Welcome to the great state of Kansas! I hope you've been following the Reading Road Trip blog hop, hosted by the lovely Hafsah of IceyBooks and Britta at I Like These Books. If so, you're stopping off today on our dusty plains, following in the wagon-wheel tracks of many a brave American settler. Sit back and learn a little about the place, and then enter the giveaway to win a copy of Moon Over Manifest, the Newbery Award winner written by Kansan Clare Vanderpool!
Today Overland Park is the second-largest city in the state and often appears on lists like The 10 Best Places to Live in America, The Best Places for Raising a Family, and the like. With its award-winning school districts, low living expenses, and proximity to Kansas City, Overland Park and the surrounding cities that make up Johnson County are often called the best-kept secret in the nation.
But all that is in the eastern half of Kansas, right next to the Missouri border. Travel west, and you’ll soon hit Wichita, the state’s largest city and home to great restaurants, a marvelous university, and a diverse population. Still further west, the beautiful Flint Hills give way to the flat plains, large farms, and sparse population that usually loom large in the national picture of the Kansas landscape.
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| Konza Prairie Preserve, Flint Hills, Kansas |
We Kansans embrace our heritage as the homeland of Dorothy and Wild Bill Hickok. We’re tough folks who can weather tornadoes, blizzards, Dust Bowls, and even the occasional grasshopper plague. And you know that toast you had for breakfast? Like as not, we grew the wheat it was made from right here in American’s breadbasket.
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| Tornado near Hesston, KS, 1990 |
FAST KANSAS FACTS
state population: 2,885,905 largest city: Wichita, pop 382,268
2d largest: Overland Park, pop 173,372
largest county: Johnson, pop 559,913
only 5 of Kansas's 105 counties have a population over 100,000
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| Abolitionist John Brown as depicted in TRAGIC PRELUDE by John Steuart Curry |
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| western meadowlark |
state flower: sunflower
tree: cottonwood
bird: western meadowlark
animal: buffalo (bison)
song: “Home on the Range”
nickname: the Sunflower State, the Jayhawk State
The name Kansas comes from a Sioux word meaning “people of the south wind”
nickname: the Sunflower State, the Jayhawk State
The name Kansas comes from a Sioux word meaning “people of the south wind”
HISTORICAL TIMELINE
1803 Thomas Jefferson acquires territory from the French in the Louisiana Purchase. The territory includes the future state of Kansas.
1821 The Santa Fe Trail opens in Kansas, helping European settlers heading west
1827 The U.S. Army opens Fort Leavenworth to protect the Western expansion from Native Americans
1854 The Kansas-Nebraska Act establishes Kansas and Nebraska Territories, despite previous agreements with various Native tribes to establish Kansas land as Indian reservations. Within a few years, Native Americans are driven out of the state into Oklahoma.
1855-58 The Kansas-Nebraska Act stipulates that citizens of Kansas Territory can vote on whether slavery would be allowed in their territory. Violence and battles erupt, earning the area the nickname “Bleeding Kansas.”
1861 On January 29, Kansas enters the Union as a free state.
1863 The Kansas Pacific Railway begins construction heading west from Kansas City. Major junctions included Lawrence, Salina, and Junction City.
1899 L. Frank Baum immortalizes the gray Kansas prairie in his book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
1930 An intense drought over the Great Plains induces the Dust Bowl, devastating dust storms throughout the region. Crippled as well by the Great Depression, Kansas farmers wouldn’t see relief until 1941.
1959 The Clutters, a farm family, are murdered in their home in Holcomb, KS. Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood, published seven years later, told their story.
2005 Kansas allows some retail liquor sales on Sundays
SOME FAMOUS KANSANS:
Kirstie Alley, born in Wichita, actress
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| Amelia Earhart |
Ann Dunham, born in Wichita, mother of Barack Obama
Amelia Earhart, born in Atchison, aviator
Dwight D. Eisenhower, raised in Abilene, 34th president
Buster Keaton, born in Piqua, actor/comedian
Jim Lehrer, born in Wichita, journalist & author
Clare Vanderpool, born in Wichita, Newbery Award-winning author
William Allen White, born in Emporia, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Did You Know ...
James Naismith, who invented the game of basketball in 1891, was hired as a basketball coach and chaplain at the University of Kansas in Lawrence in 1898. He lived the rest of his life in Lawrence. Kansas University ranks second all-time (behind Kentucky) in NCAA Division I wins with 2,101 wins against 812 losses. The Kansas Jayhawks ranks first in NCAA history with 96 winning seasons.
"No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home."And now for the giveaway! One week only, U.S. & Canada only, please. Enter to win a copy of Wichita native Clare Vanderpool's fantastic Newbery Award winner, Moon Over Manifest (yeah, it takes place in Kansas):
The Scarecrow sighed.
"Of course I cannot understand it," he said. "If your heads were stuffed with straw, like mine, you would probably all live in beautiful places, and then Kansas would have no people at all. It is fortunate for Kansas that you have brains.”
--from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
Abilene Tucker feels abandoned. Her father has put her on a train, sending her off to live with an old friend for the summer while he works a railroad job. Armed only with a few possessions and her list of universals, Abilene jumps off the train in Manifest, Kansas, aiming to learn about the boy her father once was.
Having heard stories about Manifest, Abilene is disappointed to find that it’s just a dried-up, worn-out old town. But her disappointment quickly turns to excitement when she discovers a hidden cigar box full of mementos, including some old letters that mention a spy known as the Rattler. These mysterious letters send Abilene and her new friends, Lettie and Ruthanne, on an honest-to-goodness spy hunt, even though they are warned to “Leave Well Enough Alone." ... [more]
a Rafflecopter giveaway
The Reading Road Trip goes on all through the month of July! Here are the other stops--note that some of the giveaways go to the end of the month:
(Key: MG, YA, Adult, All Three)
Monday July 1:
Ends July 31st
Ends July 31st
Tuesday July 2:
Ends July 31st
Ends July 8th
Wednesday July 3:
Rhode Island
Ends July 31st
Thursday July 4:
Ends July 31st
Friday July 5:
Ends August 1st
Saturday July 6:
Ends August 1st
Delaware
Sunday July 7:
Ends July 31st
Ends July 14th
Monday July 8:
Ends July 30th
Tuesday July 9:
Ends August 1st
Ends July 23rd
Wednesday July 10:
Ends August 1st
Ends July 24th
Thursday July 11:
Ends September 3rd
Ends August 1st
Friday July 12:
Mississippi
Ends August 1st
Saturday July 13:
Ends July 31st
Ends July 31st
Sunday July 14:
Indiana
Monday July 15:
Ends July 30
Tuesday July 16:
Ends July 31
Ends July 30
Wednesday July 17:
Ends July 21
Thursday July 18:
Ends July 31
Ends July 23
Friday July 19:
Iowa
Ends July 31
Saturday July 20:
Ends August 16
North Dakota
Sunday July 21:
South Dakota
Ends July 31
Monday July 22:
Ends August 13
Ends August 2
Tuesday July 23:
Mexico
Wednesday July 24:
Thursday July 25:
Friday July 26:
Nevada
Saturday July 27:
Sunday July 28:
Monday July 29:
Tuesday July 30:
Wednesday July 31:
Hawaiiimages provided by wikimedia commons; public domain.
Great post! As a next door neighbor, I live in Kansas City, Missouri, and am glad to see such a great post! I won't enter this giveaway because I already have a copy of this book, which I hear is a great book.
ReplyDeleteI hop over to KCMO frequently, which is why I enjoy living in this part of the state. I can get to Lawrence or KC so easily. There's a great Missouri post for the Reading Road Trip on Mommasez, right here: http://ccclubbs.com/2013/07/15/2013-reading-road-trip-giveaway-blog-hop-missouri/
DeleteThis is an awesome stop! You went above and beyond. Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteBritta
Thanks, Britta! It was really fun. :)
DeleteFirst, I really enjoy your blog. It's good read about your successes. Second, I got on Twitter, reluctantly, the other day, so I re-tweeted the book entry. I would really like to read Moon Over Manifest. Another book I want to read is Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, by Grant Overstake. He was at your reading and really liked what you had to say.
ReplyDeleteDiane
Thanks, Diane! I see Grant occasionally on Facebook. I want to read his book too.
DeleteI visited Kansas for the first time last year. I wish I could've seen more of it. I wanted to tour the Wizard of OZ museum.. next time I go I am not missing it! I am hosting Utah if you want to check it out.
ReplyDeleteAngie
Angela's Anxious Life
I should've done what you did, Angela, and post all the stops! I was so busy following the other directions that I neglected to do this. I don't know if anyone will visit now, but I'll put them up anyway. Thanks for stopping by. I enjoyed my trip to Utah at Angela's Anxious Life!
DeleteSo I've lived in Wichita since 96, and I'm just now getting to the point I like it. It was a huge culture shock, after living in more populated areas of the country.
ReplyDeleteI've wanted to read this book for a while, so thanks for the chance.
I've visited Wichita several times over the years to spend time with my mother-in-law. It's a great town, but yes, I can identify with the culture shock. I like to live within easy driving distance of an international airport. You never know when you might have to make a quick getaway.
Delete