State of Kansas USA
Destination Guide & Hotel Reservations
Today's cutesy, gingham-pinafore image of KANSAS , associated with Little House
on the Prairie and The Wizard of Oz , is a far cry indeed from the troubled
history that made it known as "bleeding Kansas." It took three hundred years
after Coronado came in search of gold in 1541 before pioneers established trails across
the region, and Kansas's bid for statehood in 1861 is often cited as the catalyst for the
Civil War. The 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which gave both territories the right to
self-determination over slavery, led to fierce clashes between Free Staters and
pro-slavery forces. Runaway slaves from the South were given passage through the area,
aided by abolitionist John Brown, and Kansas eventually joined the Union as a free state.
After the war, the mighty cattle drives from Texas made towns like Abilene, Wichita and
Dodge City centers of the " Wild West ." The debauched, male image of the
West, spawning such "heroes" as Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickok, is, however,
challenged in Kansas, which as well as being the first state to give women the vote in
municipal elections, boasts the nation's first female mayor and senator, as well as
aviator Amelia Earhart and the battling Prohibitionist Carry Nation.
In 1874, Russian Mennonites brought the grain that was to transform the state into the
bountiful "bread basket" that now harvests most of the nation's wheat. However,
only in the west do miles of golden corn sway in Kansas's infamous gusty wind. The green
and hilly northeast, patterned with woods and lakes, is home to the unattractive
industrial city of Topeka, liberal college town Lawrence , and the dull suburbs of
Kansas City (though downtown lies across the state line in Missouri). The wild and sparse
northwest is pioneer country, while the once-wicked cowtown Dodge City is in the
southwest. Wichita , the state's largest city, lies in the south central area.
Reserve a Hotel Room in Kansas USA
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