Flyover State
That’s what people in more populated areas call Kansas. Kansas’ borders were determined by imaginary lines that divide the earth, making, with the exception of the “tooth-marked” corner, our borders square. And many of the more populated areas of the country think the same of the people, if they give them a thought at all.
Today is Kansas Day. 153 years ago, Kansas became a state. The Historian of Wichita and owner of the Donut Whole, Michael Carmody, posted something on Facebook that I felt deserved more attention.
Happy Kansas Day!
For all its faults, and despite the cartoonish clichés heaped upon it by those who do not appreciate it, this steadfast state was forged in blood on principles of freedom as neighboring territories waged pro-slavery terrorist campaigns against its settlers, and (current leadership excepted) has for most of the past 153 years maintained a record of moderate, level-headed self-governance. And regardless of its reputation for profound conservatism, a closer look reveals instead deep roots of populism and a surprising number of progressive milestones, not to mention many cultural contributions that often go overlooked.
America’s first female mayor was elected here, in Argonia in 1887. The first all-female city council in America was in Oskaloosa, in 1888. The first female sheriff in America was Mabel Chase of Kiowa County. America’s first female city manager served in Kinsley, elected in 1928. The first licensed female dentist in the world was Kansan Lucy Hobbs Taylor. First female U.S. Treasurer? Georgia Neese Clark Gray from Shawnee County. First woman elected to a U.S. Senate seat? Nancy Landon Kassebaum. First woman accredited as a war correspondent? Peggy Hull of Bennington. First black woman to win an Oscar? Wichita’s own Hattie McDaniel.
The first city in America 100% immunized against polio was Protection, Kansas. Kansas inventors gave the world the dial telephone, the helicopter and the ICEE frozen drink (and all its copycats). Wichita gave the world Pizza Hut and White Castle; the former is today the single biggest pizza purveyor on earth, and the latter practically invented the concept and methodology of the fast-food hamburger stand. The first forward pass in organized football was thrown in a game between Fairmount College (now WSU) and Washburn University. W.C. Coleman (lanterns/camping gear), Vic Edelbrock (high-performance automotive equipment), Harry Sinclair (oil/gasoline), Russell Stover (chocolates), Walter Chrysler (automobiles) and yes, the Kochs (petroleum/treachery) are all Kansas folks who have contributed to our culture through their businesses.
Wichita is the cradle of aerospace, home to the early development of powered flight under the auspices of visionaries like Water Beech, Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman. Kansans not only designed and built the flying machines; they also flew (and continue to fly) them: Amelia Earhart from Atchison was first in many ways as an aviatrix. Astronauts Joe Engle, Ron Evans and Steve Hawley all hail from Kansas, as do flying aces Donald Hudson and James Jabara.
Kansas is home to three Nobel laureates (in physics, economics and physiology/medicine). Artists Blackbear Bosin, Bruce Conner, John Steuart Curry, Gordon Parks, Birger Sandzen and Mort Walker, too. Our fair state birthed or served as home to authors as diverse as William Burroughs, Langston Hughes, William Inge, Damon Runyan, Scott Phillips and Thomas Frank, not to mention legendary journalist/editor William Allen White. The black poet, jazz critic and essayist Frank Marshall Davis grew up in my hometown of Arkansas City. The music world has been enriched by many Kansans, notably Charlie Parker, Stan Kenton (born in Wichita), Joe Walsh, Mike Finnigan, Dawayne Bailey, Karla Burns, Melissa Etheridge, Martina McBride, Steven Stucky and the guys from the band Kansas.
The dramatic world has profited from the contributions of Kansans as wide-ranging as Kirstie Alley, Fatty Arbuckle, Ed Asner, Hugh Beaumont, Annette Bening, Louise Brooks, R. Lee Ermey, Dennis Hopper, Don Johnson, Gordon Jump, Buster Keaton, Emmett Kelly, Shirley Knight, Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson, ZaSu Pitts, Rob Riggle, Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Vivian Vance, Lyle Waggoner, Dee Wallace and many others.
The list of legendary figures who emanated from Kansas or made the state their stomping grounds includes President Dwight Eisenhower, anti-slavery crusader John Brown, Wild West showman Buffalo Bill Cody, prohibitionist axe-slinger Carrie Nation and the holy trinity of lawmen/gunslingers Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson and Wild Bill Hickok.
I could go on and on, but you get the point. So next time some late-night comedian is cracking wise about “flyover country,” remember that the great state of Kansas is as good a place as any, and a damn sight better than most. Excelsior!
(Somehow I originally managed to post this without mention of Brown vs. Board of Education, the historic court precedent that began the work of desegregation of our nation’s schools, not to mention Wichita’s historic firsts with the lunch counter sit-ins that took place here in the 1950s. Talk about the elephant in the room!)
Innovation came from the square states. Ideas are still alive in the states you fly over.