Kansas 

The Sunflower State 

 
Avery Silva 
Mr.Pham’s Classroom C7 
May 18, 2018 
 
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Table of Contents 
 
State Introduction 2 
State History 3  
State Facts 4 
State Geography 5 
State Economy 6  
Famous People 7 
Closing  9 
Bibliography 10  
 
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​ ​STATE INTRODUCTION  
 
My name is Avery Silva and I didn’t know why I chose Kansas. What I already 

knew about Kansas is that it is known for sunflowers. My state is by Nebraska on the north; 

Missouri on the east; Oklahoma on the south; Colorado on the east. The nickname that was 

chosen for my state is called, “The Sunflower State.”   

   
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​State History 

Kansas situated in the American Great Plains and became the 34th state on January 

29, 1861. A spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado is the first european to explore what is 

now Kansas in 1541. In 1803, Kansas became a part of United States as part of the 

Louisiana Purchase. Fifty-one years later it was organized as a territory which included the 

eastern half of Colorado. Kansas became a United States territory in 1854 with the passing 

of Kansas-Nebraska Act, which the country was divided by slavery. When the U.S 

Government determined that the people who lived there should vote on whether slavery 

should be permitted. People who weren’t supporting supporting slavery quickly moved to 

Kansas hoping they would outnumber those moving from Missouri, who didn’t support 

slavery. There were many fights among these people, but eventually those against slavery 

won, Kansas became a “free state” in 1861. Since there were lots of violence going on at 

the time, Kansas was known as “Bleeding Kansas.”   

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State Facts 

Capital of Kansas: ​Topeka 

Some popular cities in Kansas are called​ Wichita​, ​Lawrence​, ​Manhattan​, ​Lenera​, 

and ​Salina​. The area of Kansas is 82,278 mi2 and the population is 2.913 million people. 

Some of my state’s major colleges and universities are ​Kansas State University, Washburn 

University, Fort Hays State University, and Wichita State University. ​Kansas is nicknamed 

the “Sunflower State”, but it is also known as the ​Jayhawk state, the Midway state​, and also 

the ​Wheat State​. Kansas is growing more wheat than any other state in the union.   

Some tourist attractions are called ​Sedgwick County Zoo​, ​Spencer Museum of 

Art,​ ​Lake Scott State Park, and the Wichita Gardens.   

 
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State Geography 

Kansas is midwestern state that epitomizes the U.S heartland with its Great Plains 

setting of rolling wheat fields. Kansas has winter blizzards, violent windstorms, and heavy 

rains. The summers are just normally warm. Kansas has Arkansas River, Bear Creek, and 

Big Bear River. 

 
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State Economy 

Kansas’s most important natural resources are its fertile soil and its mineral deposits 

like petroleum, natural gas, clays, helium, sand and gravel, and stone. Kansas agricultural 

products are cattle, wheat, corn, sorghum, soybeans, and hogs.   

 
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Famous People 

● Clark Tippet 

  Clark Tippet was born on October 5, 1954 in Parsons, Kansas. He 

was a dancer and a choreographer. He was also a member of the ​American 

Ballet Theatre company​ in New York City at the age of 37 years old. Clark 

was the Make Spanish Dancer in​ Mikhail Baryshnikov’s production of 

tchaikovsky’s ballet​, “The Nutcracker.” It was showed on TV in 1977. Later 

on Clark Tippet died on January 28, 1992 at the age 38. He also died in Parsons, 

Kansas.   

● Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks 

Gwendolyn was born on June 7, 1917 in Topeka, Kansas. Brooks was 

an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with personal 

celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won three 

different awards such as the, ​Pulitzer Prize for Poetry​ in 1950 , ​Robert Frost 

Medal​ 1989, and the ​National Medal of Arts​. Also, Family lore held that Brook’s 
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paternal grandfather had escaped slavery to join the Union forces during the 

American Civil War. She sadly died December 3, 2000 in Chicago, Illinois.   

● Nina E. Allender 

Nina was born on December 25, 1873 in Auburn, Kansas. She was an 

American artist, cartoonist, and a women’s rights activist. She loved to paint 

and do art. She enrolled classes at Corcoran Museum of Art. Allender worked 

with a lot of other artists such as ​Charles Sheeler​ and ​Morlon Schamberg​. 

She also is a founding member of the Arts Club of Washington, DC. She died 

April, 1957 in Plainfield, New Jersey.   

 
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Closing 

I like that my state has a lot of history about it and that it is known 

for beautiful sunflowers. I would want to visit Kansas because it seems like they 

have cool landmarks such as Wichita Gardens, Lake Scott State park, and more. 

However I would probably not go to college there because I have other plans. I 

found out pretty interesting things about my state like how they are known for 

lots of wheat, corn, and soybeans. Also, I didn’t know that they had the 

Nebraska-Kansas Act, which was involving with slavery. 

 
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Bibliography 

​www.teacherfirst.com  

​www.wikipedia.com 

​www.50states.com