Kansas is a leading wheat-producing state. In early summer, the vast wheat fields on the state’s prairies look like golden seas of grain. Busy mills throughout Kansas grind wheat into flour, to be shipped to the world’s bakers. Kansas has been called the Wheat State and the Breadbasket of America.
Kansas is also a leader in other important activities. Thousands of oil and gas wells dot the prairies, and Kansas leads the states in the production of general aviation airplanes. Manufacturing ranks among the state’s most important economic activities.
Kansas was named for the Kansa, or Kaw, people who once lived in the region. The word Kansas means people of the south wind.
The state is known as the Sunflower State, for its state flower. The tall, yellow prairie flowers grow abundantly in fields and along roadsides throughout the state. Kansas was once called Midway, U.S.A. because of its location. The state lies midway between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Before Alaska and Hawaii joined the Union, the geographic center of the United States was near Smith Center, in north-central Kansas. The geodetic center of North America is in Osborne County. This point serves as the reference point, or point of origin, for all U.S. government maps of North America. The governments of Canada and Mexico also use this point in producing their maps. See Geodetic center of North America.
Kansas received two nicknames because of its stormy history during the mid-1800’s. The conflict over slavery led to such violence that newspapers of the 1850’s called the area Bleeding Kansas. Kansas also came to be called the Jayhawker State. Raiders crossed from Kansas territory into Missouri to attack and sometimes kill slaveholders. They would return to Kansas with stolen goods and enslaved people they had freed. This activity came to be called jayhawking, and the raiders were known as jayhawkers.
The state’s history of the 1860’s through the 1880’s has become well known through books, motion pictures, and TV programs about the cattle trails, cattle towns, and lawmen of that time. The nickname of Dodge City, Kansas—Cowboy Capital of the World—suggests Kansas’s background as cattle country. When Dodge City got its nickname, it was a major regional shipping point for cattle. Cowboys herded Texas longhorns great distances to reach the railroads in Dodge City, Abilene, and other cattle centers. Such famous lawmen as Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, and Bat Masterson tried to keep the peace among the cowboys and outlaws who gave these cattle towns their reputations as brawling, lawless places.
Dodge City is still a cattle center, but some of its cowboys no longer ride horses. Mounted on motorcycles or on all-terrain vehicles (ATV’s), the cowboys herd cattle in Dodge City’s feedlots. Today, Kansas ranks among the leading states in production of beef cattle.
Wichita is the largest city in Kansas. Topeka is the state’s capital.
People
Population.
The 2020 United States census reported that Kansas had 2,937,880 people. The population had increased 3 percent over the 2010 figure, 2,853,118. According to the 2020 census, Kansas ranks 35th in population among the 50 states.
About 70 percent of the people of Kansas live in metropolitan areas (see Metropolitan area). The metropolitan areas of Lawrence, Manhattan, Topeka, and Wichita are entirely in Kansas. The Joplin, Missouri; Kansas City, Missouri, and St. Joseph, Missouri, metropolitan areas extend into eastern Kansas.
Wichita is the state’s largest city. The state’s other large cities, in order of population, include Overland Park, Kansas City, Olathe, Topeka, and Lawrence. GardenAbout City ranks as the largest city in the western part of Kansas. It has a population of fewer than 30,000 people.
About 30,000 Native Americans live in Kansas. Many of them live on reservations in the state—the Iowa, Sac and Fox, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi reservations.
Schools.
The first schools in Kansas were established for Native Americans by missionaries during the 1830’s. A few white children attended these schools. In 1855, the territorial legislature passed laws providing free education for white children. In 1859, the territorial legislature extended the laws for free education to all children in Kansas.
A State Board of Education heads the school system. It appoints a commissioner to administer elementary and secondary education. Local boards and superintendents direct schools at the district level. Since 1963, many of the small districts in Kansas have been combined to make better use of school buildings and funds. Children from ages 7 to 18 must attend school.
In 1884, the United States Industrial Training School was founded in Lawrence to educate Native American children. Today, the school is known as Haskell Indian Nations University and offers bachelor’s and associate’s degrees to Native American students.
Libraries.
The first Kansas library opened in 1859 in Vinland. Today, the State Library of Kansas in Topeka provides research for and about the state’s government. It also runs a statewide catalog, lending network, and research library on the Internet. The state’s largest libraries are the Watson Library of the University of Kansas in Lawrence, the Hale Library of Kansas State University in Manhattan, and the Johnson County Library in Overland Park.
Museums.
The campus of the University of Kansas in Lawrence has several museums, including the Spencer Museum of Art and the Natural History Museum, which is part of the Biodiversity Institute. The Kansas Museum of History in Topeka, operated by the Kansas Historical Society, is the largest historical museum in the state. Other Kansas museums include the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg; the Cosmosphere, a science center, in Hutchinson; the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum, and Boyhood Home in Abilene; the Kansas Learning Center for Health in Halstead; the Mulvane Art Museum at Washburn University in Topeka; the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute; the Wichita Art Museum; and the Sternberg Museum of Natural History in Hays. 
Visitor’s guide
Kansas has many reminders of its colorful past, including historical sites of Native American villages and of preserved military forts. Visitors can see wheel ruts left by wagons on the Santa Fe Trail and other westward trails.
Many Kansas cities hold fairs and rodeos that celebrate the state’s agricultural heritage. Annual ethnic and art festivals include the Homecoming Emancipation Celebration in Nicodemus, the last of a dozen Kansas towns established by formerly enslaved people after the Civil War. The Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs-Kansas City is one of the state’s most popular annual events.
Kansas also attracts nature enthusiasts. Visitors can enjoy spectacular bird watching. The Flint Hills region is one of the largest of the few remaining areas of tallgrass prairie in the United States.
Land and climate
Land regions.
Most of Kansas is a rolling plain that increases in elevation from east to west. The state has three main land regions: (1) the Dissected Till Plains, (2) the Southeastern Plains, and (3) the Great Plains.
The Dissected Till Plains
cover the northeastern corner, lying generally east of the Big Blue River and north of the Kansas River. The area’s rich soil was left as the glacier that once covered the region retreated. Rivers cut into the soil, creating high bluffs, and winds deposited the soil in thin layers across the state.
The Southeastern Plains
cover the area south of the Dissected Till Plains. They extend as far west as Barber County in the south and Washington County in the north. They are divided into the Osage Cuestas in the east and the Flint Hills in the west. Cuestas is the Spanish word for upraised ridges.
The Osage Cuestas were formed by the erosion of limestone and shale. the area’s natural resources include limestone, natural gas, and petroleum. The Flint Hills are the last refuge of the tallgrass prairie. The flint has resisted erosion and is too hard to plow. Bluestem grasses that grow abundantly there make the area a lush pastureland. Grazing is a major economic activity.
The Great Plains
cover the western half of Kansas. This region slopes upward from about 1,500 feet (457 meters) above sea level in the east to about 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) at the Colorado border. In the western third of Kansas are the High Plains. This is the flattest part of the state, though it is also the highest in elevation. The Red Hills are along the southern border and the Smoky Hills in the north. This area also contains lowlands that fill with water and provide wetland habitats for a great variety of birds and other animals.
Rivers and lakes.
Rivers in Kansas generally flow east or southeast. The state has two main river systems. The Kansas, or Kaw, River system drains the northern part of the state. The Arkansas River system drains a large part of the southern section. The Missouri River, along the state’s northeast border, is the only major waterway for barges. Other important rivers in Kansas include the Big Blue, Cimarron, Neosho, Republican, Saline, Solomon, Smoky Hill, and Verdigris rivers. In some parts of western Kansas, small streams may flow for a short distance and then disappear as the water soaks into the dry soil of the streambed.
Kansas has about 150 lakes, most of them reservoirs create by dams. Milford Lake, a reservoir on the Republican River, covers about 16,000 acres (6,470 hectares) and is the largest lake. Other large lakes include Cedar Bluff, Cheney, Fall River, John Redmond, Kanopolis, Kirwin, McKinney, Pomona, Toronto, Tuttle Creek, and Webster. The state’s largest natural lake is Lake Inman, which is about half a mile (800 meters) across.
Plant and animal life.
Trees include the ash, black walnut, elm, hackberry, hickory, locust, maple, oak, pecan, redcedar, sycamore, and willow. Cottonwood trees grow along streams and rivers throughout the state, especially in the moist river valleys of the east.
Kansas has nearly 200 kinds of grasses. Tall grasses, especially the bluestem, grow in the east. Shorter types, such as blue grama and buffalo grass, are found in the west. Tumbleweeds grow throughout western Kansas. Sunflowers blossom in summer in all parts of Kansas. Other wildflowers include asters, clover, columbines, daisies, goldenrod, thistles, verbena, and wild morning-glories.
Vast herds of large game animals once roamed the Kansas plains. During the late 1800’s, hunters killed many of these animals, especially the bison (American buffaloes). Today, bison have been reintroduced in small herds, but smaller animals are most plentiful. These include coyotes, muskrats, opossums, prairie dogs, rabbits, and raccoons. Some antelopes roam the plains. Birds found in Kansas include blue jays, cardinals, crows, meadowlarks, robins, sparrows, woodpeckers, and several kinds of hawks. Game birds, such as ducks, geese, pheasants, prairie chickens, and quail, live throughout the state. Fishes in the state’s lakes, rivers, and streams include bass, bluegills, catfish, and crappies. There are many kinds of reptiles, including two kinds of poisonous snakes—copperheads and rattlesnakes.
Climate.
Kansas has cold winters and warm summers. Cold air from the north moves easily across the flat plains in winter, and hot winds sweep up from the south in summer. The weather can change suddenly, and sometimes violently. Blizzards, hail, thunderstorms, and tornadoes all occur in the state. 
January temperatures in Kansas average 31 °F (–1 °C), and July temperatures average 79 °F (26 °C). Northern Kansas usually has cooler weather than southern Kansas, but the difference is often slight. Lebanon had the state’s lowest temperature, –40 °F (–40 °C), on Feb. 13, 1905. The state’s record high temperature of 121 °F (49 °C) occurred in 1936 on July 18 in Fredonia and also on July 24 near Alton.
Precipitation (rain, melted snow, and other forms of moisture) falls unevenly on Kansas. The southeast usually gets more than 40 inches (100 centimeters) of moisture a year, and the western border area gets only 17 inches (43 centimeters). But the amounts can vary greatly from year to year. Snowfall in the state averages about 20 inches (51 centimeters) a year.
Economy
Service industries, taken together, account for the largest portion of Kansas’s gross domestic product—the total value of all goods and services produced in the state in a year. Service activities have replaced agriculture as the mainstay of the state’s economy.
Kansas remains a leading farm state, however, and farming contributes to the larger sectors of the economy. For example, getting agricultural products from farms to processors provides economic opportunities for people employed in the areas of wholesale trade and transportation.
Manufacturing in Kansas is centered in Kansas City and Wichita. Wichita is famous as the nation’s leading producer of general aviation aircraft. Construction and mining are relatively small parts of the state’s economy. The mining industry in Kansas consists mainly of extracting petroleum and natural gas from fields in central and western Kansas.
Natural resources.
The most important natural resources of Kansas are fertile soil and rich mineral deposits. Both strongly influence the state’s economy.
Soil.
Most of Kansas has a loamy, fertile soil suitable for growing many kinds of crops. The northeastern region has the most productive soil. This soil is black or dark brown. Central and northwestern Kansas have fertile soil, but these rich areas get less rain than eastern Kansas. Much of the soil of southwestern Kansas is sandy, and there are some sand dunes along the Arkansas River. The Barber County area has reddish soils.
Severe droughts in the 1930’s and 1950’s taught Kansas the importance of conserving soil and water. The state and federal governments built many dams to create reservoirs and ponds to hold water and to keep it from washing away the soil. Farmers use special methods of farming, such as contour plowing, limited tillage, and terracing, to conserve soil and water. Kansas has replanted grass in areas hit hard by winds. The grass helps keep the soil from blowing away.
Minerals.
Petroleum and natural gas are found in most parts of Kansas. Other valuable mined products found in Kansas include cement, clays, gypsum, helium, salt, sand and gravel, and stone. Great reserves of salt rock, called halite, lie under the state.
Service industries
account for about three-fourths of the gross domestic product of Kansas. Most of the service industries are concentrated in the Kansas City and Wichita metropolitan areas.
The Kansas City area is the state’s most important financial center. Insurance companies are also clustered in the Topeka area. The Wichita area is an important financial base for people of the central Kansas region. The Kansas City and Wichita areas are the leading centers of hotels, restaurants, and wholesale and retail trade in Kansas. Applebee’s, a national restaurant chain, is headquartered in Kansas. Several major companies operate customer service call centers in Wichita.
State government activities center in Topeka, the state capital. The federal government operates Fort Riley, McConnell Air Force Base, and Fort Leavenworth, which includes a major federal penitentiary. The federal penitentiary and a nearby state prison employ many people in the Leavenworth area.
Transportation and communication is a more important part of the economy in Kansas than in most other states. Kansas’s central location makes it an important link in the United States transportation system. The state’s farmers rely on trucks and trains to transport crops and livestock to processing centers. Pipelines transport natural gas and petroleum to Kansas City, Wichita, and major cities outside the state.
Manufacturing.
The Kansas City and Wichita areas are the leading manufacturing centers. Transportation equipment is one of Kansas’s chief manufactured products. Wichita ranks as the world’s leading producer of general aviation aircraft. Factories in the Wichita area also make parts for commercial and military aircraft. Automobiles are manufactured in Fairfax. Other transportation equipment includes motor vehicle parts, snowplows, and trailers.
Food processing is another important manufacturing activity in the state. Meat products are Kansas’s leading food product. Large meat-processing plants operate in southwestern Kansas. Kansas is a leading flour-milling state. Flour mills are found throughout the state.
Other products manufactured in Kansas include chemicals, fabricated metal products, machinery, and petroleum products. Pharmaceuticals (medicinal drugs) are one of the state’s leading chemical products. Factories throughout the state manufacture fabricated metal products and machinery, especially in the Kansas City and Wichita areas. The leading types of machinery manufactured in the state are construction and farm equipment and cooling and heating equipment. Structural metals and machine shop products account for the bulk of fabricated metal products made in the state. Coffeyville, El Dorado, and McPherson have petroleum refineries.
Agriculture.
Kansas ranks among the country’s leading states in the value of farm products. Farmland covers about 90 percent of the state. 
Beef cattle generate about half of the state’s farm income. Kansas ranks among the nation’s leaders in number of beef cattle. Dairy cattle and hogs are also important livestock products. Beef and dairy cattle and hogs are raised throughout Kansas, especially in the southwestern part of the state.
Corn and wheat are leading crop products. Southwestern Kansas produces the most corn, and the central and western parts of Kansas produce the most wheat. Kansas ranks among the leading states in the production of grain sorghum, which is primarily grown in the central and western portions of the state. Kansas is an important producer of hay, soybeans, and sunflowers. Farmers throughout the state grow hay. Sunflowers are primarily grown in the western part of Kansas, and soybeans are primarily grown in the eastern part. 
In some dry parts of western Kansas, farmers plant crops on only half or two-thirds of their land each year. This procedure, called summer fallowing, allows moisture to collect in the unused portion of the land. The Ogallala Aquifer, a vast underground reservoir, is a major source of water for irrigation in western Kansas. In some areas, the water level of the aquifer has dropped. Farmers increasingly use conservation measures to protect the aquifer’s supply of irrigation water.
Mining.
Natural gas and petroleum are the state’s most valuable mined products. Most of the natural gas produced in Kansas comes from the Hugoton gas field, which stretches across the southwestern part of the state. The field is one of the largest natural gas reserves in the United States. Petroleum production is highest in west-central Kansas. Barton, Ellis, Haskell, Ness, and Russell counties are among the leading producers of oil.
Other mineral products include gypsum, helium, limestone, portland cement, and salt. These products are mined primarily in the central and eastern parts of the state. Gypsum comes from mines in Barber County. Kansas is the country’s leading producer of helium. Limestone comes mostly from northeastern Kansas. Salt comes from brine (salt water) wells and rock salt mines in the central part of the state.
Electric power and utilities.
Most of the electric power in Kansas is produced by (1) plants that burn coal and (2) wind power. Much of the rest of the state’s electricity comes from the Wolf Creek nuclear plant in Burlington.
Transportation.
The central location of Kansas makes the state an important link in the U.S. transportation system. Pioneer wagon trains followed trails through the region during the 1800’s, and early railroads chose routes across the flat plains of Kansas. The first railroad in the state was a 5-mile (8-kilometer) line that was built in 1860. It ran between Elwood and Wathena.
Today, Kansas has an extensive system of roads and highways. It ranks among the leading states in total distance covered by highways. This road system is needed to connect the state’s many farm communities with market centers. Highways in the state include the Kansas Turnpike and Interstates 35 and 70. The Kansas Turnpike links Kansas City, Topeka, and Wichita. Interstate 35 cuts diagonally across the east side of Kansas. Interstate 70 crosses the entire state, between the Colorado border on the west and the Missouri border on the east.
Wichita and Kansas City are the leading rail centers of Kansas. Freight railroads operate on thousands of miles of rail line in the state. Wichita has the busiest airport. Kansas City International Airport, which serves the Kansas City metropolitan area, is in Missouri.
Communication.
The state’s first newspaper was the monthly Shawnee Sun, published by Jotham Meeker, a missionary, in 1835. Meeker printed the paper in the Shawnee language for members of that tribe. The first English-language paper, the Kansas Weekly Herald, appeared in Leavenworth in 1854. Today, the state’s leading newspapers include The Topeka Capital-Journal and The Wichita Eagle.
Government
Constitution.
Kansas is governed under its original Constitution, which was drawn up in 1859. This basic law has been amended many times. Amendments must be approved by two-thirds of the members in each house of the Legislature, and by a majority of the voters. A constitutional convention also may pass amendments. Such a convention may be called only with the approval of two-thirds of the legislators and a majority of the persons who vote on the issue in a statewide election. The Legislature must call an election to approve the convention’s actions.
Executive.
The governor and lieutenant governor of Kansas are elected to four-year terms and may not serve more than two terms in a row.
Other top elected state officials include the secretary of state, attorney general, treasurer, and commissioner of insurance. Each is elected to a four-year term. The governor appoints members of many state boards.
Legislature
consists of a 40-member Senate and a 125-member House of Representatives. Each senator and representative is elected from a separate district. Senators serve four-year terms, and representatives serve two-year terms. 
The Legislature meets each year, beginning on the second Monday in January. Legislative sessions are limited to 90 days in even-numbered years and are unlimited in odd-numbered years. A session can be extended by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. Special sessions may be called by the governor or by the governor or by a petition of two-thirds of the members of the Legislature.
In 1933, Kansas became the first state to form a legislative council. This council, now known as the Legislative Coordinating Council, consists of leaders of the state Senate and House of Representatives.
A constitutional amendment ratified in 1988 required the Legislature to reapportion (redivide) the House and Senate districts every 10 years, beginning in 1982, to provide equal representation based on population. The amendment requires the Kansas Supreme Court to approve each reapportionment plan.
Courts.
The highest state court is the Kansas Supreme Court, made up of seven justices. The justices serve six-year terms. The next highest court is the Kansas Court of Appeals, with 14 judges. The appellate judges serve four-year terms.
The governor appoints new Supreme Court justices from a list of candidates made up by the Supreme Court Nominating Commission. After a new justice has held office for a year, the voters decide in an election whether the justice can continue for a regular term. The justice with the longest service on the Supreme Court serves as the court’s chief justice. Court of Appeals judges elect one of their members to serve as chief judge.
District courts handle most major civil and criminal cases. District judges may be either elected or appointed to four-year terms. Voters in each judicial district choose the method of selection.
Local government
in Kansas is carried on through 105 counties and hundreds of cities. A board of county commissioners administers each county. Most boards have 3 commissioners, but some have as many as 11. Commissioners are elected from separate districts and serve four-year terms. Other county officials include the county attorney, county clerk, register of deeds, sheriff, and treasurer. Each county with a population in excess of 130,000 has an election commissioner. Kansas cities have a wide choice in their form of government. Most of them, especially the smaller cities, have a mayor-council form of government. Several of the larger cities are governed by commissions.
In 1961, an amendment to the state constitution gave the cities of Kansas home rule power. This power gave the cities control over their own affairs in such matters as licensing and taxation. In certain cases, Kansas cities may change laws passed by the state or exempt themselves from state laws. In 1974, the Legislature granted the counties of Kansas home rule power similar to that of the cities.
Revenue.
The government of Kansas gets about half of its general revenue (income) from state taxes. Personal and corporate income taxes and a general retail sales tax provide most of the money. The state levies taxes on motor vehicle licenses and motor fuels to pay for highway construction and maintenance. About 25 percent of the state government’s general revenue comes from United States government programs.
Politics.
Kansas was settled by antislavery Republicans and has remained strongly Republican in both national and local elections. Kansas voters usually elected Republican governors during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. But since 1956, both Democrats and Republicans have had success in gubernatorial elections. Kansas voters have chosen the Republican candidate in most presidential elections.
History
Early days.
Before Europeans came, four groups of Indigenous (native) peoples probably lived in what is now eastern Kansas. They were the Kansa, Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita. These people hunted buffalo, and raised beans, corn, and squash. The Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kiowa, and other peoples came to the central plains after obtaining horses during the early 1600’s. They hunted buffalo in Kansas and in other areas of the West.
Exploration.
In 1541, the Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de Coronado led the first Europeans into the Kansas region. Coronado’s party searched for a land called Quivira. A Native American guide had told them they would find gold there. But the Spaniards found no treasure, and they left without establishing settlements. In the late 1600’s, French explorers claimed large areas of North America for France. These claims included the land that is now Kansas. In the early 1700’s, French fur trappers came to the area. The French settled only in the northeastern corner of the Kansas region.
In 1803, France sold the territory called Louisiana to the United States (see Louisiana Purchase). This territory included most of present-day Kansas. Spain still claimed a small portion in the southwestern part of what is now Kansas. This portion later became part of Mexico, and then part of Texas.
Settlement.
The government of the Kansas region changed several times during the early years of U.S. control. At various times, the region was part of the District of Louisiana, the Louisiana Territory, and the Missouri Territory. In 1825, the federal government decided to take land from Native Americans in the East and give them Kansas land in return. Between 1825 and 1842, about 30 native groups were forced off their eastern lands and settled on reservations in the Kansas region. These groups included the Chippewa, Delaware, Fox, Iowa, Kickapoo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sauk, Shawnee, and Wyandot. Other reservations were set aside for the Native Americans who already lived in the region.
During this period, Kansas was a major path from east to west. Fur trappers, merchants, and settlers used the Santa Fe and Oregon trails through the region. Some white settlement began during these years. Missionaries came to convert Native Americans to the Christian faith. In 1827, an army officer, Colonel Henry Leavenworth, established the first United States outpost, Fort Leavenworth.
Pressure to open Kansas to white settlement and railroad construction increased about 1850. The U.S. government negotiated with the native peoples and took back most of the land. In 1854, the land was opened for white settlement. Many Native Americans were sent to Oklahoma. In the west, Plains peoples fought the settlers who poured across the prairie. After many years of bloody fighting, native groups were moved to reservations in Oklahoma. Four Native American reservations remain in Kansas today. 
A diverse population settled the farms and towns of Kansas. Major groups in the 1800’s included immigrants from England, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and Russia. Other settlers included Austrians, Bohemians, Czechs, Italians, and Germans from Russia.
The struggle over slavery.
In the 1850’s, Kansas became the symbol of a nationwide struggle over slavery. During the first half of the 1800’s, the slavery issue divided the people of the United States. In Congress, Northerners and Southerners clashed on whether new states and territories would permit slavery. In 1854, Congress found a way to create new territories and avoid the issue of slavery. The answer was popular sovereignty, also known as squatter sovereignty. The settlers, sometimes called squatters, in each territory would decide for themselves whether to allow slavery. Under this plan, Congress created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska (see Kansas-Nebraska Act; Popular sovereignty). Kansas became a territory on May 30, 1854. Andrew H. Reeder was appointed as territorial governor by President Franklin Pierce.
“Bleeding Kansas.”
Soon settlers from both North and South were streaming into Kansas, aided by groups who wanted to influence the decision on slavery. Kansans who opposed slavery formed a political group called the Free State party. In the elections of 1855, many citizens of the slave state of Missouri crossed the border and voted in Kansas. Proslavery candidates won control of the territorial legislature and passed many proslavery laws.
Violence broke out, particularly in the area close to the Missouri border. In 1856, supporters of slavery burned part of the Free State town of Lawrence. John Brown, a man who hated slavery, led a raid on Pottawatomie Creek, and five proslavery men were killed (see Brown, John). More than 50 people died in many other small battles of this period. The violence in Kansas over the slavery issue attracted attention throughout the United States. Newspaper readers waited anxiously for the latest reports from “Bleeding Kansas.”
The proslavery group wrote a constitution favoring slavery, but Kansas voters rejected it. Finally, the Free Staters gained control of the legislature and repealed the proslavery laws. A constitution forbidding slavery was written. The voters approved it and asked Congress for statehood. But many Free Staters had joined the Republican Party. Southern Democrats in Congress would not vote to admit a new Republican state.
Statehood.
Kansas became the 34th state on Jan. 29, 1861, after several Southern states had left the Union. The American Civil War started within a few weeks, and Kansas became involved in new violence. Antislavery leader James Henry Lane led “jayhawking” raids into Missouri, attacking slaveholders and bringing back Black people they had freed from slavery. In 1863, Confederate raiders under William Clarke Quantrill burned most of Lawrence and killed about 150 people. During the war, Kansas sent more men to the Union army, in proportion to its population, than any other state. After the war ended in 1865, thousands of Union veterans and formerly enslaved people moved into Kansas to claim land. In 1877, Black homesteaders established the all-Black town of Nicodemus, which still exists. 
The great cattle towns.
During the late 1860’s and the 1870’s, railroads built lines into Kansas. The railroads brought settlers in, and carried farm products to the East. Cattle owners began to drive herds of longhorn cattle from Texas to Kansas railroad towns. 
The trails, the towns, and the people of this era have provided material for books, motion pictures, and television. Famous cattle trails included the Chisholm Trail and the Western Trail. Abilene became the first of the Kansas “cattle towns.” Dodge City, Ellsworth, Newton, and Wichita also became cattle centers. Dodge City won the greatest fame. For 10 years after 1875, this bustling city was a major regional shipping point for cattle. The cowboys liked to “whoop it up” after hard weeks of herding cattle, and the cattle towns became wild and disorderly. Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok, Bat Masterson, and other lawmen won fame for taming the wild towns. See Western frontier life in America.
The colorful cattle drives ended by the mid-1880’s. Farmers had fenced the open range. The railroads reached Texas. Cattle owners there no longer needed to drive their cattle to Kansas. Kansas ranches continued to operate, and the state had developed a meat-packing industry. But the cattle towns lost their importance as market centers.
The nation’s breadbasket.
Many early Kansas farmers grew corn and wheat, but drought and insects often ruined their crops. In the 1870’s, a religious group called the Mennonites arrived in Kansas from Russia. They brought a variety of winter wheat called Turkey Red. This wheat was planted in the fall, not the spring. It was harvested early in the summer, and thereby escaped summer heat and many insects. Gradually, production of the wheat spread through Kansas. In 1894, wheat became the state’s leading crop. Flour mills were built to process the wheat, and Kansas became known as the Breadbasket of America.
The Populist reforms.
The state’s economy depended largely on its farmers. The farmers suffered during a period of dry weather in the late 1880’s and 1890’s. They resented the high rates they had to pay for loans from banks. The farmers also wanted low freight rates on grain shipments. To solve these problems, they formed a group called the Farmers’ Alliance, which won control of the Kansas Legislature in 1890. The group also helped create a national political party called the Populist Party (see Populism). The Populist candidate won Kansas’s electoral votes for president in 1892, and Populist governors were elected in 1892 and 1896.
A spirit of reform swept Kansas, and the ideas of the reform group grew to include a broad program of social change. A limit was placed on interest rates, and new regulations limited the power of banks, railroads, and other large companies. Many saloons were selling alcoholic drinks in violation of Kansas’s prohibition law, until a woman named Carry A. Nation began smashing saloons with a hatchet. Nation and her hatchet became famous, and police began to enforce the law more strictly (see Nation, Carry A. M.).
Early 1900’s.
The Populist Party declined in the early 1900’s, but Progressive Republicans carried on with reforms. They passed laws outlawing child labor, setting up juvenile courts, and reducing railroad rates on grain shipments. Other laws gave women the vote and set up primary elections to choose candidates for office. In 1911, the Legislature passed the nation’s first blue-sky law to protect investors against the sale of worthless stocks, bonds, and other securities (see Blue-sky laws).
Much of the reform program was passed with the support of a group of newspapermen. This group included Henry J. Allen, Joseph L. Bristow, Arthur Capper, William Allen White, and others. Allen, Bristow, and Capper all served in the U.S. Senate.
Economic progress.
During the early 1900’s, mineral development boomed in Kansas. Coal, lead, and zinc were mined in the southeast. Oil had been discovered near Neodesha in 1892. Later, oil and natural gas wells were drilled in many areas. In 1905, helium was first found in natural gas near Dexter. An oil discovery near El Dorado in 1915 started a boom. The production from these fields made Kansas a leading mining state.
After the United States entered World War I in 1917, many factories were built in Kansas to produce war supplies. Farm production, particularly of wheat, was increased to meet wartime food needs. After the war, manufacturing industries continued to develop. Farmers, however, did not share in the prosperity of the 1920’s because farm prices were low.
The Great Depression
of the 1930’s brought hardships to Kansans. Farm prices dropped even further. Many banks failed, and factories closed. Western Kansas suffered a long period of drought. The soil became dry and powdery. Winds whipped this dry soil into huge, blinding clouds of dust. People often could not eat or drink without feeling gritty dust between their teeth. A great area of the plains became known as the Dust Bowl (see Dust Bowl).
Many farmers left their damaged land, but others fought back with help from the federal and state governments. They tried new methods of farming, and planted trees to break the sweep of the wind.
Alfred M. Landon served two terms as governor of Kansas during this period. He attracted much attention by balancing the state budget. In 1936, the Republican party nominated Landon for president of the United States. Landon was defeated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Economic and political changes.
World War II (1939-1945) created a great demand for Kansas farm and mineral products. It also stimulated growth of the aviation industry, especially in Wichita. Some aspects of the economy continued to grow during the 1950’s and 1960’s. But the state’s main industries, energy and agriculture, suffered major problems. Both industries overproduced, causing low prices. Overall, with the poor condition of the agricultural economy, the state suffered a rapid loss of farms and had only a small increase in population.
A drought almost as severe as that of the 1930’s struck in the 1950’s, but with less disastrous effect. Methods of soil conservation had improved by this time. Production of crops had also increased because of advances in technology. Irrigation with ground water, a major development that began during the 1960’s, allowed farmers to raise corn and grain sorghum in areas of little rainfall. Even without irrigation, improved winter wheat varieties increased wheat production, and Kansas remained the leading wheat-growing state. Nitrogen fertilizers multiplied yields of all crops. With more grain available, cattle feeding boomed. And as feedlots grew, the meat-packing industry thrived.
Agriculture remained important economically, but the population became largely urban. Wichita and Kansas City became the fastest-growing population centers in the state. Many small towns declined in population.
Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, who grew up in Abilene, served as U.S. president from 1953 to 1961. Meanwhile, the Democrats gained strength in traditionally Republican Kansas. Democrats George Docking and Robert Docking, father and son who both served as governor, showed that, politically, Kansas had become a competitive two-party state.
In 1986, the voters of Kansas approved the legalization of selling liquor by the drink and betting on horse and dog races. They also approved the creation of a state lottery.
In the 1980’s, Kansas’s economy suffered severely. Low prices plagued the oil industry, and financial difficulties caused the failure of many farms. To try to improve the economy, the Kansas government and business people established Kansas, Inc., as the state’s economic planning agency. The agency helps businesses expand. Its efforts and other developments contributed to improvement of the state’s economy in the 1990’s.
Joan Finney, a Democrat, served as governor of Kansas from 1991 to 1995. She was the first woman to be elected governor of the state.
The early 2000’s.
In May 2007, a powerful tornado destroyed about 90 percent of the town of Greensburg in south-central Kansas. Eleven people were killed. Greensburg officials soon committed to rebuilding the town as a model “green” community. With funding from both government and private sources, residents rebuilt the town with energy-efficient buildings and the use of wind energy and other renewable sources.
Sam Brownback, a Republican, was elected governor in 2010 and reelected in 2014. In 2012, Brownback and the Legislature committed to a fiscal “experiment” that promised to expand economic growth by broadly cutting income taxes on individuals and many thousands of small businesses. The tax plan went into effect in 2013. By 2014, however, the state faced deep budget shortfalls, forcing it to cut spending on infrastructure, education, and social services. Residents and lawmakers began to question the value of the “experiment.” In 2017, the Legislature voted to raise income taxes and limit some tax exemptions for small businesses and farmers. Both houses of the Legislature then voted to override Brownback’s veto of the tax increase.
In early 2018, Brownback stepped down as governor after the U.S. Senate confirmed his nomination as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, a position in the U.S. Department of State. Lieutenant Governor Jeff Colyer succeeded Brownback as governor. Later that year, Democrat Laura Kelly was elected governor and succeeded Colyer in 2019.
