The Kansas Portal
Kansas ( KAN-zəss) is a landlocked state in the Midwestern region of the United States . It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named after the Kansas River , in turn named after the Kansa people. Its capital is Topeka , and its most populous city is Wichita , however the largest urban area is the bi-state Kansas City, MO–KS metropolitan area .
For thousands of years, what is now Kansas was home to numerous and diverse Indigenous tribes . The first settlement of non-indigenous people in Kansas occurred in 1827 at Fort Leavenworth . The pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery debate. When it was officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854 with the Kansas–Nebraska Act , conflict between abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri broke out over the question of whether Kansas would become a free state or a slave state , in a period known as Bleeding Kansas . On January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state, hence the unofficial nickname "The Free State". Passage of the Homestead Acts in 1862 brought a further influx of settlers, and the booming cattle trade of the 1870s attracted some of the Wild West's most iconic figures to western Kansas.
As of 2015, Kansas was among the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum , and soybeans . In addition to its traditional strength in agriculture, Kansas possesses an extensive aerospace industry. Kansas, which has an area of 82,278 square miles (213,100 square kilometers) is the 15th-largest state by area , the 36th most-populous of the 50 states, with a population of 2,940,865 according to the 2020 census, and the 10th least densely populated . Residents of Kansas are called Kansans . Mount Sunflower is Kansas's highest point at 4,039 feet (1,231 meters). (Full article... )
This is a Good article, an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards.
Duff Gordon "Sir Richard" Cooley (March 29, 1873 – August 9, 1937) was an American
professional baseball player whose career spanned 17 seasons, 13 of which were spent in
Major League Baseball (MLB). Cooley, an
outfielder and
first baseman , had a career
batting average of .294 in 1,317
games played . He compiled 849
runs , 1,579
hits , 180
doubles , 102
triples , 26
home runs , and 557
runs batted in (RBI). In Major League history, he is tied in 148th place for most
all-time triples and, his 224 career
stolen bases , place him equal 279th on the
all-time list . Cooley made his Major League debut at the age of 20, and spent the majority of his career there, but he also appeared in
minor league baseball . After breaking his leg with the Tigers in 1905, he was replaced with future Hall of Fame outfielder
Ty Cobb . Cooley, nicknamed "Sir Richard" due to his aristocratic manner, was listed as standing 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) and weighing 158 pounds (72 kg). (
Full article... )
Credit: Michael Overton Big Brutus Note people standing near the bottom "treads" to gain perspective of this 160 feet (49 m) machine.
Important dates in Kansas' history
State facts
State symbols:
The American Bison, Kansas' state mammal.
Dwight David Eisenhower ( EYE-zən-how-ər; born David Dwight Eisenhower ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969), nicknamed Ike , was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II , he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and achieved the five-star rank as General of the Army . Eisenhower planned and supervised two of the most consequential military campaigns of World War II: Operation Torch in the North Africa campaign in 1942–1943 and the invasion of Normandy in 1944.
Eisenhower was born in
Denison, Texas , and raised in
Abilene, Kansas . His family had a strong religious background, and his mother became a
Jehovah's Witness . Eisenhower, however, belonged to no organized church until 1952. He graduated from
West Point in 1915 and later married
Mamie Doud , with whom he had two sons. During
World War I , he was denied a request to serve in Europe and instead commanded a unit that trained
tank crews. Following the war, he was promoted to the rank of
brigadier general . In 1941, after the United States entered World War II, Eisenhower oversaw the invasions of North Africa and
Sicily before supervising the invasions of
France and
Germany . After the war ended in Europe, he served as
military governor of the
American-occupied zone of Germany (1945),
Army Chief of Staff (1945–1948),
president of Columbia University (1948–1953), and as the first
supreme commander of NATO (1951–1952). (
Full article... )
List of selected articles
Fort Leavenworth Topeka, Kansas Kansas State University Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport Nazareth Convent and Academy Kansas Turnpike Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium University of Kansas Commandant of the United States Army Command and General Staff College Brown v. Board of Education James Manney Hagaman Andrew Frank Schoeppel Orval Grove Bill Snyder Laura M. Cobb Ted Kessinger Joe Engle Dean C. Strother Greensburg, Kansas Overland Park, Kansas Lawrence, Kansas Manhattan, Kansas Kansas City, Kansas List of birds of Kansas 1867 Manhattan, Kansas earthquake William T. Anderson Pawnee, Kansas Old Depot Museum Westboro Baptist Church Same-sex marriage in Kansas Wild Bill Hickok Elizabeth Williams Champney Dummy Taylor Council Grove, Kansas Kansas State Guard Ronald Evans (astronaut) Village Presbyterian Church (Prairie Village, Kansas) Hattie McDaniel Kansas River COVID-19 pandemic in Kansas Dodge City War Kansas (band) John Brown (abolitionist) William Allen White Sacking of Lawrence Kansas City Monarchs (American Association)
General images
The following are images from various Kansas-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 Kansas summer wheat and storm panorama (from
Kansas )
Image 2 Boeing B-29 Superfortress production in Wichita in 1944 (from
History of Kansas )
Image 3 Spring River , Kansas (from
Kansas )
Image 4 Kansas's
Monument Rocks at night
Image 5 1915–1918 Kansas railroad map (from
Kansas )
Image 6 The Kansas Pacific main line shown on an 1869 map (from
History of Kansas )
Image 8 Chippewa named "One-Called-From-A-Distance" (from
History of Kansas )
Image 9 1855 Free-State poster (from
History of Kansas )
Image 10 Reverend
Charles Sheldon , Topeka resident and coiner of the phrase "
What would Jesus do? " (from
Kansas )
Image 11 John Brown about 1856 (from
History of Kansas )
Image 12 Fox Theater,
Hutchinson (from
Kansas )
Image 13 Map of Indian territories, 1836 (from
History of Kansas )
Image 14 Temporary quarters for
Volga Germans in central Kansas, 1875 (from
History of Kansas )
Image 16 Albert Bierstadt ,
Western Kansas , 1875 (from
Kansas )
Image 17 A population density map of Kansas (from
Kansas )
Image 18 Gove County Badlands (from
Kansas )
Image 19 David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium is the oldest football stadium west of the Mississippi River, and one of the oldest standing football stadiums in the country. Built in 1921, it is home to the Kansas Jayhawks football team. (from
Kansas )
Image 21 Kansas Highway Map (from
Kansas )
Image 22 Ethnic origins in Kansas (from
Kansas )
Image 23 Quantrill's 1863 raid burned the town of Lawrence and killed 164 townspeople. (from
History of Kansas )
Image 24 Köppen climate types of Kansas, using 1991–2020
climate normals (from
Kansas )
Image 25 Children's Mercy Park,
Kansas City (from
Kansas )
Image 27 Frank Bond's illustration of the Louisiana Purchase (from
History of Kansas )
Image 28 Samuel Seymour's 1819 illustration of a
Kansa lodge and dance is the oldest drawing known to be done in Kansas. (from
History of Kansas )
Image 29 Clouds in northeastern Kansas (from
Kansas )
Image 30 The Great Seal of the State of Kansas was established by the legislature on May 25, 1861. The design was submitted by Senator
John James Ingalls . He also proposed the state motto, "Ad astra per aspera", which means "to the stars through difficulty". (from
History of Kansas )
Image 31 Charles Curtis (
R ) was born near Topeka and served as a State Legislator, Congressman and Senator, before becoming Vice President (1929–33). He is the only Native American elected to the Executive Branch (he was born into the
Kaw Nation ). (from
Kansas )
Image 32 The
Great Plains of Kansas (from
Kansas )
Image 33 The Rio Theatre,
Overland Park (from
Kansas )
Image 34 George Armstrong Custer led U.S. troops against Native Americans in western Kansas. (from
History of Kansas )
Image 35 Boosterism: cover of a promotional booklet published in 1907 by the Rock Island railroad (from
History of Kansas )
Image 36 The Plaza Cinema in
Ottawa is the oldest operating movie theater in the world. (from
Kansas )
Image 37 Map of counties in Kansas by racial plurality, per the 2020 U.S. census
Non-Hispanic White 30–40%
50–60%
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90%+
Hispanic or Latino 50–60%
60–70%
(from
Kansas )
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Things you can do
Urgent:
To Nominate at WP:FAC:
To Improve to Featured standard: Kansas , Manhattan, Kansas , Topeka, Kansas , Wichita, Kansas , Lawrence, Kansas , History of Kansas
Collaboration: Kansas
To Expand: Kansas State Board of Education ; Walnut River (Kansas) ; Cow Creek (Kansas) ; Saline River (Kansas) ; Solomon River (Kansas) ; The Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery ; Ninnescah River (Kansas) ; Mission Creek
To Clean up: Elyria, Kansas
To Merge:
To Destub: See: Category:Kansas stubs
To Deorphan: Pillsbury Crossing
To Categorize:
To Create: Articles in: Category:Newspapers published in Kansas , Category:Libraries in Kansas
To de-redlink:
Lists to de-redlink: Lakes, reservoirs, and dams in Kansas
Lists to complete: List of Kansas-related topics , List of people from Kansas
Wanted Pics/Graphics: Crane Observatory , Haviland Crater , Lake Afton Public Observatory , Philip Billard Municipal Airport , Sisk Observatory, Topeka, Kansas
Wanted New Pics: Courthouses of numerous counties
Maintain : add {{Project Kansas}} to the talk pages of Kansas-related articles and add the articles to Wikipedia:WikiProject Kansas/Kansas recent changes so related changes link works.
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