Kansas

C

Religion

During the early part of the 19th century, missionaries from a number of different Christian denominations were sent to Kansas to convert Native Americans to Christianity and to educate them. In 1824 Presbyterians and members of associated denominations established the first mission, among Native Americans living in what is now Neosho County. Shawnee Methodist Mission, near Kansas City, was founded in 1830. It later became a manual training school for Native American children. Other missions were opened in the 1830s by Baptists, Quakers, and Roman Catholics.

Plymouth Congregational Church, the first church established after the Kansas Territory was opened to white settlement, was organized in Lawrence in 1854. During the 1850s, when proslavery and antislavery factions vied for control of the Kansas Territory, many church-sponsored antislavery groups from the North ventured to Kansas. Chief among the abolitionist societies was the Beecher Bible and Rifle Colony, which founded a settlement in Wabaunsee County. In the 1870s a number of Mennonites migrated to the state from southern Russia.

The largest religious groups in Kansas are the Roman Catholics and Methodists. Each has about an equal number of adherents.

V

Education and Cultural Institutions

A

Education

In the 1820s and 1830s, missionaries established the first schools in Kansas to instruct Native Americans in reading, writing, and Christianity. In 1855 the first territorial legislature passed laws providing for free public schools for the children of white settlers. Equal educational opportunities for all, regardless of sex or race, were guaranteed in the state constitution that was drawn up in 1859. Public education in Kansas was almost entirely supported by local taxes until 1937, when annual state appropriations were authorized for needy elementary schools. A system of state aid to all elementary and secondary schools, regardless of need, is now in effect.

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School attendance was first made compulsory in 1874 and is now required for all children in Kansas from the ages of 7 to 18. Some 9 percent of elementary and high school students in the state attend private or parochial institutions. Haskell Indian Nations University, founded in Lawrence in 1884, is maintained as a school for Native American students.

In the 2002–2003 school year Kansas spent $8,268 on each student’s education, compared to a national average of $9,299. There were 14.4 students for every teacher (the national average was 15.9). Of those age 25 or older, 88.5 percent had a high school diploma, compared to an average for the United States of 84.1 percent.

A

1

Higher Education

Private colleges and universities were established in Kansas before the territory became a state. Two of these, Baker University, founded in 1858, and Benedictine College (formerly called Saint Benedict’s College), opened in 1859, are still in existence today. Other private institutions of higher education include Southwestern College, in Winfield; Friends University, in Wichita; Bethel College, in North Newton; Bethany College, in Lindsborg; McPherson College, in McPherson; and Ottawa University, in Ottawa.

Provision for state institutions of higher education was made in the state constitution of 1859. As a result, the University of Kansas was established at Lawrence, with classes beginning in 1866. This school has the largest enrollment of any university in the state. Kansas State University, a state-supported school in Manhattan, was established in 1863 as Kansas State Agricultural College. Other state-operated institutions include Wichita State University, which was known as the University of Wichita until 1964, and colleges that were founded for the training of teachers in Emporia, Hays, and Pittsburg. Among the municipally operated schools of higher education are Washburn University of Topeka and a number of junior colleges. Also in the state is the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, in Fort Leavenworth. In 2004–2005 Kansas was served by 36 public and 27 private institutions of higher education.

B

Libraries

Kansas had 323 public library systems in 2002, including the large municipal libraries in Kansas City, Wichita, Johnson County, and Topeka. Libraries circulate an average of 10.1 books per resident each year. The Kansas State Library has collections of legal materials, federal and state documents, and materials for the blind. The library also provides reference services and promotes the development of public libraries in the state. The largest library in the state is that of the University of Kansas. The state archives and many books and other materials relating to Kansas history are housed in the Kansas State Historical Society, in Topeka. The society also maintains one of the largest state-wide collections of newspapers in the country. Personal and state papers of President Eisenhower are housed in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, in Abilene.

C

Museums

Noted collections of European, American, and Asian art are housed in the University of Kansas’s Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence. The Wichita Art Museum, the largest art museum in the state, is known for its collection of American art. The Natural History Museum maintained by the University of Kansas contains exhibits of birds, mammals, and fossil skeletons.

The museum of the Kansas State Historical Society houses an extensive collection of archaeological relics and materials from the 19th and early 20th centuries. The society also maintains a number of the state’s historic sites and monuments. In addition, there are local historical museums and historic buildings in a number of Kansas communities. The Eisenhower Center at Abilene houses numerous mementos of the former U.S. president’s long career in government service.

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