Facts taken from http://www.50states.com/facts/kansas.htm

 

Fact One:

A ball of twine in Cawker City measures over 38' in circumference and weighs more than 16,750 pounds and is still growing.

 

kansastravel.org

 

Fact Two

A grain elevator in Hutchinson is 1/2 mile long and holds 46 million bushels in its 1,000 bins.

 

highlandsranchfoodie.com

 

Fact Three

South of Ashland the Rock Island Bridge is the longest railroad bridge of its kind. It measures 1,200 feet long and is 100 feet above the Cimarron River.

 

 

 

 

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Fact Four

At Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine waterbeds for horses are used in surgery.

http://www.vet.k-state.edu/depts/vmth/mission.htm

 

Fact Five

Kansas won the award for most beautiful license plate for the wheat plate design issued in 1981.

 

 

oocities.org

Fact Six

Dodge City is the windiest city in the United States.

 

 

wheninwellington.com

 

Fact Seven

At one time it was against the law to serve ice cream on cherry pie in Kansas.

 

Fact Eight

The first woman mayor in the United States was Susan Madora Salter. She was elected to office in Argonia in 1887.

 

Fact Nine
The first black woman to win an Academy Award was Kansan Hattie McDaniel. She won the award for her role in "Gone with the Wind."

 

 

 

Fact Ten

Kansas inventors include Almon Stowger of El Dorado who invented the dial telephone in 1889.

 

Fact Eleven

William Purvis and Charles Wilson of Goodland who invented the helicopter in 1909

 

Fact Twelve

Smith County is the geographical center of the 48 contiguous states.

 

 

Fact Thirteen
Amelia Earhart, first woman granted a pilot's license by the National Aeronautics Associate and first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean was from Atchison.

Fact Fourteen
Dwight D. Eisenhower from Abilene was the 34th President of the United States.

 

 

Fact Fifteen

Silent comedian Buster Keaton, of early film success, was from Piqua, Kansas.

Fact Sixteen
The three largest herds of buffalo (correctly called bison) in Kansas are located on public lands at the Maxwell Game Preserve (McPherson), Big Basin (Ashland), and Buffalo Game Preserve (Garden City)

Fact Seventeen
Fort Riley, between Junction City and Manhattan, was the cradle of the United States Cavalry for 83 years. George Custer formed the famed 7th Cavalry there in 1866. Ten years later, at the Battle of the Little Big Horn, the 7th was virtually wiped out. The only Cavalry survivor was a horse named Comanche.

 

Fact Eighteen

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.

 

 

Fact Nineteen
The public swimming pool at the Lee Richardson Zoo in Garden City occupies half a city block and holds 2 1/2 million gallons of water.

Fact Twenty
Cedar Crest is the name of the governor's mansion in Topeka, the state capital.

Fact Twenty-one
Barton County is the only Kansas County that is named for a woman; the famous volunteer Civil War nurse Clara Barton.

 

 

Fact Twenty-two

The Arkansas River may be the only river whose pronunciation changes as it crosses state lines. In Kansas, it is called the Arkansas (ahr-KAN-zuhs). On both sides of Kansas (Colorado and Oklahoma), it is called the Arkansaw.

Fact Twenty Three

Civil War veteran S.P. Dinsmoor used over 100 tons of concrete to build the Garden of Eden in Lucas. Even the flag above the mausoleum is made of concrete

 

 

Fact Twenty Four

Handel's Messiah has been presented in Lindsborg each at Easter since 1889

 

Fact Twenty Five

A monument to the first Christian martyr on United States Territory stands along Highway 56 near Lyons. Father Juan de Padilla came to the region with the explorer Coronado in 1541.

 

Fact Twenty Six
Hutchinson is nicknamed the Salt City because it was built above some of the richest salt deposits in the world. Salt is still actively mined, processed and shipped from Hutchinson.

 

 

Fact Twenty Seven
There are 27 Walnut Creeks in the state.

 

Fact Twenty Eight
Morton County sells the most trout fishing stamps of all the Kansas counties.

 

Fact Twenty Nine
Fire Station No. 4 in Lawrence, originally a stone barn constructed in 1858, was a station site on the Underground Railroad.

 

 

Fact Thirty

The Hugoton Gas Field is the largest natural gas field in the United States. It underlies all or parts of 10 southwestern Kansas counties as well as parts of Oklahoma and Texas. The gas field underlies almost 8,500 square miles, an area nearly 5 times as large as the state of Rhode Island.

Fact Thirty-one
The Kansas Speleological Society has catalogued at least 528 caves in 37 Kansas counties. Commanche County has at least 128 caves and Barber County has at least 117 caves.

Fact Thirty-two
Kansas has the largest population of wild grouse in North America. The grouse is commonly called the prairie chicken.

 

 

 

Fact Thirty-threeThe 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. When a surveyor checks a property line, he or she is checking the position of property in relation to Meade's Ranch in northwest Kansas.

 

Fact Thirty-Five
In Italy the city of Milan is 300 miles northwest of Rome. In Kansas, Milan is less than 25 miles northwest of Rome, in Sumner County.

 

Fact Thirty-Six
Between 1854 and 1866, 34 steamboats paddled up the Kaw River (Kansas River). One made it as far west as Fort Riley.

 

Fact Thirty-Seven
In 1990 Kansas wheat farmers produced enough wheat to make 33 billion loaves of bread, or enough to provide each person on earth with 6 loaves.

 

Fact Thirty-Eight
Holy Cross Shrine in Pfeifer, was known as the 2 Cent Church because the building was built using a 2 cent donation on each bushel of wheat sold by members of the church.

Fact Thirty-Nine
Kansas produced a record 492.2 million bushels of wheat in 1997, enough to make 35.9 billion loaves of bread.

 

Fact Forty
The American Institute of Baking is located in Manhattan.

 

Fact Forty-One

A 30 foot tall statue of Johnny Kaw stands in Manhattan. The statue represents the importance of the Kansas wheat farmer.

 

 

Fact Forty-Two
The graham cracker was named after the Reverend Sylvester Graham (1794-1851). He was a Presbyterian minister who strongly believed in eating whole wheat flour products.

Fact Forty-Three

The rocks at Rock City are huge sandstone concretions. In an area about the size of two football fields, 200 rocks, some as large as houses, dot the landscape. There is no other place in the world where there are so many concretions of such giant size.

 

Fact Forty-Four
George Washington Carver, the famous botanical scientist who discovered more than 300 products made from the peanut, graduated from high school in Minneapolis in 1885.

 

Fact Forty-Five
The First United Methodist Church in Hutchinson was built in 1874 during the time of the grasshopper plagues. The grasshoppers came during the construction of the churches foundation but the pastor continued with the work. As a result, thousands of grasshoppers are mixed into the mortar of the original building's foundation.

 

 

Fact Forty-Six

A hailstone weighing more than one and a half pounds once fell on Coffeyville.

 

 

Fact Forty-Seven
The Oregon Trail passed through six states, including Kansas. There were no Indian attacks reported on the Oregon Trail as the travelers passed through the state.

Fact Forty-Eight
Russell Springs located in Logan County is known as the Cow Chip Capital of Kansas.

 

 

Fact Forty Nine

The world famous fast-food chain of Pizza Hut restaurants opened its first store in Wichita.

 

 

Fact Fifty
Sumner County is known as The Wheat Capital of the World.

 

Fact Fifty-One
Kansas got its name from a Sioux word meaning “people of the south wind”

 

Fact Fifty-Two

Largest Cities of Kansas!

Wichita, 382,368; Overland Park, 173,372; Kansas City, 145,786; Topeka, 127,473; Olathe, 125,872; Lawrence, 87,643; Shawnee, 62,209; Manhattan, 52,281; Lenexa, 48,190; Salina, 47,707

 

Fact Fifty-Three
The Long Branch Saloon really did exist in Dodge City, Kansas. One of the owners, William Harris, was a former resident of Long Branch, New Jersey and named the saloon after his hometown in the 1880’s. The Long Branch Saloon still exists in Dodge City and can be seen at Dodge City’s Boothill Museum.

 

Fact Fifty-Four
Though most people say that Kansas is "flatter" than a pancake and it certainly look like it is, it actually slopes from an elevation of more than 4,000 feet long the Colorado border to 700 feet on the Missouri line

 

Fact Fifty-Five
Established in 1827, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is the oldest military post in continuous operation west of the Mississippi

 

Fact Fifty-Six

Kansas State Game rules prohibits the use of mules to hunt ducks.

 

Fact Fifty-Seven
It is illegal to shoot rabbits from a motorboat in the State of Kansas.

 

  FACT SIXTY
In 1901, Governor William Stanley declared, "We cannot afford to have the state made a dumping ground for the dependent children of other states, especially New York." This statement was made in response to the Orphan Trains movement, which spanned the turn of the century and brought hundred of orphans to the State of Kansas.

 

 

FACT SIXTY-ONE
In Salina it is against the law to leave your car running unattended.

 

 

FACT SIXTY-TWO
Musical car horns are banned in Russell, Kansas.

 

 

FACT SIXTY-THREE
Helium was discovered in 1905 at the University of Kansas.

 

FACT SIXTY-FOUR
The Boulevard Drive-In Theater in Merriam, was the first drive-in in the world to install digital sound. Built in 1950, the drive-in continues to operate today, with the best sound system of all of the remaining drive-ins in the country.

 

FACT SIXTY-FIVE
Goodland, Kansas proudly boasts the world's largest easel. Sitting atop the 80 foot, 40,000 pound steel easel, is a giant replica of Vincent Van Gough's Sunflower painting.

 

FACT SIXTY-SIX

Hot” and "cold” water towers stand in Pratt, Kansas. This "joke” was first labeled on the side-by-side water towers in 1956. Furthermore, Pratt's not the only town boasting the "hot" and "cold.". Another pair can also be found in Canton, Kansas..

 

 

FACT SIXTY-SEVEN
The Mahaffie Stagecoach Stop in Olathe, was the first eating station for westbound passengers on the Santa Fe Trail in 1863.

 

 

FACT SIXTY-EIGHT
Any person convicted of using or carrying bean snappers in Wichita will be fined.

 

 

FACT SIXTY-NINE
In Dodge City it is illegal to spit on a sidewalk.

 

 

FACT SEVENTY
Riding an animal down the road is against the law in Derby, Kansas.

 

 

FACT SEVENTY-ONE
If you’re going to cross a highway at night in Kansas, you are required to wear tail lights

 

FACT SEVENTY-TWO
All places of business in Dodge City are required to provide a horse water trough.

 

 

 

 

 

FACT SEVENTY-THREE
In Derby, Kansas, if you hit a vending machine after it stole your money, you are breaking the law.

 

FACT SEVENTY-FOUR
In Lawrence it is illegal to wear a bee in your hat.

 

 

There were no Indian attacks reported by people traveling the Oregon Trail through Kansas.

 

 

 

 

FACT SEVENTY-FIVE
Catching fish with your bare hands in Kansas is illegal.

 

FACT SEVENTY-SEVEN
In Overland Park, it is against the law to picket a funeral.

 

 

 

FACT SEVENTY-EIGHT
Kansas was the first state to ratify the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which gave African-American men the right to vote.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fact Seventy-Nine

The MGM Lion, Leo's head is located at the Mcpherson Museum.

 

 

 

Fact Eighty

It is illegal to screech your tires in Derby.

 

 

 

FACT EIGHTY-ONE

The governor's mansion in Topeka has the smallest square footage of any governor's residence in the United States. It sits on the largest piece of land though.