Kansas: The Sunflower State

• Alternate Nicknames:
  • Jayhawk State
  • Breadbasket of America
• Capital: Topeka
• Major Cities:
  • Wichita
  • Kansas City
  • Dodge City
• Major Geographical Features
  • Flint Hills
  • Red Hills
  • Smokey Hills
  • Arkansas River
  • Kansas River
  • Missouri River
  • Saline River
• National Parks: none
• 1803: Present-day Kansas is acquired through the Louisiana Purchase
• 1854: Kansas-Nebraska Act allows Kansans to choose to legalize slavery in the territory
• 1854-1861: "Bleeding Kansas" so-called because of violent clashes between abolitionists and slavery advocates
• 1861: Kansas becomes the 34th state
• 1930s: Dust Bowl causes a major drought in Kansas and other Great Plains states
• Motto: "To the stars through difficulties"
• Name Meaning: "People of the South Wind" in Sioux
• Industries
  • Cattle
  • Wheat
  • Aircraft
  • Natural Gas
• Lebanon, Kansas is the geographic center of the 48 contiguous states
• Argonia, Kansas was the first city to elect a female mayor
• 1st state to include the prohibition of alcohol in its constitution
• Holcomb, Kansas was the main setting for Truman Capote's In Cold Blood
• Famous People
  • Amelia Earhart
  • Walter Percy Chrysler
  • Barry Sanders