Wichita & Kansas Statistics

KANSAS  Named for the Kansas or Kanza tribe of the Sioux family living along a river in the area and gave it the tribal name. The name translates as “south wind people,” or “wind people.”
WICHITA  Wichita comes from the Wichita Indians, who settled at various times in the vicinity, and means either “scattered lodges” or “painted faces,” depending on which historian you ask. In 1868, a Wichita Town Company was organized with Mead and six others as original incorporators.
SEDGWICK COUNTY  Sedgwick County was officially established nearly 150 years later on February 26, 1867, and bears the name of Civil War hero Major General John Sedgwick of the Union Army who was killed during the battle of Spottsylvania Courthouse in Virginia.
AREA (land) 81,815 sq miles (water) 459 sq miles (TOTAL) 82,274 sq miles
CAPITAL Topeka
FAMOUS DATES Organized as territory: May 30, 1854 Entered Union (rank): Jan. 29, 1861 (34) Present constitution adopted: 1859
LOCATION 37.6872° N, 97.3301° W
MEAN ELEVATION (average) 2,019 feet
HIGHEST POINT Mt. Sunflower; 4039 feet, 28th
LOWEST POINT Verdigris River; 680 feet, 43rd
COUNTIES 105
COASTLINE  None
GEOGRAPHIC CENTER in Barton
STATE FOSSIL  Tylosaurus and Pteranodon  (Kansas has two official state fossils: Tylosaurus and Pteranodon, which are both known from Cretaceous-aged deposits in the western part of the state.)
STATE GRASS  Little bluestem Schizachyrium scoparium
STATE REPTILE Ornate Box Turtle.  The Ornate Box Turtle became the official State Reptile of Kansas in 1986 due to the efforts of the 6th-grade class at Caldwell Elementary led by their teacher, Larry L. Miller (Simmons 1986).
STATE ROCK  Limestone.  Limestone became the official state rock of Kansas in 2018. Ranchers once used limestone to build fence posts in Kansas, where wood supplies were limited. Limestone fence posts in Mitchell County, Kansas (June 1966).
STATE GEMSTONE  Jelinite.   In 2018 Kansas adopted a state mineral – Galena, and a state gemstone – Jelinite.
STATE FLAG The Kansas flag, adopted in 1925, consists of a dark blue field with the state seal in the center. A sunflower on a bar of twisted gold lies above the seal, and below the seal is the word Kansas.
STATE COLORS  
STATE SEAL  The seal contains a landscape including a rising sun, representing the east; and a river and steamboat, representing commerce. In the foreground, a settler’s cabin and a man plowing a field represent agriculture. A wagon train heads west and buffalo are seen fleeing from two Indians. Around the top of the seal is a cluster of 34 stars.
STATE SLOGAN  First Of The Rectangle States
STATE MOTTO  Ad astra per aspera (To the stars through difficulties)
STATE SONG  “Home on the Range” (1947)
STATE TREE  Cottonwood (1937)
STATE BIRD  Western Meadowlark (1937)
STATE ANIMAL  American Buffalo (or bison)
STATE FISH   Channel Catfish
STATE METAL   Galena
STATE NICKNAMES  The Sunflower State, The Wheat State, Midway, U.S.A.
STATE FLOWER  Sunflower (1903)
BORDERING STATES  Colorado Missouri Nebraska Oklahoma