- A ball of twine in Cawker City measures over 38' in
circumference and weighs more than 16,750 pounds and is
still growing.
- A grain elevator in Hutchinson is 1/2 mile long and
holds 46 million bushels in its 1,000 bins.
- South of Ashland the Rock Island Bridge is the longest
railroad bridge of its kind. It measures 1,200 feet long and
is 100 feet above the Cimarron River.
- At Kansas State University College of Veterinary
Medicine waterbeds for horses are used in surgery.
- Kansas won the award for most beautiful license plate
for the wheat plate design issued in 1981.
- Dodge City is the windiest city in the United States.
- At one time it was against the law to serve ice cream on
cherry pie in Kansas.
- The first woman mayor in the United States was Susan
Madora Salter. She was elected to office in Argonia in 1887.
- The first black woman to win an Academy Award was Kansan
Hattie McDaniel. She won the award for her role in "Gone
with the Wind."
- Kansas inventors include Almon Stowger of El Dorado who
invented the dial telephone in 1889; William Purvis and
Charles Wilson of Goodland who invented the helicopter in
1909; and Omar Knedlik of Coffeyville who invented the first
frozen carbonated drink machine in 1961.
- Smith County is the geographical center of the 48
contiguous states.
- Amelia Earhart, first woman granted a pilot's license by
the National Aeronautics Associate and first woman to fly
solo across the Atlantic Ocean was from Atchison.
- Dwight D. Eisenhower from Abilene was the 34th President
of the United States.
- Silent comedian Buster Keaton, of early film success,
was from Piqua, Kansas.
- The three largest herds of buffalo (correctly called
bison) in Kansas are located on public lands at the Maxwell
Game Preserve (McPherson), Big Basin (Ashland), and Buffalo
Game Preserve (Garden City).
- Fort Riley, between Junction City and Manhattan, was the
cradle of the United States Cavalry for 83 years. George
Custer formed the famed 7th Cavalry there in 1866. Ten years
later, at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the 7th was
virtually wiped out. The only Cavalry survivor was a horse
named Comanche.
- Wyatt Earp, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok and William
B. "Bat" Masterson were three of the legendary lawmen who
kept the peace in rowdy frontier towns like Abilene, Dodge
City, Ellsworth, Hays, and Wichita.
- The public swimming pool at the Lee Richardson Zoo in
Garden City occupies half a city block and holds 2 1/2
million gallons of water.
- Cedar Crest is the name of the governor's mansion in
Topeka, the state capital.
- Barton County is the only Kansas County that is named
for a woman; the famous volunteer Civil War nurse Clara
Barton.
- The Arkansas River may be the only river whose
pronunciation changes as it crosses state lines. In Kansas,
it is called the Arkansas (ahr-KAN-zuhs). On both sides of
Kansas (Colorado and Oklahoma), it is called the Arkansaw.
- Civil War veteran S.P. Dinsmoor used over 100 tons of
concrete to build the Garden of Eden in Lucas. Even the flag
above the mausoleum is made of concrete.
- Handel's Messiah has been presented in Lindsborgeach at
Easter since 1889.
- A monument to the first Christian martyr on United
States Territory stands along Highway 56 near Lyons. Father
Juan de Padilla came to the region with the explorer
Coronado in 1541.
- Hutchinson is nicknamed the Salt City because it was
built above some of the richest salt deposits in the world.
Salt is still actively mined, processed and shipped from
Hutchinson.
- There are 27 Walnut Creeks in the state.
- There are more than 600 incorporated towns in the state.
- Morton County sells the most trout fishing stamps of all
the Kansas counties.
- Fire Station No. 4 in Lawrence, originally a stone barn
constructed in 1858, was a station site on the Underground
Railroad.
- The Hugoton Gas Field is the largest natural gas field
in the United States. It underlies all or parts of 10
southwestern Kansas counties as well as parts of Oklahoma
and Texas. The gas field underlies almost 8,500 square
miles, an area nearly 5 times as large as the state of Rhode
Island.
- The Kansas Speleological Society has catalogued at least
528 caves in 37 Kansas counties. Commanche County has at
least 128 caves and Barber County has at least 117 caves.
- Kansas has the largest population of wild grouse in
North America. The grouse is commonly called the prairie
chicken.
- Milford Reservoir with over 16,000 acres of water is the
state's largest lake. The reservoir is located northwest of
Junction City.
- The Geodetic Center of North America is about 40 miles
south of Lebanon at Meade's Ranch. It is the beginning point
of reference for land surveying in North America. When a
surveyor checks a property line, he or she is checking the
position of property in relation to Meade's Ranch in
northwest Kansas.
- In Italy the city of Milan is 300 miles northwest of
Rome. In Kansas, Milan is less than 25 miles northwest of
Rome, in Sumner County.
- Between 1854 and 1866, 34 steamboats paddled up the Kaw
River (Kansas River). One made it as far west as Fort Riley.
- In 1990 Kansas wheat farmers produced enough wheat to
make 33 billion loaves of bread, or enough to provide each
person on earth with 6 loaves.
- Holy Cross Shrine in Pfeifer, was known as the 2 Cent
Church because the building was built using a 2 cent
donation on each bushel of wheat sold by members of the
church.
- Kansas produced a record 492.2 million bushels of wheat
in 1997, enough to make 35.9 billion loaves of bread.
- The American Institute of Baking is located in
Manhattan.
- A 30 foot tall statue of Johnny Kaw stands in Manhattan.
The statue represents the importance of the Kansas wheat
farmer.
- The graham cracker was named after the Reverend
Sylvester Graham (1794-1851). He was a Presbyterian minister
who strongly believed in eating whole wheat flour products.
- The rocks at Rock City are huge sandstone concretions.
In an area about the size of two football fields, 200 rocks,
some as large as houses, dot the landscape. There is no
other place in the world where there are so many concretions
of such giant size.
- George Washington Carver, the famous botanical scientist
who discovered more than 300 products made from the peanut,
graduated from high school in Minneapolis in 1885.
- The First United Methodist Church in Hutchinson was
built in 1874 during the time of the grasshopper plagues.
The grasshoppers came during the construction of the
churches foundation but the pastor continued with the work.
As a result, thousands of grasshoppers are mixed into the
mortar of the original building's foundation.
- A hailstone weighing more than one and a half pounds
once fell on Coffeyville.
- The Oregon Trail passed thru six states, including
Kansas. There were no Indian attacks reported on the Oregon
Trail as the travelers passed through the state.
- Russell Springs located in Logan County is known as the
Cow Chip Capital of Kansas.
- The world famous fast-food chain of Pizza Hut
restaurants opened its first store in Wichita.
- Sumner County is known as The Wheat Capital of the
World.
Thanks to:
Kansas Wheathearts,
Jeff Newman, Peter J. Freund, rbraig
|
|