Portal:Kansas
The Kansas Portal  Kansas /ˈkænzəs/ is a Midwestern state in the central region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the American "Heartland". It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name (natively kką:ze) is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind", although this was probably not the term's original meaning. Historically, the area was home to large numbers of nomadic Native Americans that hunted bison. It was first settled by European Americans in the 1830s, but the pace of settlement accelerated in the 1850s, in the midst of political wars over the slavery issue. When officially opened to settlement by the U.S. government in 1854, abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers from neighboring Missouri rushed to the territory to determine if Kansas would become a free state or a slave state. Thus, the area was a hotbed of violence and chaos in its early days as these forces collided, and was known as Bleeding Kansas. The abolitionists eventually prevailed and on January 29, 1861, Kansas entered the Union as a free state. After the Civil War, the population of Kansas exploded when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into productive farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing many crops, and leading the nation in wheat and sunflower production most years. Selected article The University of Kansas (often referred to as KU or just Kansas) is an institution of higher learning in Lawrence, Kansas. The main campus resides atop Mount Oread. The University was founded in 1865 by the citizens of Lawrence under a charter from the Kansas Legislature. It also received assistance from former Kansas Governor Charles Robinson and his wife Sara, who donated 40 acres (160,000 m²) of Mount Oread land, and philanthropist Amos Adams Lawrence, who made sizable monetary donations. The University's Medical Center and Hospital are located in Kansas City, Kansas. The KU Edwards Campus is in Overland Park, Kansas in the Kansas City metro area. There are also educational and research sites in Parsons, Topeka and a branch of the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita. Enrollment at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses was 27,875 students; an additional 2,769 students were enrolled at the KU Medical Center for a total enrollment of 30,644 students across the three campuses. The Lawrence campus and KU Medical Center combined employ 2,201 faculty members. KU is home to the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics and Kansas Public Radio station KJHK, the campus radio, has roots back to 1952 and is completely run by students. The university is host to several notable museums including the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, the KU Museum of Anthropology, and the Spencer Museum of Art. The University is one of 60 members of the prestigious Association of American Universities. Spotlight city Lawrence is a college town, river city and the seat of Douglas County, Kansas, United States, 41 miles (66 km) west of Kansas City, along the banks of both the Kansas (Kaw) and Wakarusa Rivers. It is considered governmentally independent and is the principal city within the Lawrence, Kansas, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Douglas County. As of the 2000 census, the city had a population of 80,098, making it the sixth largest city in Kansas. 2006 estimates place the city's population at 89,110. Lawrence is the home of the University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University. Lawrence was founded in 1854 for the New England Emigrant Aid Company by Charles Robinson, who later served as governor of Kansas. The city was named after Amos Adams Lawrence, a prominent politician and antislavery partisan and the son of famed philanthropist Amos Lawrence. Lawrence holds the distinctions of having been the site of operation for the state's first railroad in 1871 and the city where the state's first telephone was installed in 1877. In 1989, when the Free State Brewing Co. opened in Lawrence, it was the first legal brewery in Kansas in more than 100 years. The restaurant is in a renovated inter-urban trolley station in downtown Lawrence. The city is home to the state's only hydro-electric plant. Selected picture Credit: User:Fir0002 The European honey bee Kansas' state insect. Important dates in Kansas' history
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Selected biography.jpg) Frank Carlson (January 23, 1893-May 30, 1987) was an American politician who served as thirtieth Governor of Kansas and United States Representative and United States Senator from Kansas. In 1946 Carlson was elected governor of Kansas. As governor, he pushed mental health programs as well as a long-term highway project. In 1949, Kansas senator Clyde M. Reed died, and Carlson appointed Harry Darby to fill the seat. Darby continued his service in the Senate until Carlson himself was elected to fill the seat in 1950. Instead of waiting until January to be sworn in, he took his seat on November 28, 1950, leaving the office of governor to Frank L. Hagaman who served less than two months. In 1952, he campaigned to get fellow Kansan Dwight D. Eisenhower into the White House, and then brokered a deal through Ohio Senator Robert Taft, known as "Mr. Republican" for his leadership of the party's right-wing, became majority leader. According to Billy Graham's biography Just As I Am, Carlson organized the first Presidential Prayer Breakfast, later known as the National Prayer Breakfast and sponsored behind-the-scenes by The Family, a Christian political organization. In 1950, Carlson traveled to Haiti on behalf of The Family and returned to urge Congress to support the regime of the dictator Papa Doc Duvalier. Carlson was re-elected twice, in 1956 and 1962, before returning to Concordia for retirement. (Read more...) Kansas newsWikinews Kansas portal
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