Kansas, Kansas (KS), United States

Facts & Statistics
Place Name	Kansas
Place Status (Type)	state
Capital is	TOPEKA
Population	2,565,328 (1995)
Location	Kansas, United States, North America
Latitude	38°21'N
Longitude	98°12'W

Kansas , state ( 82,282 sq mi/213,110 sq km; 1995 est. pop. 2,565,328), central U.S., admitted to the Union in 1861 as the 34th state; Topeka; 38°21'N 98°12'W. Major cities include Topeka, Wichita (the largest city in the state) and Kansas City. Almost rectangular in shape, Kansas (KS) is bounded on the N by Nebr., on the E by Mo. (the Missouri R. forms the NE boundary for a short distance), on the S by Okla., and on the W by Colo. The geographical center of the U.S. (exclusive of Alaska and Hawaii) is located in Kansas bet. Smith Center and Lebanon. Mostly part of the Great Plains, Kansas (KS) is known for its massive wheat fields. The land rises gradually more than 3,000 ft/914 m from the E alluvial prairies of Kansas to its W semiarid high plains, which stretch toward the foothills of the Rocky Mts. The state is drained by the Kansas and Arkansas rivers, both of which generally run from W to E. The average annual rainfall of 27 in/69 cm is not evenly distributed: the E prairies receive up to 40 in/102 cm of rain, while the W plains average 17 in/43 cm. Occasional dust storms plague farmers and ranchers in the W. The climate is continental, with wide extremes—cold winters with blizzards and hot summers with tornadoes. Floods also wreak havoc in the state; hence, flood-control projects, such as dams, reservoirs, and levees, are a major undertaking. Kansas was once primarily an agr. state, but mfg. and services have surpassed agr. in economic importance. However, farming is still important to the state's economy, and Kansas is the nation's leading producer of wheat and one of the top producers of sorghum for grain. Corn and hay are also major crops. Cattle and calves are raised on the state's abundant grazing lands and constitute the single most valuable agr. item. Meat-packing and dairy industries are major economic activities, and the Kansas City stockyards are among the nation's largest. Food processing ranked as the state's 3d-largest industry in the early 1990s. The 2 leading industries are the manufacture of transportation equip. and industrial machines. Wichita is a leader in the aircraft industry, esp. in the production of private planes. Other important manufactured items are petroleum and coal prods. and nonelectrical machinery. The state is a major producer of crude petroleum and has large reserves of natural gas and helium. Kansas was once part of a great shallow sea, and salt deposits in commercially profitable quantities still remain. When the Span. explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado visited (1541) the Kansas area in his search for Quivira , a fabled kingdom of riches, the area was occupied by various Native Amer. groups of the Plains descent, notably the Kansa, the Wichita, and the Pawnee. In 1601, another Span. explorer, Juan de Onate, penetrated the region, resulting in the introduction of the horse, which revolutionized the life of the Native Americans. While not actually exploring the Kansas area, Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, claimed (c.1682) for France all territory drained by the Mississippi R., including Kansas. By the Treaty of Paris (1763), ending the Fr. and Indian Wars, France ceded the territory of W La. (including Kansas) to Spain. In 1800, Spain secretly retroceded the territory to France, from whom the U.S. acquired it in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The region was little known, however, and subsequent explorations include the Lewis and Clark expedition (1803-1806), the Arkansas R. journey of Zebulon M. Pike in 1806, and the scientific expedition of Stephen H. Long in 1819. Most of the territory that eventually became Kansas was in an area known as the “Great American Desert,” considered unsuitable for U.S. settlement because of its apparent barrenness. In the 1830s the region was designated permanent Native Amer. country, and N and E tribes were relocated there. Forts were constructed for frontier defense and for the protection of the growing trade along the Santa Fe Trail, which crossed Kansas. Fort Leavenworth was est. in 1827, Fort Scott in 1842, and Fort Riley in 1853. Kansas, at this time mainly a region to be crossed on the way to Calif. and Oregon, was organized as a territory in 1854. Its settlement, however, was spurred not so much by natural westward expansion as by the determination of both proslavery and antislavery factions to achieve a majority pop. in the territory. The struggle bet. the factions was further complicated by conflict over the location of a transcontinental RR, with proponents of a central route (rather than a S route) eager to resolve the slavery issue in the area and promote settlement. The Kansas-Nebraska Act (1854), an attempted compromise on the extension of slavery, repealed the Missouri Compromise and reopened the issue of extending slavery N of lat. 36°30' by providing for squatter sovereignty in Kansas and Nebr., allowing settlers of territories to decide the matter themselves. Meanwhile, the Emigrant Aid Co. was organized in Mass. to foster antislavery immigration to Kansas, and proslavery interests in Mo. and throughout the South took counteraction. Towns were established by each faction: Lawrence and Topeka by the free-staters, and Leavenworth and Atchison by the proslavery settlers. Soon all the problems attendant upon organizing a territory for statehood became subsidiary to the single issue of slavery. The first elections in 1854 and 1855 were won by the proslavery group; armed Missourians intimidated voters and election officials and stuffed the ballot boxes. Andrew H. Reeder was appointed the first territorial governor in 1854. The first territorial legislature ousted (1855) all free-state members, secured the removal of Gov. Reeder, moved the capital to Lecompton, and adopted proslavery statutes. In retaliation the abolitionists set up a rival govt. at Topeka in Oct., 1855. Violence soon came to the territory. The murder of a free-state man in Nov. 1855, led to the so-called Wakarusa War, a bloodless series of encounters along the Wakarusa R. The intervention of the new governor, Wilson Shannon, kept proslavery men from attacking Lawrence. However, civil war ultimately turned the territory into “bleeding Kansas.” On May 21, 1856, proslavery groups and armed Missourians known as “Border Ruffians” raided Lawrence. A few days later a band led by the abolitionist crusader John Brown murdered 5 proslavery men in the Pottawatomie massacre. Guerrilla warfare bet. free-state men called Jayhawkers and proslavery bands—both sides abetted by desperadoes and opportunists—terrorized the land. After a new governor, John W. Geary, persuaded a large group of “Border Ruffians” to return to Mo., the violence subsided. The Lecompton legislature met in 1857 to make preparations for convening a constitutional convention. Gov. Geary resigned after it became clear that free elections would not be held to approve a new constitution. Robert J. Walker was appointed governor, and a convention held at Lecompton drafted a constitution. Only that part of the resulting proslavery constitution dealing with slavery was submitted to the electorate, and the question was drafted to favor the proslavery group. Free-state men refused to participate in the election with the result that the constitution was overwhelmingly approved. Despite the dubious validity of the Lecompton constitution, President James Buchanan recommended (1858) that Congress accept it and approve statehood for the territory. Instead, Congress returned it for another territorial vote. The proslavery group boycotted the election, and the constitution was rejected. Lawrence became de facto capital of the troubled territory until after the Wyandotte constitution (framed in 1859 and totally forbidding slavery) was accepted by Congress. The Kansas conflict and the issue of statehood for the territory became a natl. issue and figured in the 1860 Republican party platform. Kansas became a state in 1861, with the capital at Topeka. Charles Robinson was the first governor and James H. Lane, an active free-stater during the 1850s, one of the U.S. senators. In the Civil War, Kansas (KS) fought with the North and suffered the highest rate of fatal casualties of any state in the Union. The Confederate William C. Quantrill and his guerrilla band burned Lawrence in 1863. With peace came the development of the prairie lands. The construction of RRs made cowtowns such as Abilene and Dodge City, with their cowboys, saloons, and frontier marshals, the shipping point for large herds of cattle driven overland from Texas. The buffalo herds disappeared (some buffalo still roam in state parks and game preserves), and cattle took their place. Pioneer homesteaders, adjusting to life on the timberless prairie and living in sod houses, suffered privation. In 1874, Mennonite emigrants from Russia brought the Turkey Red variety of winter wheat to Kansas. This wheat was instrumental in making Kansas the Wheat State as winter wheat soon came to replace spring wheat. Corn, too, soon became a major cash crop. Agr. production was periodically disrupted by natl. depressions and natural disasters. Repeated and prolonged droughts accompanied by dust storms, occasional grasshopper invasions, and floods caused severe economic dislocation. Mortgages weighed heavily on farmers, and discontent was expressed in farmer support of radical farm organizations and third-party movements, such as the Granger movement, Greenback party, and Populist party. Tax relief, better regulation of interest rates, and curbs on the power of RRs were sought by these organizations. Twice in the 1890s, Populist-Democrats were elected to the governorship. As conditions improved, Kansas (KS) returned largely to its allegiance to the Republican party and gained a reputation as a conservative stronghold with a bent for moral reform, indicated in the state's strong support of prohibition; laws against the sale of liquor remained on the books in Kansas from 1880 to 1949. Over the years improved agr. methods and machines increased crop yield. Irrigation proved practicable in some areas, and winter wheat and alfalfa were cultivated in dry regions. Wheat production greatly expanded during World War I, but the end of the war brought financial difficulties. During the 1920s and 1930s, Kansas (KS) was faced with labor unrest and the economic hardships of the depression. As part of the Dust Bowl, Kansas (KS) sustained serious land erosion during the long drought of the 1930s. Erosion led to the implementation of conservation and reclamation projects, particularly in the N and W parts of the state. In 1924 an effort of the Ku Klux Klan to gain political control was fought by William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette, who supported many liberal causes. Alfred M. Landon, elected governor in 1932, was one of the few Republican candidates in the country to win election in the midst of the sweeping Democratic victory that year. He was nominated as the Republican presidential candidate in 1936. During World War II agr. thrived and industry expanded rapidly. The food-processing industry grew substantially, the cement industry enjoyed a major revival, and the aircraft industry boomed. After the war agr. prosperity once again declined when the state was hit by a severe drought and grasshopper invasion in 1948. Prosperity returned briefly during the Korean War, but afterward farm surpluses and insufficient world markets combined to make the state's tremendous agr. ability part of the natl. “farm problem.” Kansas has become increasingly industrialized and urbanized, however, and industrial production has surpassed farm production in economic importance. Flood damage in the state, especially after a major flood in 1951, spurred the construction of dams (such as the Tuttle Creek, Milford, and Wilson dams) on major Kansas rivers, and their reservoirs have vastly increased water recreational facilities for Kansans. Since the 1970s, Kansas (KS) has become increasingly less rural. Accordingly, the economy has shifted its emphasis to finance and service industries located in and around major urban centers such as Wichita, Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City. Points of historical interest in Kansas include the boyhood home of President Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Eisenhower Lib. in Abilene; the home turned mus. of Carry Nation (in Medicine Lodge), who became convinced of her divine appointment to destroy the saloons; and Fort Leavenworth (a large Federal penitentiary). Govt. in Kansas is based on the constitution of 1859, adopted just before Kansas attained statehood. An elected governor heads the executive branch and serves a term of 4 years. The legislature has a house of representatives and a senate, with the 125 members of the house elected for 2-year terms and the 40 members of the senate elected for 4-year terms. Kansas is represented in the U.S. Congress by 4 representatives and 2 senators and has 6 electoral votes in presidential elections. Kansas has long been a Republican stronghold. Robert Dole, unsuccessful 1996 Republican presidential candidate, was a longtime senator for the state. Institutions of higher learning include the Univ. of Kansas (Lawrence), Kansas (KS) State Univ. (Manhattan), Wichita State Univ. (Wichita), and Washburn Univ. of Topeka (Topeka). Kansas has 105 cos.: Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Barber, Barton, Bourbon, Brown, Butler, Chase, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Cheyenne, Clark, Clay, Cloud, Coffey, Comanche, Cowley, Crawford, Decatur, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Edwards, Elk, Ellis, Ellsworth, Finney, Ford, Franklin, Geary, Gove, Graham, Grant, Gray, Greeley, Greenwood, Hamilton, Harper, Harvey, Haskell, Hodgeman, Jackson, Jefferson, Jewell, Johnson, Kearny, Kingman, Kiowa, Labette, Lane, Leavenworth, Lincoln, Linn, Logan, Lyon, McPherson, Marion, Marshall, Meade, Miami, Mitchell, Montgomery, Morris, Morton, Nemaha, Neosho, Ness, Norton, Osage, Osborne, Ottawa, Pawnee, Phillips, Pottawatomie, Pratt, Rawlins, Reno, Republic, Rice, Riley, Rooks, Rush, Russell, Saline, Scott, Sedgwick, Seward, Shawnee, Sheridan, Sherman, Smith, Stafford, Stanton, Stevens, Sumner, Thomas, Trego, Wabaunsee, Wallace, Washington, Wichita, Wilson, Woodson, Wyandotte.