Kansas

The state

Get to know Kansas

Kansas lies at the geographic center of the 48 contiguous states, in the Great Plains. It is a land of wheat fields, open sky and straight roads, once crossed by wagons heading west and Texas cattle drives to the railroads in the 19th century. It is also the state from which Dorothy departs for the land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's book.

In the Flint Hills to the east, the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve protects a portion of the largest remaining area of tallgrass prairie in North America, with a bison herd and trails. Abilene, the endpoint of the cattle drives, has the library and museum of President Dwight Eisenhower, who grew up in the town.

In the west, Dodge City recreates an Old West town at the Boot Hill Museum, with the 1870s Front Street. Hutchinson is home to the Cosmosphere, a space museum with artifacts from American and Soviet missions, and the Strataca, an underground salt mine open to visitors. Further north, the Monument Rocks are chalk towers rising on the plain, remnants of the floor of an ancient inland sea.

Wichita, the largest city, is an aerospace industry center, with museums along the Arkansas River and, at the confluence with the Little Arkansas, the sculpture Keeper of the Plains depicting a Native warrior. Kansas City is split between Kansas and Missouri, and the Kansas side hosts some of the barbecue joints that made the city famous. At the table, smoked barbecue and plains-style steak.