Entered the Union:
January 29, 1861 (34)
January 29, 1861 (34)
Capital: Topeka
Kansas |
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| Origin of Name: from a Sioux word meaning "people of the south wind" | ||
| State Nickname: Sunflower State • Jayhawk State | ||
| State Flower: Sunflower | State Bird: Western Meadowlark | |
| State Tree: Cottonwood | State Animal: Buffalo | |
| State Reptile: Ornate Box Turtle | State Song: “Home on the Range" | |
| State Motto: Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties) | ||
| State Parks: 28 | ||
| Famous For: Dodge City, wheat production, private aircraft manufacturing | ||
| Famous Kansans: Walter Chrysler (auto manufacturer), Charles Curtis (Vice President), Amelia Earhart (aviator), Dwight D. Eisenhower (general and President), Walter Johnson (baseball), Stan Kenton (jazz), James Lehrer (broadcast journalist), John Cameron Swayze (news commentator), Jess Willard (boxer), Robert Dole (senator) | ||
| Animals and Birds: Click on photos of the animals and birds on this page to find out more about them and to hear the sounds they make. | ||
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| Spain explored Kansas in 1541. French explorers from Canada arrived In 1673. | |||||||||||
| In 1803, the United States purchased Kansas from France in the Louisiana Purchase. | |||||||||||
| The US government decided to let the people of Kansas vote for or against slavery. There were many fights between these people, but eventually those against slavery won. Because of the great violence during this time, Kansas became known as “Bleeding Kansas.” | |||||||||||
| At one time it was against the law to serve ice cream on cherry pie in Kansas. | |||||||||||
| Pizza Hut restaurants opened its first store in Wichita, Kansas. | |||||||||||
| The graham cracker was named after the Reverend Sylvester Graham. He was a minister who strongly believed in eating whole-wheat flour products. | |||||||||||
| Every type of prairie habitat can be found in Kansas | |||||||||||
| Helium was discovered in 1905 at the University of Kansas | |||||||||||
| William Purvis and Charles Wilson of Goodland, Kansas invented the helicopter in 1909 | |||||||||||
| Dodge City is the windiest city in the United States, with an average wind speed of 14 miles per hour. | |||||||||||
| Sumner County is known as The Wheat Capital of the World. Kansas leads the nation in wheat production. | |||||||||||
| Kansas is the nation's second largest producer of beef cattle, behind only Texas. | |||||||||||
| Abilene is the ending point of the Chisholm Trail where the cattle driven from Texas were loaded onto rail cars. | |||||||||||
| Almon Stowger of El Dorado invented the dial telephone in 1889. | |||||||||||
| 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. | |||||||||||
| Amelia Earhart, the first woman granted a pilot's license by the National Aeronautics Associate and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, was from Atchison. | |||||||||||
| Handel's Messiah has been presented in Lindsborg each Easter since 1889. | |||||||||||
| Kansas' Ethnic Roots: German 25.9%, Irish 11.5%, English 10.8%, American 8.8%, French 3.1%, Swedish 2.4%. | |||||||||||
| Religion in Kansas: 81.3% Christian (61.3% Protestant, 20% Catholic), 17.5% No Religion, 0.8% LDS, 0.4% Other Religions | |||||||||||
| Kansas was the first state to ratify the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which gave African-American men the right to vote. | |||||||||||
| Wichita is one of the nation's top plane manufacturing cities. | |||||||||||
| 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 meaning when a surveyor checks a property line, he is checking the position of property in relation to Meade's Ranch in northwest Kansas. |
At a Glance
Kansas Quick Facts
| Entered the Union | January 29, 1861 (34) |
|---|---|
| Capital | Topeka |
| Nickname | Sunflower State • Jayhawk State |
| State Bird | Western Meadowlark |
| State Flower | Sunflower |
| State Tree | Cottonwood |
New for 2026
More Kansas Facts & Photos
Less than 4 percent of North America's tallgrass prairie survives, most of it in the Flint Hills. The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, created in 1996, protects a stretch of it in Chase County.
In 2014 Kansas named two state fossils from its time beneath an inland sea: Tylosaurus, a 40-foot marine reptile, and Pteranodon, a flying reptile with a 20-foot wingspan.
The 70-foot chalk spires of Monument Rocks rose from an ancient seafloor. In 1968 they became Kansas's first National Natural Landmark.
Argonia elected Susanna Salter as the first woman mayor in the United States in 1887. Men had put her on the ballot as a prank; she won at age 27.
Big Brutus, a 16-story electric mining shovel, dug coal near West Mineral from 1963 to 1974. The largest electric shovel still in existence, it now anchors a mining museum.
Voices of America
In Their Own Words
Dwight D. Eisenhower
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both."
President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
"From this day forward, the millions of our schoolchildren will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our nation and our people to the Almighty."
President
Dwight D. Eisenhower
"If you want total security, go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and so on. The only thing lacking... is freedom."
President
Last updated: July 2026