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Learn About Kansas
First Inhabitants	Early History	Geography & Landforms	Economy
Capital: Topeka	Entered the Union: 1/29/1861	Population: 2,688,418	Area (square miles) 82,277
State Bird: Western Meadowlark	State Flower: Sunflower	Nickname: Sunflower State	Governor: Kathleen Sebelius
Web Links: State Home Page	Home Page for Students	Members of Congress

Places to Visit in Kansas: (Click the links to learn more.)

National Teachers Hall of Fame - Emporia
The mission of The National Teachers Hall of Fame is to recognize and honor exceptional teachers and the teaching profession; to promote excellence in teaching by creating a national center for the study of American education; and, to preserve the richness of American education as well as demonstrate exciting ventures into the future. Visitors to the Hall of Fame also may visit a one-room school that appears just as it did in the mid-1800s.

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Museum - Hutchinson
Having one of the largest collections of space artifacts in the world, this Kansas museum is a chronicle of the American space program. See the actual Apollo 13 command module and the Mercury Redstone and Gemini Titan rockets among the collection. Also featured is ”Star Station One,” a new exhibit that provides the latest information on the construction of the International Space Station.

Amelia Earhart Birthplace Museum - Atchison
The home where aviator Amelia Earhart was born and grew up, this museum features personal and family memorabilia, and is a National Historic Site.

Boothill Museum - Dodge City
The Boothill Museum was founded in 1947 to collect, preserve and interpret the history of Dodge City. Its exhibits, reconstructed business buildings and other interpretive programs provide a glimpse into the town's early history when it was a buffalo hunters' trade center and, later, a cattle town. Boot Hill Museum actively collects objects, photographs, and documents relating to Dodge City's past. It preserves and exhibits them in settings which recreate the Dodge City of the 1870s.

Brown v Board of Education National Historic Site - Topeka
On October 26, 1992, Congress passed Public Law 102-525 establishing Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site to commemorate the landmark Supreme Court decision aimed at ending segregation in public schools. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court unanimously declared that "separate educational facilities are inherently unequal" and, as such, violate the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees all citizens "equal protection of the laws." The site consists of the Monroe Elementary School, one of the four segregated elementary schools for African American children in Topeka, and the adjacent grounds.

Famous Citizens:

Walter Percy Chrysler
Chrysler was born in Wamego, Kansas, and began his career as a machinist’s apprentice. He worked his way up in the automobile industry to become vice-president of operations at General Motors in 1919. In 1920, he formed his own company and shortly became one of the largest automobile manufacturers.

Amelia Earhart
Amelia Earhart was born in Atchison, Kansas and is one of the world’s best known aviators. In the early days of flight, Earhart began taking flying lessons in 1921. By 1922, she had broken the women’s altitude record, flying to a height of 14,000 feet. In 1928, she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. She was presumed dead when her plane went down in 1937 while she was flying between Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island.

Buster Keaton
Born Joseph Francis Keaton in Piqua, Kansas, he is considered by many to be one of the greatest comic actors in film history. He began as a child actor in vaudeville, and then starred in many silent comedies as a deadpan hero who survives despite incredible odds. One of the few who made the successful transition from silent movies to the “talkies” he had a second career as a supporting actor in Sunset Boulevard and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Emmett Kelly
Emmett Kelly was born in Sedan, Kansas and went on to become one of the best known clowns in the United States. In the 1930s, he developed the character of “Weary Willie” with his woeful expression and tattered clown outfit. He worked with various circuses until he gained a place with the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus in 1942. One of his best known skits was to try and “sweep away” the circus spotlight.