1541: Explorers, searching for gold, claimed Kansas for Spain 1682: French explorer LaSalle claimed all of the Kansas territory
for France 1803: U.S. acquired most of Kansas from France in the Louisiana
Purchase 1822: Captain W. H. Becknell pioneered the Santa Fe Trail 1827: Fort Leavenworth established 1830s: Settlers arrived by the thousands 1854: Kansas Territory was organized 1855-1859: The Kansas-Nebraska Act caused bloody fighting over
slavery; Kansas was called "Bloody Kansas." 1860: First railroad reached Kansas 1862: Kansas became a state 1867: The railroad arrived in Abilene, and the first cattle were
driven up the Chisholm Trail 1887: Susanna Salter elected mayor of Argonia, Kansas; became the
first woman mayor in the country 1894-1895: The state's oil and gas fields went into production 1930s: Severe dust storms destroyed acres and acres of crops 1951: Floods struck the state causing wide-spread damage 1952: Dwight David Eisenhower, Kansas' adopted favorite son, became
U.S. President 1952: U.S. Supreme Court declared segregation in public school
illegal, in the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education case of Topeka
1961: The world's largest wheat elevator was built in Hutchinson 1969: President Dwight David Eisenhower died 1976: Famed Kansas politician Bob Dole ran for Vice President 1978: Nancy Landon Kassebaum became the first women from Kansas
elected U.S. Senator 1988: Kansas Jayhawks won the NCAA Tourney 1996: Bob Dole Russell, Kansas: ran for President
