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Kansas 

The midwestern state of Kansas is the 15th largest state in the nation, and it’s located right in the middle of the United States.

kansas-seal

The state’s landscape includes grassland hills, sand dunes, woodlands, fields of wheat, and more.

It’s one of the top farming states in the nation, and it’s also home to thousands of oil wells.

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Quick Facts

Capital: Topeka

Population: 3 million

Nickname: The Sunflower State, The Wheat State

sun-bright-clever

Key Cities: Wichita, Overland Park, Kansas City, Topeka, Olathe, Lawrence

Postal Abbreviation: KS

Major Industries: Agriculture, cattle production, energy, aviation, industrial minerals

cows

History

How did Kansas get its name: The name “Kansas” comes from a native Sioux tribe called the Kaws or Kansa people. The tribe’s name is said to mean “people of the Southwind.”

Date admitted to the Union: Tuesday, January 29, 1861

Geography

Size: 82,278 sq. miles

Lowest point: Verdigris River at 679 feet

Highest point: Sunflower at 4,039 feet

Eisenhower official portrait

Counties: 105

Famous locations: Botanica, Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum, Boot Hill, Monument Rocks, Lake Scott State Park, Spencer Museum of Art, Museum of World Treasures

Famous Kansans

  • Amelia Earhart– pilot
  • Martina McBride- singer
  • Jeff Probst- television host/producer
Melissa Etheridge
  • Melissa Etheridge- singer
  • Bob Dole- politician
  • Kirstie Alley- actress

Fun Facts

The world’s first Pizza Hut opened in Wichita, Kansas in 1958.

pizza

Two brothers named Dan and Frank Carney, who were students at Wichita State University, borrowed $600 from their mother to start their pizza business.

The first White Castle hamburger restaurant was also opened in Wichita in 1921.

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No state in the country grows more wheat than Kansas. In a single year, Kansas produces enough wheat to bake 36 billion loaves of bread. That could feed the entire world for two weeks!

If you love adventure, try visiting the world’s tallest water slide at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City. The slide is even taller than Niagara Falls.

schlitterbahn-waterpark

The windiest city in the United States is Dodge City, Kansas, where the average wind speed is 14 miles per hour.

Kansas has an average of 61 tornadoes each year. In 2007, a tornado destroyed 95% of Greensburg, Kansas.

tornado damage

It was the first tornado to be rated EF5 (that’s really strong!). A 1928 tornado in Kansas was so strong that it plucked the feathers off several chickens.

People often describe Kansas as “flatter than a pancake.” In 2003, geographers tested this theory using a digital model of an IHOP pancake.

ihop-pancakes

It turns out that Kansas really is flatter than a pancake! (But several states are even flatter than Kansas, including Florida and Illinois.)

More US states.

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