Don't forget: Kansas 150 stories available
The Wichita Eagle’s stories on the Kansas sesquicentennial and available for use by KPA members, with credit to the Eagle, of course.
Additional stories will be uploaded all during the sesquicentennial year, so newspaper staff members should check back often for new additions.
Photographs to accompany the articles have been uploaded to a Picasa site. To download them, use either of these two URLs:
http://picasaweb.google.com/116449597294354647988/Kansas150Images?authkey=Gv1sRgCN6aztnv3qjTIQ#
The stories are at:
Others who are willing to share sesquicentennial content should contact Anstaett at danstaett@kspress.com. Send them to Jean Hays at the Eagle: jhays@wichitaeagle.com.
WICHITA EAGLE KANSAS 150 BUDGET FOR THE YEAR
SECOND SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH
A slice of life of Kansas by Beccy Tanner.
When: Begins Jan. 16. After that, will run on the second Sunday of each month.
Jan. 16: Home On The Range Cabin - In 1872, Brewster Higley was at the end of his fourth marriage and down on his luck. He left Ohio, seeking refuge and a little solace. He ended up homesteading on the banks of Beaver Creek in Smith County. In his loneliness, he wrote a six-verse poem called "My Western Home" on a piece of paper. "Oh give me a home, Where the buffalo roamæ.æ.æ. " The cabin where Higley wrote the song is now a tourist attraction.
Feb. 13 - Center - Geographical center of the continental united states is Lebanon, Ks. In 1918, the Coast and Geodetic Survey found the "center" by balancing a point on a cardboard cut out of the United States.
March 13: The burning of the prairie
April 10: Messiah - This year marks the 129th year for Messiah in Lindsborg.
May 8: - Wildlife (pearce) -
June 12: Ellinwood - Only city in Kansas that still has an existing network of tunnels open to the public.
July 10: Green Town - Hill City is the only town in Kansas that sports green buildings. The local limestone quarry north of town sports green rocks. It looks like the buildings have been painted green, but it's natural rock.
Aug. 14: Livestock sales - It used to be every county in Kansas had a livestock auction sales barn. And although there are still several dozen, the sale barns are rapidly disappearing. Dodge City has the largest independently-owned auction in the United States. Syracuse, Oakley and LaCrosse still have sales. Yoder has a poultry sale each week.
Sept. 11: Garage Sale on Highway 36 - One weekend each September the communities and towns along 400 miles of US Highway 36 boast a garage sale. The sales spread from Missouri into 13 Kansas counties and Colorado.
Oct. 9: Eisenhower is the most iconic Kansas figure of the 20th century. Focusing on the town of Abilene.
Nov. 16: Our criminal past - Dalton Gang, Jesse James, Bonnie and Clyde, Bloody Benders all operated here. We've been fascinated and horrified by crime. In the late 1800s, residents stormed the Benders' way station and stole fence posts as souvenirs We started locking our doors after the Clutter family murders.
Dec. 11: Corners - The four corners of Kansas from the Arikaree Breaks; the bluffs of White Cloud, the start of the Ozark uplift and the Cimarron native grassland. A slice of life from each of the four corners. Art will be shot throughout the year.
THIRD SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH
A major 1A Sunday story exploring the soul of Kansas - what it means to be a Kansan, what makes us unique and what shapes us today.
When: Begins Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011. After that, will run on the third Sunday of each month.
Jan. 23: The selling of Kansas and how the state was settled - The railroads advertised for settlers in Europe. It was a chance to create their own idyllic community. They brought their faith and ethnic traditions that shape our state.
Feb. 20: Native Americans signs and symbolism - State archaeologists estimate that since 1961 about 4,000 archaeological sites have been documented in western Kansas. Many of them are significant Native American sites. The Penokee Stone Figure in Graham County - a 60-foot figure of a man - is the only one of its kind in Kansas, similar to those found in the Dakotas that were destroyed by early pioneers who simply moved the rocks.
March 20: The Trails of Kansas - Kansas is at the center of everything; it's where the mountain state meet with southwest, the north, the south and the plains. The cattle trails and wagon train trails became the routes for the railroads and eventually our major highways. The Santa Fe Railroad was started by Cyrus K. Holliday of Topeka. (Vintage Santa Fe steam locomotive comes through the state in July.)
April 17: Faith - The role faith played in settling the state and how our faith shapes us today.
May 15: Weather (Stan) - A look at how weather shaped us and how early settlers coped.
June 19 The Old West - Wichita is considered the cradle of the Old West. Bat Masterson, Wyatt Earp, Wild Bill Hickok all lived here. The cowboy boot was invented here.
(This is in advance of several major Cowtown events in July and September.)
July 17: Aviation - Exploring one aspect of our vast aviation history. All the pioneers of general aviation have Wichita roots, as does Boeing.
(This will run in advance of the aviation festival which is . Aug. 20-21.)
Aug. 21: The search for equality (Mann) - Bleeding Kansas, the suffragette movement, Brown vs. the Board of Education, all have roots in Kansas.
Sept. 18:
The land (Pearce)
Oct. 16: As Kansas Goes, so goes the Nation, was the belief during the progressive, reformation and temperance movements from the 1880s to the 1930s. How it changed the state and how Kansas helped shape the nation during a time of experimentation and reform.
Nov. 20: What we make here - We provide the world with flour, planes, natural gas and amusement rides. We mine coal, oil, sand and limestone. But we also have a marble factory. At one time, most of the aerosol cans were made here.
Dec. 18: The next 150 years - What will the next 150 years bring to Kansas? What does our future look like