
states would not be guaranteed until ratification
of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
in 1920.
The council–manager government model was
adopted by many larger Kansas cities in the
years following World War I while many American
cities were being run by political machines
or organized crime, notably the Pendergast
Machine in neighboring Kansas City, Missouri.
Kansas was also at the center of Brown v.
Board of Education of Topeka, a 1954 Supreme
Court decision that banned racially segregated
schools throughout the U.S.
The state backed Republicans Wendell Willkie
and Thomas E. Dewey in 1940 and 1944, respectively.
Kansas also supported Dewey in 1948 despite
the presence of incumbent president Harry
S. Truman, who hailed from Independence, Missouri,
approximately 15 miles (24 km) east of the
Kansas–Missouri state line. Since Roosevelt
carried Kansas in 1932 and 1936, only one
Democrat has won Kansas's electoral votes,
Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.
In 2008, Governor Kathleen Sebelius vetoed
permits for the construction of new coal-fired
energy plants in Kansas, saying: "We know
that greenhouse gases contribute to climate
change. As an agricultural state, Kansas is
particularly vulnerable. Therefore, reducing
pollutants benefits our state not only in
the short term – but also for generations
of Kansans to come." However, shortly after
Mark Parkinson became governor in 2009 upon
Sebelius's resignation to become Secretary
of U.S. Department of Health & Human Services,
Parkinson announced a compromise plan to allow
construction of a coal-fired plant.
In 2010, Sam Brownback was elected governor
with 63 percent of the state vote. He was
sworn in as governor in 2011, Kansas's first
Republican governor in eight years. Brownback
had established himself as a conservative
member of the U.S. Senate in years prior,
but since becoming governor has made several
controversial decisions, leading to a 23%
approval rating among registered voters, the
lowest of any governor in the United States.
In May 2011, much to the opposition of art
leaders and enthusiasts in the state, Brownback
eliminated the Kansas Arts Commission, making
Kansas the first state without an arts agency.
In July 2011, Brownback announced plans to
close the Lawrence branch of the Kansas Department
of Social and Rehabilitation Services as a
cost-saving measure. Hundreds rallied against
the decision. Lawrence City Commission later
voted to provide the funding needed to keep
the branch open.
=== National politics ===
The state's current delegation to the Congress
of the United States includes Republican Senators
Pat Roberts of Dodge City and Jerry Moran
of Manhattan; and Republican Representatives
Roger Marshall of Great Bend (District 1),
Lynn Jenkins of Topeka (District 2), Kevin
Yoder of Overland Park (District 3), and Ron
Estes of Wichita (District 4).
Historically, Kansas has been strongly Republican,
dating from the Antebellum age when the Republican
Party was created out of the movement opposing
the extension of slavery into Kansas Territory.
Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S.
Senate since the 1932 election, when Franklin
D. Roosevelt won his first term as President
in the wake of the Great Depression. This
is the longest Senate losing streak for either
party in a single state. Senator Sam Brownback
was a candidate for the Republican party nomination
for President in 2008. Brownback was not a
candidate for re-election to a third full
term in 2010, but he was elected Governor
in that year's general election. Moran defeated
Tiahrt for the Republican nomination for Brownback's
seat in the August 2010 primary, then won
a landslide general election victory over
Democrat Lisa Johnston.
The only non-Republican presidential candidates
Kansas has given its electoral vote to are
Populist James Weaver and Democrats Woodrow
Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt (twice), and Lyndon
Johnson. In 2004, George W. Bush won the state's
six electoral votes by an overwhelming margin
of 25 percentage points with 62% of the vote.
The only two counties to support Democrat
John Kerry in that election were Wyandotte,
which contains Kansas City, and Douglas, home
to the University of Kansas, located in Lawrence.
The 2008 election brought similar results
as John McCain won the state with 57% of the
votes. Douglas, Wyandotte, and Crawford County
were the only counties in support of President
Barack Obama.Abilene was the boyhood home
to Republican president Dwight D. Eisenhower,
and he maintained lifelong ties to family
and friends there. Kansas was the adult home
of two losing Republican candidates (Governor
Alf Landon in 1936 and Senator Bob Dole in
1996).
The New York Times reported in September 2014
that as the Democratic candidate for Senator
has tried to drop out of the race, independent
Greg Orman has attracted enough bipartisan
support to seriously challenge the reelection
bid of Republican Pat Roberts:
Kansas politics have been roiled in recent
years. The rise of the Tea Party and the election
of President Obama have prompted Republicans
to embrace a purer brand of conservatism and
purge what had long been a robust moderate
wing from its ranks. Mr. Roberts has sought
to adapt to this new era, voting against spending
bills that included projects for the state
that he had sought.
=== State laws ===
The legal drinking age in Kansas is 21. In
lieu of the state retail sales tax, a 10%
Liquor Drink Tax is collected for liquor consumed
on the licensed premises and an 8% Liquor
Enforcement Tax is collected on retail purchases.
Although the sale of cereal malt beverage
(also known as 3.2 beer) was legalized in
1937, the first post-Prohibition legalization
of alcoholic liquor did not occur until the
state's constitution was amended in 1948.
The following year the Legislature enacted
the Liquor Control Act which created a system
of regulating, licensing, and taxing, and
the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control
(ABC) was created to enforce the act. The
power to regulate cereal malt beverage remains
with the cities and counties. Liquor-by-the-drink
did not become legal until passage of an amendment
to the state's constitution in 1986 and additional
legislation the following year. As of November
2006, Kansas still has 29 dry counties and
only 17 counties have passed liquor-by-the-drink
with no food sales requirement. Today there
are more than 2,600 liquor and 4,000 cereal
malt beverage licensees in the state.
== Education ==
Education in Kansas is governed at the primary
and secondary school level by the Kansas State
Board of Education. The state's public colleges
and universities are supervised by the Kansas
Board of Regents.
Twice since 1999 the Board of Education has
approved changes in the state science curriculum
standards that encouraged the teaching of
intelligent design. Both times, the standards
were reversed after changes in the composition
of the board in the next election.
== Culture ==
=== Music ===
The rock band Kansas was formed in the state
capital of Topeka, the hometown of several
of the band's members.
Joe Walsh, guitarist for the famous rock band
the Eagles, was born in Wichita.
Singers from Kansas include Leavenworth native
Melissa Etheridge, Sharon native Martina McBride,
Chanute native Jennifer Knapp (whose first
album was titled Kansas), Kansas City native
Janelle Monáe, and Liberal native Jerrod
Niemann.
=== Literature ===
The state's most famous appearance in literature
was as the home of Dorothy Gale, the main
character in the novel The Wonderful Wizard
of Oz (1900). Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little
House on the Prairie, published in 1935, is
another well-known tale about Kansas.
Kansas was also the setting of the 1965 best-seller
In Cold Blood, described by its author Truman
Capote as a "nonfiction novel." Mixing fact
and fiction, the book chronicles the events
and aftermath of the 1959 murder of a wealthy
farmer and his family who lived in the small
West Kansas town of Holcomb in Finney County.
The winner of the 2011 Newbery Medal for excellence
in children's literature, Moon Over Manifest,
tells the story of a young and adventurous
girl named Abilene who is sent to the fictional
town of Manifest, Kansas, by her father in
the summer of 1936. It was written by Kansan
Clare Vanderpool.
Lawrence is the setting for a number of science
fiction writer James Gunn's novels.
=== Film ===
As was the case with the novel, the main character
in the 1939 fantasy film The Wizard of Oz
was a young girl who lived in Kansas with
her aunt and uncle. The line, "We're not in
Kansas anymore", has entered into the English
lexicon as a phrase describing a wholly new
and/or unexpected situation.
The 1967 feature film In Cold Blood, like
the book on which it was based, was set in
various locations across Kansas. Many of the
scenes in the film were filmed at the exact
locations where the events profiled in the
book took place. A 1996 TV miniseries was
also based on the book.
The 1988 film Kansas starred Andrew McCarthy
as a traveler who met up with a dangerous
wanted drifter played by Matt Dillon.
The 2005 film Capote, for which Philip Seymour
Hoffman was awarded the Academy Award for
Best Actor for his portrayal of the title
character, profiled the author as he traveled
across Kansas while writing In Cold Blood
(although most of the film itself was shot
in the Canadian province of Manitoba).
The setting of The Day After, a 1983 made-for-television
movie about a fictional nuclear attack, was
the city of Lawrence.
The 2013 film Man of Steel is set primarily
in Kansas (as Superman is from Smallville,
Kansas – a fictitious town).
The 2012 film Looper is set in Kansas.
The 1973 film Paper Moon in which Tatum O'Neal
won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
(The youngest to win an Academy Award) was
based in and filmed in Kansas. The film was
shot in the small towns of Hays; McCracken;
Wilson; and St. Joseph, Missouri. Various
shooting locations include the Midland Hotel
at Wilson; the railway depot at Gorham; storefronts
and buildings on Main Street in White Cloud;
Hays; sites on both sides of the Missouri
River; Rulo Bridge; and Saint Joseph, Missouri.
Scenes of the 1996 film Mars Attacks! took
place in the fictional town of Perkinsville.
Scenes taking place in Kansas were filmed
in Burns, Lawrence, and Wichita.
The 2007 film The Lookout is set mostly in
Kansas (although filmed in Canada). Specifically
two locations; Kansas City and the fictional
town of Noel, Kansas.
The 2012 documentary The Gridiron was filmed
at The University of Kansas
The 2014 ESPN documentary No Place Like Home
was filmed in Lawrence and the countryside
of Douglas County, Kansas
The 2017 film Thank You for Your Service is
primarily set in Kansas, including the cities
of Topeka and Junction City.
The 2017 documentary When Kings Reigned was
filmed in Lawrence.
=== Television ===
The protagonist brothers of the 2005 TV show
Supernatural hail from Lawrence, with the
city referenced numerous times on the show.
2006 TV series Jericho was based in the fictitious
town of Jericho, Kansas, surviving post-nuclear
America.
Early seasons of Smallville, about Superman
as a teenager, were based in a fictional town
in Kansas.
Gunsmoke, a radio series western, ran from
1952 to 1961, took place in Dodge City, Kansas.
Gunsmoke, television series, the longest running
prime time show of the 20th century, ran from
September 10, 1955 to March 31, 1975 for a
total of 635 episodes.
The 2009 Showtime series United States of
Tara is set in Overland Park, a suburb of
Kansas City.
=== Sports ===
==== Professional ====
Sporting Kansas City, who have played their
home games at Village West in Kansas City,
since 2008, are the first top-tier professional
sports league and first Major League Soccer
team to be located within Kansas. In 2011
the team moved to their new home, a $165m
soccer specific stadium now known as Children's
Mercy Park.
Historically, Kansans have supported the major
league sports teams of Kansas City, Missouri,
including the Kansas City Royals (MLB), the
Kansas City Chiefs (NFL) and the Kansas City
Brigade (AFL) – in part because the home
stadiums for these teams are a few miles from
the Kansas border. The Chiefs and the Royals
play at the Truman Sports Complex, located
about 10 miles (16 km) from the Kansas–Missouri
state line. The Kansas City Brigade play in
the newly opened Sprint Center, which is even
closer to the state line at 1.5 miles (2.4
km). FC Kansas City, a charter member of the
National Women's Soccer League, played the
2013 season, the first for both the team and
the league, on the Kansas side of the metropolitan
area, but played on the Missouri side until
folding after the 2017 season. From 1973 to
1997 the flagship radio station for the Royals
was WIBW in Topeka.Some Kansans, mostly from
the westernmost parts of the state, support
the professional sports teams of Denver, particularly
the Denver Broncos of the NFL.
Two major auto racing facilities are located
in Kansas. The Kansas Speedway located in
Kansas City hosts races of the NASCAR, IndyCar,
and ARCA circuits. Also, the National Hot
Rod Association (NHRA) holds drag racing events
at Heartland Park Topeka. The Sports Car Club
of America has its national headquarters in
Topeka.
===== History =====
The history of professional sports in Kansas
probably dates from the establishment of the
minor league baseball Topeka Capitals and
Leavenworth Soldiers in 1886 in the Western
League. The African-American Bud Fowler played
on the Topeka team that season, one year before
the "color line" descended on professional
baseball.In 1887, the Western League was dominated
by a reorganized Topeka team called the Golden
Giants – a high-priced collection of major
leaguer players, including Bug Holliday, Jim
Conway, Dan Stearns, Perry Werden and Jimmy
Macullar, which won the league by 15½ games.
On April 10, 1887, the Golden Giants also
won an exhibition game from the defending
World Series champions, the St. Louis Browns
(the present-day Cardinals), by a score of
12–9. However, Topeka was unable to support
the team, and it disbanded after one year.
The first night game in the history of professional
baseball was played in Independence on April
28, 1930 when the Muscogee (Oklahoma) Indians
beat the Independence Producers 13 to 3 in
a minor league game sanctioned by the Western
League of the Western Baseball Association
with 1,500 fans attending the game. The permanent
lighting system was first used for an exhibition
game on April 17, 1930 between the Independence
Producers and House of David semi-professional
baseball team of Benton Harbor, Michigan with
the Independence team winning with a score
of 9 to 1 before a crowd of 1,700 spectators.
==== College ====
The governing body for intercollegiate sports
in the United States, the National Collegiate
Athletic Association (NCAA), was headquartered
in Johnson County, Kansas from 1952 until
moving to Indianapolis in 1999.
===== NCAA Division I schools =====
While there are no franchises of the four
major professional sports within the state,
many Kansans are fans of the state's major
college sports teams, especially the Jayhawks
of the University of Kansas (KU), and the
Wildcats of Kansas State University (KSU or
"K-State"). The teams are rivals in the Big
12 Conference.
Both KU and K-State have tradition-rich programs
in men's basketball. The Jayhawks are a perennial
national power, ranking second in all-time
victories among NCAA programs, behind Kentucky.
The Jayhawks have won five national titles,
including NCAA tournament championships in
1952, 1988, and 2008. They also were retroactively
awarded national championships by the Helms
Foundation for 1922 and 1923. K-State also
had a long stretch of success on the hardwood,
lasting from the 1940s to the 1980s, making
four Final Fours during that stretch. In 1988,
KU and K-State met in the Elite Eight, KU
taking the game 71–58. After a 12-year absence,
the Wildcats returned to the NCAA tournament
in 2008, and advanced to the Elite Eight in
2010 and 2018. KU is fifth all-time with 15
Final Four appearances, while K-State's four
appearances are tied for 17th.
Conversely, success on the gridiron has been
less frequent for both KSU and KU. However,
there have been recent breakthroughs for both
schools' football teams. The Jayhawks won
the Orange Bowl for the first time in three
tries in 2008, capping a 12–1 season, the
best in school history. And when Bill Snyder
arrived to coach at K-State in 1989, he turned
the Wildcats from one of the worst college
football programs in America into a national
force for most of the 1990s and early 2000s.
The team won the Fiesta Bowl in 1997, achieved
an undefeated (11–0) regular season and
No. 1 ranking in 1998, and took the Big 12
Conference championship in 2003. After three
seasons in which K-State football languished,
Snyder came out of retirement in 2009 and
guided them to the top of the college football
ranks again, finishing second in the Big 12
in 2011 and earning a berth in the Cotton
Bowl, and winning the Big 12 again in 2012.
Wichita State University, which also fields
teams (called the Shockers) in Division I
of the NCAA, is best known for its baseball
and basketball programs. In baseball, the
Shockers won the College World Series in 1989.
In men's basketball, they appeared in the
Final Four in 1965 and 2013, and entered the
2014 NCAA tournament unbeaten. The school
also fielded a football team from 1897 to
1986. The Shocker football team is tragically
known for a plane crash in 1970 that killed
31 people, including 14 of the team's players.
===== NCAA Division II schools =====
Notable success has also been achieved by
the state's smaller schools in football. Pittsburg
State University, a NCAA Division II participant,
has claimed four national titles in football,
two in the NAIA and most recently the 2011
NCAA Division II national title. Pittsburg
State became the winningest NCAA Division
II football program in 1995. PSU passed Hillsdale
College at the top of the all-time victories
list in the 1995 season on its march to the
national runner-up finish. The Gorillas, in
96 seasons of intercollegiate competition,
have accumulated 579 victories – posting
a 579–301–48 overall mark.
Washburn University, in Topeka, won the NAIA
Men's Basketball Championship in 1987. The
Fort Hays State University men won the 1996
NCAA Division II title with a 34–0 record,
and the Washburn women won the 2005 NCAA Division
II crown. St. Benedict's College (now Benedictine
College), in Atchison, won the 1954 and 1967
Men's NAIA Basketball Championships.
The Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference
has its roots as one of the oldest college
sport conferences in existence and participates
in the NAIA and all ten member schools are
in the state of Kansas. Other smaller school
conference that have some members in Kansas
are the Heartland Conference, the Midlands
Collegiate Athletic Conference, the Midwest
Christian College Conference, and the Heart
of America Athletic Conference. Many junior
colleges also have active athletic programs.
===== Junior Colleges =====
The Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference
has been heralded as one of the best conferences
in all of NJCAA football, with Garden City
Community College, Independence Community
College, and Butler County Community College
all consistently in contention for national
championships.
==== High school ====
The Kansas State High School Activities Association
(KSHSAA) is the organization which oversees
interscholastic competition in the state of
Kansas at the high school level. It oversees
both athletic and non-athletic competition,
and sponsors championships in several sports
and activities. The association is perhaps
best known for devising the overtime system
now used for almost all football games below
the professional level (which has also been
adopted at all levels of Canadian football).
== Notable people ==
=== Landmarks ===
== See also ==
Outline of Kansas – organized list of topics
about Kansas
Index of Kansas-related articles
== References ==
== Bibliography ==
Wishart, David J, ed. (2004), Encyclopedia
of the Great Plains, University of Nebraska
Press, ISBN 978-0-8032-4787-1; 900 pages of
scholarly articles
Connelley, William E., ed. (1918), A Standard
History of Kansas and Kansans, Lewis Publishing
Company; 5 volumes; 2731 pages; (Vol1), (Vol2),
(Vol3), (Vol4), (Vol5); the 1919 edition contains
additional biographies
Blackmar, Frank W., ed. (1912), Kansas : A
Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events,
Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities,
Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc, Standard Publishing
Co; 3 volumes; 2723 pages; (Vol1), (Vol2),
(Vol3)
Everts, Louis H., ed. (1887), Official State
Atlas of Kansas, L.H. Everts & Co
Cutler, William G., ed. (1883), The History
of the State of Kansas, A.T. Andreas Publisher;
2 volumes
== External links ==
State of Kansas
Kansas at Curlie
Kansas Travel and Tourism Division
Kansas Historical Society
Kansas Memory – documents, photographs,
and other primary sources provided by the
Kansas Historical Society
Kansas State Agency Databases – Annotated
list of searchable databases produced by Kansas
state agencies
USGS real-time, geographic, and other scientific
resources of Kansas
Kansas State Facts from USDAMaps
Kansas Department of Transportation maps
Highway Map (PDF), KS: KSDOT, 2017.
Railroad Map (PDF), KS: KSDOT, 2017.
"Access state, county, city, railroad, and
other maps", Kansas Memory (digital portal),
the Kansas State Historical Society.
Geographic data related to Kansas at OpenStreetMap
"Kansas Maps", Perry-Castañeda Library (map
collection), The University of Texas.
