Social Squares · Kansas · Ad Astra per Aspera
Kansas, town by town
One calm page for each Kansas town: what’s on this weekend from the library, the schools, the churches and city hall, its history, and every local shop on one hand-drawn map. Free, no ads, kept by neighbors. The wheat harvest, the county fair and the Friday night game, all in one place.
Tap a pin to step into that town’s Square.
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Every Kansas Square, A to Z
Made in Kansas
Kansas firsts
- 1877The first Kansas Day Paola
Schoolchildren in Paola held the first Kansas Day in 1877 to mark the state's birthday. Schools all over Kansas still celebrate it every January 29. Source
- 1887The first woman mayor Argonia
In 1887 a group of Argonia men put Susanna Salter on the ballot as a joke, hoping she'd lose. She won with two-thirds of the vote and became the first woman to serve as a mayor in the United States. Source
- 1903Helium in natural gas Dexter
A gas well drilled at Dexter in 1903 gave off gas that wouldn't burn. Chemists at the University of Kansas studied it and found helium, which showed it could be taken from natural gas. Source
- 1918The middle of the country Lebanon
A 1918 government survey put the geographic center of the lower 48 states near Lebanon, by balancing a cardboard map on a pin. A stone marker and a tiny chapel stand nearby. Source
- 1921White Castle Wichita
Walter Anderson and Billy Ingram started White Castle in Wichita in 1921, selling burgers for a nickel. It is generally called the world's first fast-food hamburger chain. Source
- 1950The International Pancake Race Liberal
Since 1950, runners in Liberal have raced with pancakes on Shrove Tuesday against the town of Olney in England. Each town's times are compared to crown the winner. Source
- 1954Brown v. Board of Education Topeka
The Supreme Court case that ended legal school segregation in 1954 began with Topeka families. Monroe Elementary, one of the city's Black schools, is now a national historical park. Source
- 1958The first Pizza Hut Wichita
Brothers Dan and Frank Carney borrowed $600 from their mother and opened the first Pizza Hut in Wichita in 1958. Source
- 1958The Dockum sit-in Wichita
In the summer of 1958, young people from the NAACP Youth Council sat at the Dockum Drug Store lunch counter for three weeks until the chain agreed to serve everyone. It is called one of the first organized lunch-counter sit-ins, two years before Greensboro. Source
- 1974The big ball of twine Cawker City
Frank Stoeber's ball of sisal twine was already 11 feet across when he died in 1974, and the town still adds to it at a Twine-a-thon every August. Cawker City says it's the world's largest. Darwin, Minnesota, and a few others claim the title too, each by a different measure. Source
Your town next?
Each Square opens with its own history, photos and calendar, and a neighbor to keep it. If your Kansas town isn’t here yet, tell us, or add your church’s, school’s or club’s calendar and help it open.