Quick Facts: Kansas

Kansas is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska on the north; Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; and Colorado on the west. The state is located equidistant from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

ABBREVIATION: KS
NICKNAME: The Sunflower State
POPULATION: 2,970,606 (2024 est.)
CAPITAL: Topeka
STATE BIRD: Western Meadowlark
STATE FLOWER: Sunflower
AREA: 82,277 sq. mi.
TIME ZONE: Most of state Central, – 4 western counties Mountain
ENTERED UNION: Jan. 29, 1861
ALTITUDE: High, 4,041 ft. Mount Sunflower
CLIMATE: Cold winters, hot summers; moderate rainfall in east, diminishing in west.

Like its neighboring landlocked states, far from the moderating, moisture-laden winds of the coasts, Kansas is either extremely hot or extremely cold. And it is forever at the mercy of the wind. Unprotected by peripheral mountain ranges, the land is swept by arctic gusts in winter and furnace-hot blasts in summer.

When the wind is gentle, the effect is lovely; slender stalks of wheat, which march row upon row across the plains, rise and dip before the breeze like waves on the sea. But sometimes the wind blows so hard that the soil itself is removed. In the 1930’s, before conservation methods were widespread, southwestern Kansas was part of the tragedy-strewn Dust Bowl.

On a typical Kansas farm the chief crop is wheat. But as a protection against the hazards of searing summer heat and irregular rainfall many farmers also raise cattle. Kansas ranks third nationally with 5.80 million cattle on ranches and in feed-yards (2014 est.), that’s a little over twice the current human population.

To be profitable in an area where the scarcity of rain may limit the yield per acre, and where a portion of the land must be left to lie fallow each year so that it can absorb moisture, Kansas farms are necessarily large. With over 64,000 farms, the average size is approximately 732 acres.

Kansas City, Kansas

To early explorers, Kansas seemed “uninhabitable by a people depending on agriculture”. But in 1874, when Mennonites from southern Russia planted Turkey red, a strain of wheat which had flourished on the Russian steppes, men discovered Kansas’ destiny. Today, Kansas, which is 90% farmland, grows nearly 20 percent of total domestic production of wheat, on average more than any other state, with annual farm gate receipts of nearly $3 billion.

Fun Facts:

So many fossils were found in Kansas in the late 1800s that competing paleontologists launched the ‘Kansas Fossil Wars’, resorting to bribes and trickery to get the best specimens.
In 1990 you could have made 33 billion loaves of bread with the amount of wheat produced by Kansas wheat farmers. That equated to 6 loaves for each person on Earth.
In 1938 Pizza Hut, one of the world’s largest pizza companies, opened its first restaurant in Wichita.
Dry air and a constant temperature of 68.5 degrees in the underground chambers of an old salt mine near Hutchinson make them ideal for storing valuables, including thousands of original Hollywood movies.
Barton County is named for Clara Barton, famed Civil War nurse and founder of the American Red Cross.
Samuel Perry Dinsmoor used 113 tons of concrete to create the Garden of Ede, in Lucas, Kansas. Visitors can still see Dinsmoor, who died in 1932. He lies in a concrete tomb with a glass top.

History:

The history of Kansas is one of conflict, resilience, and transformation. Located in the central United States, Kansas has played a pivotal role in the nation’s expansion, the fight over slavery, and the development of American agriculture and industry.

For thousands of years before European contact, Native American tribes inhabited the plains of what is now Kansas. Tribes such as the Kansa (from whom the state takes its name), Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita lived in the region, hunting bison, farming, and establishing trade networks. These Indigenous peoples developed rich cultures adapted to the diverse geography of the Great Plains.

In the 1500s, Spanish explorers were among the first Europeans to traverse the region, though they left little lasting impact. The area later came under French control as part of the Louisiana Territory, which was sold to the United States in 1803 through the Louisiana Purchase.

Explorers like Zebulon Pike and Stephen H. Long passed through Kansas in the early 1800s, viewing it as part of the “Great American Desert”—unsuitable for farming and settlement.

Despite early misconceptions, Kansas would soon become central to America’s westward expansion. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Kansas Territory and allowed settlers to decide whether to allow slavery—a concept known as “popular sovereignty.” This led to a period of violent conflict known as “Bleeding Kansas,” as pro-slavery and anti-slavery forces flooded into the territory to sway the outcome. Guerrilla warfare, raids, and skirmishes plagued the region for years.

One of the most prominent anti-slavery figures in Kansas was John Brown, a fiery abolitionist who believed in armed resistance. His actions, including the Pottawatomie Massacre, intensified national tensions leading up to the Civil War. Eventually, Kansas was admitted to the Union as a free state on January 29, 1861, just months before the outbreak of the Civil War.

Following the war, Kansas rapidly expanded. The Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged thousands of settlers, many of them immigrants, to move west and claim land. The railroads played a critical role in this growth, connecting Kansas farms and towns to national markets. Cattle drives and frontier towns like Dodge City and Abilene became famous during this era, contributing to the image of the Wild West.

Agriculture became the backbone of Kansas’s economy, with wheat, corn, and livestock dominating production. Over time, Kansas also developed industries in oil, aviation, and manufacturing. Its central location made it a transportation and logistics hub.

In the 20th century, Kansas was deeply affected by the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, which devastated farms and displaced families. Federal programs helped the state recover and modernize its agricultural practices. Kansas also contributed significantly to World War II, both in terms of military personnel and wartime production.

Today, Kansas remains a leader in agriculture and energy, and it continues to honor its complex and often turbulent past. From Native heritage to Civil War battleground to agricultural heartland, Kansas’s history reflects the broader struggles and triumphs of the American experience.