Moving to Kansas City - Overland Park, Wichita, Lenexa, Topeka

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Occupying the central position in the conterminous United States, Kansas is one of the nation's leading agricultural states. It is 15th in size among the states. Kansas is bordered by Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Colorado. The area was first explored by Europeans with the Coronado expedition of 1541, but significant Anglo settlement did not occur until 1855. After a six-year struggle over the slavery issue, the "Sunflower State" entered the Union in 1861 on the free side. Today it is a prosperous, conservative, rural state with an economy well balanced between agriculture and industry. Topeka is the capital. The name Kansas is a Sioux word meaning "people of the south wind."
LAND AND RESOURCES
Kansas has a reputation for flat topography, but this is true only of the western quarter of the state; most of the land is rolling and hilly. The highest point, Mount Sunflower, in Wallace County in the west, is 1,231 m (4,039 ft); the lowest elevation is 207 m (679 ft) in Montgomery County in the southeast. The rock strata are arranged in the manner of shingles. The oldest rocks, Mississippian (360-320 million-year-old) limestones, outcrop only in the southeastern corner of the state. To the west newer surface materials are found, first Pennsylvanian and Permian (320-245 million-year-old) limestones and shales, then recent Cretaceous (144-66 million-year-old) and Quaternary (less than 1.6 million-year-old) deposits. The western two-thirds of Kansas is part of the Great Plains, the eastern third belongs to the Central Lowlands, and the tiny Mississippian outcrop is part of the Ozark Upland.
The flat topography of the Great Plains is commonly attributed to a lack of water for erosion, but the recentness of surface deposits is probably a more important factor. The plains surface is actually an outwash "apron" deposited after the Rocky Mountains were uplifted. Wind-deposited soil, called loess, was placed to a depth of about one meter on top of this apron at the time of the last ice age; it provides an excellent, stone-free medium for agriculture. Streams have dissected the plains in central Kansas to form the Blue and Smoky hills in the northern part of the area and the Gypsum Hills in the south; the latter contain scenic buttes and mesas.
The Central Lowlands portion of Kansas is commonly divided into four subregions. South of the Kansas River are the Osage Cuestas, a plains area broken by limestone escarpments sometimes exceeding 60 m (200 ft) in height. To the west, in a belt from Washington County to Cowley County, these escarpments become bolder and more frequent. Kansans call this area the Flint Hills, a name referring to a mineral commonly found in the limestone layers. Sandstone replaces limestone in the Chautauqua Hills, a small area along the Chautauqua-Montgomery County line. North of the Kansas River is the Till Plain, where the rock escarpments are masked by a layer of glacial debris. The terrain there is gently rolling. Soils in Kansas are predominantly humus-rich mollisols, but lack of precipitation in the west limits productivity unless irrigation is available.
Climate
Kansas's "big sky," dramatic sunsets, and great variability in temperature and precipitation are all important aspects of the regional personality. Because the state is remote from the moderating influences of oceans, it has a wide annual temperature range. The average January temperature is - 1 degrees C (30 degrees F); the July average is 26 degrees C (79 degrees F). Diurnal ranges are also broad. Precipitation is highly variable and has a marked regional pattern. Average rainfall increases from 380 mm (15 in) in the extreme west to 1,140 mm (45 in) in the southeast, a pattern related to distance from the Gulf of Mexico moisture source. About 75 percent of the annual precipitation falls between April and September, but summer is often a moisture-deficient season because of high evaporation rates. Because precipitation is dependent on the chance meeting of moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and low-pressure systems, yearly totals are highly variable, especially in western Kansas. Thus, the region of greatest variability coincides with that of lowest average rainfall totals, and the combination produces doubled risks for local farmers. Sharply contrasting air masses frequently clash over the Kansas plains, bringing violent weather.
Drainage
The Kansas (Kaw) River in the north and the Arkansas River in the south drain most of the state. The Kaw is a short stream (275 km/170 mi) formed by the junction of the Smoky Hill and the Republican rivers; it enters the Missouri River at Kansas City. Principal tributaries of the long Arkansas River (2,348 km/1,459 mi) in Kansas are the Cimarron, Neosho, and Verdigris. The Arkansas occupies an especially wide and fertile lowland from the Hutchinson area in the south central part of the state to the Oklahoma border. None of the Kansas waterways is used for navigation. The state has 20 major reservoirs and more than 70,000 farm ponds. Extensive groundwater reserves in the Ogallala aquifer of western Kansas are being depleted by heavy irrigation.
Vegetation and Animal Life
Prairie vegetation was the dominant pattern encountered in Kansas by the first explorers. Blue grama and buffalo grass grew in the west, and taller bluestem species dominated elsewhere. Timber, especially cottonwoods, sycamores, and walnut trees, was common in the river valleys. Currently a debate exists concerning the origin of the Kansas prairie. Some say that grass is the natural vegetation under the state's highly variable climatic conditions, but others claim that trees would predominate over large portions of Kansas had it not been for widespread burning by the Indians, who set fire to the land to induce the early growth of pasturage for buffalo. The common occurrence of oak, hickory, elm, hackberry, juniper, and other tree species on rocky, droughty (but fire-protected) escarpments supports the latter view, as does the sprouting of trees on abandoned farmland in the eastern half of the state. Animal life is highly diverse in Kansas and includes both woodland and grassland species. Pheasants are a popular game bird in the west, and antelope have been reintroduced there. Squirrels, raccoon, and deer occur in the east.
Resources
Petroleum and natural-gas deposits are widespread in the southern half of Kansas. The fields are in decline but still produce over half of the state's mineral output. The exploitation of the Hugoton gas field in the 1950s and '60s made southwestern Kansas one of the wealthiest areas per capita in the state. Most of the oil and gas is shipped out of Kansas to provide power for the industrial eastern states. Before World War II, Kansas was, with Oklahoma and Missouri, a major producer of lead and zinc. No mines now operate in the district, and a moderate economic depression exists locally. Salt, from the Hutchinson area, and coal, in the southeast, are other resources.
PEOPLE
The population density of Kansas is less than half the national average. Natural increase along with a net in-migration produced a modest growth rate from 1980 to 1990 of 4.8 percent, but by 1993 this rate had slowed to 2.1 percent. The majority of the population lives in urban areas. Kansas ranks slightly below the national average in per-capita personal income.
Most of the major cities in the state are located on early transportation routes, principally the Kaw Valley-Union Pacific line due west from Kansas City and the path of the Santa Fe Railroad from Atchison through Topeka, Emporia, Hutchinson, and Garden City. A major exception is Wichita, a city whose initial prosperity can be attributed more to promotion than to transportation advantages. Today, thanks principally to the petroleum and aircraft industries, Wichita is the largest city in the state, followed by Kansas City and Topeka.
Most early Kansans were born in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but there was also an influential minority from New England. Today about 6 percent of the people are blacks, many of whom are descendants of the "exodusters," former slaves who came to Kansas just after the Civil War. Garden City has sizable numbers of Hispanic and Vietnamese, many of whom work in meat-packing plants. A substantial majority of church members in Kansas are Protestant. Roman Catholicism and the United Methodist church are the largest single denominations.
Education and Cultural Activity
Education has always enjoyed a high level of local support, a fact that some attribute to the role of pioneer settlers from New England. The state ranks near the middle among the U.S. states in terms of expenditures per pupil and above the national average on student scores on standardized tests. There are more than 50 institutions of higher learning in Kansas. Six are state universities. The University of Kansas in Lawrence is known for its liberal arts program and medical school. Kansas State University in Manhattan enjoys national stature for its agricultural and other applied-science programs. Other public universities are located in Emporia, Hays, Pittsburg, and Wichita (see Kansas, state universities of). Significant libraries outside the universities are housed at the state historical society in Topeka and at the Eisenhower Library in Abilene.
Because Kansas lacks cities of great size, most cultural activities are concentrated in the universities. Notable art museums are at the University of Kansas and in Wichita; the State Historical Society in Topeka has a historical museum; and the University of Kansas has an excellent museum of natural history. Historical sites include various forts and stations along the Santa Fe and Oregon trails and on the Pony Express route, and John Brown Memorial Park in Osawatomie, containing the log cabin where the abolitionist John Brown lived. Outdoor recreational areas are less spectacular than in some states, but many people enjoy touring the lush, peaceful grazing areas of the Flint Hills. An annual rodeo at Strong City in June attracts a large crowd. Other recreational centers are the federal reservoirs and the state parks. Local sports interest is concentrated on the two major universities and the professional teams in Kansas City, Mo.
Perhaps because of a low population density, local communications have always been well developed. A number of daily newspapers are published, led in circulation by the Wichita Eagle. The state has several commercial television stations, along with many radio stations.
ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
The Kansas economy has been based on agriculture since settlement. Meat packing, milling, and processing of other food products are the leading industries. Warehouses exploit the state's central location, and transportation equipment is an important product.
Agriculture
Kansas ranks among the top ten U.S. states in the value of its total farm marketings and traditionally leads the nation in wheat production. The production of wheat is ideal for the central plains climate. Farmers plant winter wheat in September to take advantage of autumn rains and cool temperatures, and after a winter dormancy, the crop resumes growth in the spring. Wheat harvest is in June, just as the summer dry weather begins. Other leading crops include grain sorghum (a drought-resistant feed grain), hay crops, corn, and soybeans in southeastern Kansas, and irrigated crops of various types in the western half of the state. Through irrigation more corn is now grown in western than in eastern Kansas, and the irrigation acreage has increased rapidly. The development of giant sprinkler systems, each pivoting around a well and capable of watering 65 ha (160 acres), started this expansion about 1960.
In spite of Kansas's reputation as a wheat state, beef cattle are a more important part of the economy. Typically, cattle account for a greater share of the total agricultural receipts than does wheat. Cattle are found throughout the state, but the highest concentration occurs in the Flint Hills. This area traditionally was controlled by Texas cattle ranchers who used the bluestem grass to build up their herds after long drives north to the railheads. The region is still controlled by absentee owners, but cow and calf herds predominate instead of transient beef cattle. Kansas cattle used to be shipped east for fattening and slaughter, but today the trend is to keep these operations in the cattle-producing areas. Feedlots are now common throughout the state, and meat packers have abandoned their large and antiquated facilities in cities such as Chicago and Kansas City in favor of smaller plants in places such as Dodge City and Emporia.
Manufacturing and Transportation
One of the nation's first natural-gas booms occurred in southeastern Kansas in the 1890s. Glass and portland-cement factories, zinc smelters, brick and tile works, and other concerns were attracted to the area in large numbers. The glass and zinc industries eventually left the area, but southeastern Kansas remains an area of small manufacturing cities. The production of transportation equipment is the state's leading industry, and Wichita manufactures about two-thirds of all American general-aviation aircraft. Nonelectrical machinery and chemicals production, coal and gas products, printing and publishing, and food processing are also leading industries.
Excellent transportation has always characterized this crossroads of the nation. Main lines of the Union Pacific and Santa Fe railroads bisect the state, as do interstate highways 35 and 70. Many large manufacturers use this transportation system to market their products across large sections of the United States.
Tourism
Kansas attracts some tourism dollars each year, mostly from people in transit to and from Colorado and the West. In recent years there has been a statewide debate over the merits of establishing a Prairie National Park somewhere in the Flint Hills. Proponents talk of capturing more tourist dollars and preserving a major natural ecosystem; opponents say that development would destroy the serenity of the prairie and that Kansas ranchers are already doing a good job of preserving the grasslands.
Power
Most of the electrical power sold in Kansas annually is generated by coal- and gas-fired power plants. The state has one nuclear power plant, and many residents have explored the potentials of solar and wind power. These last two sources may be especially appropriate for Kansas, given the state's relatively high percentage of sunshine, its windy climate, and its dispersed population.
GOVERNMENT
Kansas is governed under its original constitution (1859). Legislators represent districts set up under the one-person-one-vote principle. The state senate has 40 members; the house of representatives has 125. Elected boards of commissioners head the 105 county governments. Local politics has traditionally been Republican because that party was initially associated with the free-state cause and with the popular Homestead Act of 1862. From statehood until the mid-1950s, only a small number of Democratic governors were elected; since then, however, Democrats have served more years in that office than Republicans. Notable Republican figures with Kansas roots include Alf Landon, 1936 presidential nominee, and Dwight Eisenhower. Nancy Landon Kassebaum, Landon's daughter, has been a U.S. senator from Kansas since 1979. Pockets of traditional Democratic strength are Wyandotte County, an urbanized area; Ellis County, a German Catholic center; and the coal-mining area of southeastern Kansas.
HISTORY
When Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored the area in 1541, Kansas was occupied primarily by Osage, Pawnee, and Kansa peoples. A Pueblo group, fleeing Spanish rule in New Mexico, occupied a site in western Kansas from about 1664 until 1730. (The Pueblo site and a Pawnee village in northern Kansas have now been restored.)
Kansas was part of the area claimed by France as Louisiana at the end of the 17th century. It was ceded to Spain in 1762, restored to France in 1800, and sold to the United States in 1803 in the Louisiana Purchase. Many of the famous expeditions to the West in the early 19th century passed through Kansas, including those of Zebulon Montgomery Pike in 1806 and Stephen H. Long in 1819-20. Reports from the Long party led to the erroneous use of the term "Great American Desert" to describe the plains region.
Primarily because of this image, Kansas was considered an unlikely place for Anglo settlement, and the government decided to use the land for reservations for displaced Indians from the East. Westward-bound migrants were passing through Kansas, however, on both the Oregon Trail and the Santa Fe Trail. Soon tremendous pressure developed to open Kansas itself for settlement, and in the early 1850s the Indians were moved to what became Oklahoma. Three small reservations in northeast Kansas are relics from that earlier time: the Potawatomi, the Kickapoo, and the Iowa-Sac-Fox.
The U.S. government opened Kansas to settlement in 1854 under the terms of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed the territory to determine its own position on slavery. The peopling of Kansas thus immediately became a national issue. Organizations like the Emigrant Aid Company promoted immigration by antislavery Northerners, while proslavery groups mounted a similar drive. The two groups of settlers established rival governments, violence erupted, and the territory soon became known as "bleeding Kansas." After much controversy within both the territory and the U.S. Congress, the proposed proslavery Lecompton Constitution was rejected by the electorate, and Kansas entered the Union in 1861 under the terms of the Wyandotte Constitution (1859). Guerrilla raids continued along the Missouri-Kansas border throughout the Civil War.
A major land boom occurred in the 1870s, as adequate rainfall, good soil, postwar mobility, and rapidly expanding railroads brought thousands to the state, including many immigrants from Germany, Sweden, Russia, and elsewhere. One group, the German-Russian Mennonites, introduced the hard winter wheat that transformed Kansas agriculture.
Settlers dealt with the dry Western environment much as they had with the humid East, plowing the land and establishing small farms. Ranching was viewed as an undesirable, seminomadic way of life, and so small farms were extended westward. Tree planting was thought to increase rainfall because leaves would transpire large amounts of water into the atmosphere; irrigation was believed to have almost limitless potential; and techniques of dry farming were proposed to enable even the western counties to be cultivated easily. These beliefs were the products of unfounded optimism and wet years. When especially dry conditions occurred in the 1930s, widespread winds blowing across thousands of acres of nearly unprotected soil produced the infamous Dust Bowl. Since the 1930s, improved tillage techniques, enlarged landholdings, increased use of irrigation, rural-to-urban migration, and other factors have improved the situation greatly.
While Kansas may be more noted for periodic droughts, 1993 proved to be an excessively wet year, during which rainfall by July was 51 cm (20 in) more than normal in some areas of the state. Flooding, which occurred in several Midwestern states, occurred in Kansas along the Kansas and Missouri rivers and resulted in significant crop damage. Among the hardest hit communities were Manhattan, in the east central part of the state, and Elwood, north of Kansas City on the Kansas-Missouri border.
Nineteenth-century Kansas was noted for its activism. Abolitionist concern was followed by major involvement in the Temperance movement and Populist party. Populism ended as a formal political movement about 1900, but it brought about many innovations, including federal grain inspection and stockyard regulation. More recently, the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas led to the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that racial segregation in the public schools was unconstitutional. At least one observer has called modern Kansas the "eclipsed state," contrasting past activity with present complacency. Other Kansans, however, believe that the state possesses what many Americans value today: smaller urban centers, clean air, an emphasis on self-reliance, and a reputation for good government and progressive education. The politically conservative state has nationally known political figures in its two Republican senators: Robert Dole, the Senate majority leader as of 1995 and poised to become a presidential candidate in 1996; and Nancy Kassebaum, the daughter of Alf Landon.
James R. Shortridge
Bibliography: Bader, Robert S., Hayseeds, Moralizers, and Methodists (1988); Buchanan, Rex C., ed., Kansas Geology (1984); Castel, A. A., A Frontier State at War (1992); Davis, Kenneth S., Kansas (1976; repr. 1984); Federal Writers' Project, The WPA Guide to 1930s Kansas (1939; repr. 1984); Haywood, C. Robert, Victorian West: Class and Culture in Kansas Cattle Towns (1991); McQuillan, D. A., Prevailing over Time: Ethnic Adjustment on the Kansas Prairies, 1875-1925 (1990); Miner, Craig, West of Wichita (1986); Muilenburg, Grace, and Swineford, Ada, Land of the Post Rock (1975); Ostler, Jeffrey, Prairie Populism (1993); Richmond, Robert W., Kansas: A Pictorial History, rev. ed. (1992); Socolofsky, H., Kansas Governors (1990); Socolofsky, H., and Self, H., Historical Atlas of Kansas, 2d rev. ed. (1989).
(c) 1996 Grolier, Inc.