KANSAS, FIRST IN THE NATION...

[W. Gray]

KANSAS FIRSTS IN THE NATION

Windiest city in the nation (Dodge City).

First black person to receive an Academy Award (1940, Hattie McDaniel)

First female mayor in the U.S. and maybe the world (1887, Susan Madora Salter) [Elk Falls was not far behind in 1889]

First hybrid, or green, locomotive (2009, Topeka)

First to complete part of the Interstate Highway System (1956) [Missouri may argue]

First state in nation to have a storm chaser (1955, Raleigh Lackey)

First state with prohibition in its constitution (1880)

Nations first helium supply discovered (1903, Dexter)

First and only American to discover a planet (1919, Clyde Tombaugh)

First Blue Sky Law (1911, to regulate sale of bonds, stocks, securities)

First forward pass thrown in football history (1905, Washburn against Fairmount (Wichita State))

First governor in U.S. history to be impeached (Charles Robinson, 1862)

First female city manager in U.S. (1928, Rena Milner)

First female to become a dentist in the U.S. (1866, Lucy Hobbs Taylor)

First American Indian to be elected Vice President (1929, Charles Curtis)

First woman to serve as Treasurer of the United States (1949, Georgia Gray)

First woman (not on her husband's coat tails) elected to the Senate (1978, Nancy Landon Kassebaum)

First city in nation to be totally immunized for polio (1955, Protection)

First Fred Harvey Restaurant (1876, Topeka)

First all woman city council elected in the nation and maybe in the world (1888, Oskaloosa) [Elk Falls was not far behind accomplishing the same feat in 1889]

First American Indian language newspaper (1835, Shawnee Sun)[Also, the first newspaper in Kanzas]

First county high school in nation (1889, Dickinson County)

First bullfight in the U.S. (1884, Dodge City)

First woman to complete a solo transatlantic flight (1932, Amelia Earhart)[Also, the first woman to get totally lost. Reportedly, she kept asking Fred Noonan to stop at a gas station and ask for directions, but he did not think it was necessary]

First federal penitentiary (1891, Leavenworth)

First woman county sheriff in the nation (1926, Mabel Chase)

First Pizza Hut in nation (1958, Wichita)

First Pizza Hut franchise in nation (1960, Topeka)

[Catwoman]

Some of the biggest dreamers in the world came off of these pristine plains! 

[larryJ]

First in the hearts and minds of us forum members.

Larryj

[Rudy Taylor]

Let's face it, we're firsty! 

[dnalexander]

Don't forget first patent on a helicopter. (No patents during Da Vinci's days).

These are not firsts but notable.

George Washington Carver graduated High School in Kansas. (Kansas has long had schools that produced great people)
Koch Industries of Wichita and Black and Veatch Engineering appear annually on Forbes List of largest private corporations in the U.S.

David

p.s. I have a vague recollection from Ken Burns series on the Civil War that Kansas may have a claim to being the start of the civil war? (Waldo, any idea what I may be thinking of?)

David

[W. Gray]

Bleeding Kansas.


Also Kansas was the site of the first European murder of an American Indian (1541, Turk).

[Wilma]

My history student tells me that the first shots of the Civil War were fired in Kansas when Quantrill's Raiders invaded Lawrence in 1856.  The Battle of Miner's Creek was fought because Kansas was admitted as a Free State.  It is located just north of Fort Scott.

[dnalexander]

My history student tells me that the first shots of the Civil War were fired in Kansas when Quantrill's Raiders invaded Lawrence in 1856.  The Battle of Miner's Creek was fought because Kansas was admitted as a Free State.  It is located just north of Fort Scott.

Bleeding Kansas.


Also Kansas was the site of the first European murder of an American Indian (1541, Turk).

Wilma and Waldo ,thanks, you guys put me on the right track.  (Now I remember, but I am not sure I ever learned that in school. I think it was new, surprising info. when I watched Ken Burns "Civil War".) Who needs google when I have you guys?

David

David

[W. Gray]

I had to do some research because of that 1856 date in relation to Quantrill.

I did not believe Quantrill knew where Kansas was in 1856 and I did not believe he formed his raiders until after the Civil War began.

The Sacking of Lawrence in 1856 was led by a Sheriff Jones. No one in Lawrence was killed but there was extensive property damage.

Quantrill raided and sacked Lawrence in 1863.

There was a Battle of Mine Creek that took place in 1864 during the Civil War. It was the largest Civil War battle to take place in Kansas.

That battle took place south of Pleasanton and north of Fort Scott.

[sixdogsmom]

Many years ago, hubbys' Aunt Nanny Bee from Kentucky (That is with a capital K Ya'll), came to visit here in Kansas and was quite alarmed to learn that Kansas had any part at all in the civil war. It is funny what people outside the area believe were our beginnings.