Kansas

D

Communications

The first periodical or newspaper established in Kansas was the Shawnee Sun, initially published on a monthly basis but later on an irregular schedule. Printed in the Shawnee language, it began publication in 1835 in what is now Johnson County. The Kansas Weekly Herald, the first English-language newspaper in Kansas, was founded in Leavenworth in 1854. In 2002 there were 43 daily newspapers published in Kansas. The leading daily newspapers in the state include the Wichita Eagle, the Topeka Capital-Journal, the Hutchinson News, the Salina Journal, and the Kansas City Kansan. Two tabloid publications with national circulation, Grit and Capper’s, are published in Topeka.

Two of the United States’ most famous small-town journalists were editors of Kansas papers. Edgar Watson Howe, editor of the Atchison Globe and later of E. W. Howe’s Monthly, is particularly noted for his classic novel The Story of a Country Town (1883), which exposed the narrowness of Midwestern small-town life. William Allen White, editor of the Emporia Gazette for nearly 50 years, exercised national influence in social and political matters. He received a Pulitzer Prize in 1923 for his editorial writing, and his autobiography, published after his death, was honored with a Pulitzer Prize in 1947. Another influential Kansas journalist was Arthur Capper, who became publisher of the Topeka Daily Capital in 1892 and also published Capper’s Weekly and other widely read farm journals.

The first radio station in Kansas was KFH, licensed in Wichita in 1922. KTVH, the state’s first commercial television station, began operating in Hutchinson in 1953. In 2002 there were 49 AM and 83 FM radio stations and 20 television stations in Kansas.

E

Music and Theater

A choral festival featuring the Messiah by German composer George Frideric Handel and other religious music is held in Lindsborg annually during Easter Week, in cooperation with Bethany College. Other music festivals held in the state include one in Wichita, presented in cooperation with Friends University, jazz festivals in Overland Park and Manhattan, and bluegrass festivals in Lawrence and Winfield. There are symphony orchestras in Kansas City, Wichita and Topeka. Little theater groups are active in Wichita, Topeka, and other cities across the state. Professional and touring companies appear in Lawrence, Topeka, Overland Park, and Wichita.

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VI

Recreation and Places of Interest

Kansas has a wide variety of interesting places to visit. They range from the fossil beds and unusual geological formations such as Rock City, on the High Plains, to the wheel ruts still discernible along the old Santa Fe and Oregon trails, to the many historic sites and buildings found throughout the state.

There are also numerous facilities for outdoor recreation in the state. Nearly every state park and recreation area in Kansas either includes or adjoins a water area, and almost all of them offer facilities for boating, fishing, and swimming. In addition, many of the state-administered park areas also have facilities for picnicking, camping, hiking, and horseback riding. Three national wildlife refuges are administered by the federal government: the Flint Hills refuge in the east, the Kirwin refuge in the north central part of the state, and the Quivira refuge in south central Kansas. Cheyenne Bottoms, near Great Bend, and other wildlife areas are administered by the state.

A

National Parks

Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site in Topeka commemorates the landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which in 1954 overturned racial segregation in the nation’s education systems. The site is located at the Monroe Elementary School, which was attended by Linda Brown whose lawsuit against the school system brought about the supreme court ruling.

Other historic sites in Kansas preserve military forts used during the westward expansion. Fort Larned National Historic Site was an outpost established midway along the Santa Fe Trail to protect travelers and mail deliveries. Its stone buildings are among the best-preserved relics of the western wars with Native Americans. Fort Scott National Historic Site, first established by the United States Army to enforce the peace among settlers and Native Americans, played a role in the Mexican War (1846-1848) and was reopened during the Civil War. Fort Leavenworth, in northeastern Kansas near Leavenworth, dates from 1827 and is the oldest active U.S. military post west of the Mississippi River. It is the seat of the U.S. Army General Staff College. Fort Riley was established as a cavalry post early in the 1850s. It is also an active post. The first Capitol of Kansas lies within Fort Riley in northeastern Kansas. The building, located at what was then called Pawnee, served very briefly as the seat of the territorial government in July 1855. It is now maintained as a public museum. Also at Fort Riley is the United States Cavalry Museum.

The Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve protects another kind of historic resource, the native grasslands that once covered a large portion of the interior of the United States. The preserve, dedicated in 1998, contains 4,409 hectares (10,894 acres) of prairie land located in the Flint Hills area of east-central Kansas. The National Park Service administers the preserve, which is part of the largest tract of tallgrass prairie still remaining on the continent.

B

State Parks

There are 25 state parks and recreation areas in Kansas and many historic sites. The largest recreation area is centered on Milford Lake, located in the central part of the state. Other large state parks include Fall River, Toronto, and Elk City, all located in southeastern Kansas; Cheney, Kanopolis, and Sand Hills, all in the central part of the state; Clinton, Perry, and Tuttle Creek, all in northeastern Kansas; Prairie Dog, Cedar Bluff, and Lake Scott, which are in the northwestern part of the state; and Glen Elder, in north central Kansas.

Pawnee Rock Park, a historic site in central Kansas near Great Bend, contains a sandstone mass 24 m (80 ft) high that was one of the most famous landmarks on the Santa Fe Trail. The John Brown Museum, at Osawatomie in eastern Kansas, includes the log cabin where the famous abolitionist often stayed. The site of a former Pawnee village, now containing an archaeological museum, lies in northern Kansas near Republic. The Hollenberg Pony Express Station, in northeastern Kansas near Hanover, is claimed to be the only pony express station in the country that has been preserved in its original, unaltered condition. It houses a small pioneer museum. Other state historic sites are the Iowa, Sac, and Fox Mission at Highland, the Shawnee Mission in Johnson County, the Kaw Indian Mission at Council Grove, Marais des Cygnes Massacre Memorial Park in Linn County, the Fort Hays Historical Park at Hays, and the Edward H. Funston House near Iola, home to two prominent Kansans.

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