Kansas History Timeline - Important Dates & People

Events in Kansas History

• 1854-05-30 Kansas-Nebraska Act repeals Missouri Compromise creating the territories of Kansas and Nebraska
• 1855-03-24 Manhattan Kansas founded as New Boston Kansas
• 1856-05-21 Lawrence, Kansas, is captured and sacked by pro-slavery forces

Pottawatomie Massacre

1856-05-24 Pottawatomie Massacre: John Brown and abolitionist settlers kill five pro-slavery settlers in Franklin County, Kansas

• 1860-07-09 Temperature hits 115°F in Fort Scott and 112°F in Topeka, Kansas
• 1860-07-19 1st railroad reaches Kansas
• 1861-01-29 US state of Kansas admitted to the Union as the 34th state
• 1861-07-01 US War Department decrees that Kansas and Tennessee are to be canvassed for volunteers
• 1863-10-06 Battle at Baxter Springs, Kansas
• 1864-10-25 Battle of Marais Des Cygnes River, Kansas (Mine Creek)

Jesse James Robs Train

1874-12-08 James-Younger gang led by Jesse James robs a train at Muncie, Kansas stealing $30,000

• 1877-09-05 Southern blacks led by Pap Singleton settle in Kansas
• 1879-05-30 An F4 tornado strikes Irving, Kansas, killing 18 and injuring 60.
• 1881-02-19 Kansas becomes 1st state to prohibit all alcoholic beverages
• 1881-04-16 In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle
• 1887-04-04 Susanna Madora Salter elected 1st US woman mayor in Argonia, Kansas
• 1889-03-02 Kansas passes 1st US antitrust law
• 1889-03-09 Kansas passes 1st general antitrust law in US
• 1891-03-10 Almon Brown Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching
• 1892-10-05 The Dalton Gang ends in shoot-out in Coffeyville, Kansas bank holdup; 4 members killed, and a fifth captured
• 1897-06-24 Hail injures 26 in Topeka, Kansas
• 1905-02-13 -40°F (-40°C) Lebanon, Kansas (state record)
• 1906-02-01 1st federal penitentiary building completed, Leavenworth, Kansas

A Square Deal

1910-08-31 Theodore Roosevelt makes a speech in Kansas advocating a 'square deal': property shall be 'the servant and not the master of the commonwealth'

• 1912-11-05 Arizona, Kansas & Wisconsin vote for female suffrage
• 1913-03-13 Kansas legislature approved censorship of motion pictures
• 1916-05-20 Codell, Kansas hit by tornado (also on same date in 1917 & 1918)

The 1918 Flu Pandemic

1918-03-04 US Army mess cook Private Albert Gitchell of Fort Riley, Kansas becomes the first documented military case of Spanish flu; start of worldwide pandemic killing 50-100 million [some sources cite date as March 11]

• 1929-03-04 Republican Charles Curtis becomes the 1st Native American to be Vice President of the United States
• 1930-04-28 1st night organized baseball game played in Independence, Kansas
• 1936-07-24 121°F (49°C), near Alton, Kansas (state record)
• 1936-10-02 1st alcohol power plant forms, Atchison, Kansas
• 1941-05-31 -June 1) 32.0 cm rain falls on Burlington Kansas (state record)
• 1941-06-01 12.59" (31.98 cm) rainfall, in Burlington, Kansas (state 24-hr record)

• 1949-06-09 Georgia Neese Clark of Kansas becomes 1st woman treasurer of US
• 1951-06-23 Most expensive US hailstorm ($1.5M crop damage & $14M property-Kansas)
• 1951-07-13 Great Flood: 2.000,000 acres in Kansas and Missouri in central US are flooded from rain swollen Missouri and Kansas Rivers
• 1955-05-25 Series of 19 twisters destroy Udall, Kansas and most of Blackwell, Oklahoma

Clutter Family

1959-11-15 Richard "Dick" Hickock and Perry Smith murder four members of the Clutter Family at their farm outside Holcomb, Kansas (subject of Truman Capote book In Cold Blood)

• 1964-09-17 The Beatles are paid a then record $150,000 by baseball team owner Charles Finley for a concert at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri on a scheduled day off; the group adds the song "Kansas City"/"Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" to their standard setlist, much to the delight of the crowd
• 1966-06-08 Topeka, Kansas is devastated by a tornado that registers as an "F5" on the Fujita Scale: the first to exceed US$100 million in damages. Sixteen people are killed, hundreds more injured, and thousands of homes damaged or destroyed.
• 1967-09-09 Debra Dene Barnes (Kansas), 20, crowned 40th Miss America 1968
• 1978-06-28 UNICEF chooses rock group Kansas as Ambassadors of Goodwill
• 1990-03-03 Carole Gist (20) is the 1st African American to be crowned Miss USA in Wichita, Kansas
• 1991-02-22 Kelli McCarty, 21, (Kansas), crowned 40th Miss USA
• 1991-04-26 23 killed in Kansas & Oklahoma by tornadoes
• 1995-08-15 Keylee Sue Sanders, 18, of Kansas, crowned 13th Miss Teen USA
• 1996-09-14 Tara Dawn Holland (Kansas), 23, crowned 70th Miss America 1997
• 1998-12-05 3rd Big 12 Championship Game: #10 Texas A&M beats #2 Kansas State, 36-33 (2 OT)
• 2000-11-07 The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration discovers one of the country's largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, Kansas
• 2000-12-02 5th Big 12 Championship Game: #1 Oklahoma beats #8 Kansas State, 27-24
• 2003-12-06 8th Big 12 Championship Game: #13 Kansas State beats #1 Oklahoma, 35-7
• 2005-08-18 Dennis Rader is sentenced to 175 years in prison for the BTK (Bind, Torture, Kill) serial killings in Sedgwick County, Kansas.
• 2007-05-04 Greensburg, Kansas is almost completely destroyed by a 1.7m wide EF-5 tornado
• 2014-06-26 NBA Draft: Kansas small forward Andrew Wiggins first pick by Cleveland Cavaliers
• 2017-06-08 US prisoner Richard Anthony Jones freed after 17 years in Roeland Park, Kansas when his lookalike discovered
• 2018-11-06 Sharice Davids (Kansas) and Deb Haaland (New Mexico) are the first Native American women to be elected to the US House of Representatives

Famous People from Kansas

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 161

• 1814-06-22 James Henry Lane, US General during Civil War (Union) and Senator (Kansas), born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana (d. 1866)
• 1829-08-07 Thomas Ewing Jr, American attorney, 1st chief justice of Kansas, congressman, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Lancaster, Ohio (d. 1896)
• 1834-01-16 Albert Lindley Lee, American lawyer, Kansas State Supreme Court Judge, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Fulton, New York (d. 1907)
• 1850-07-18 Rose Hartwick Thorpe, American poet (Curfew Must Not Ring) and writer, born in Mishawaka, Indiana, Kansas (d. 1939)

• 1869-08-23 Edgar Lee Masters, American poet and novelist (Spoon River Anthology), born in Garnett, Kansas (d. 1950)

• 1880-03-12 House Peters, British silent film actor (This Is the Life, Kansas Territory), born in Bristol, England (d. 1967)
• 1880-07-27 Joe Tinker, American Baseball HOF shortstop (World Series 1907, 08 Chicago Orphans/Cubs) and manager (Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs), born in Muscotah, Kansas (d. 1948)

• 1881-12-29 Jess Willard, American boxer (World heavyweight champion 1915-19), born in Pottawatomie County, Kansas (d. 1968)
• 1882-03-01 Ida Moore, American character actress (Mr. Music; Ma and Pa Kettle; Desk Set), born in Altoona, Kansas (d. 1964)
• 1887-03-24 Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, American actor (The Bell Boy, Moonshine, Keystone comedies), born in Smith Center, Kansas (d. 1933)

• 1889-07-08 Eugene Pallette, American actor (The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Mark of Zorro), born in Winfield, Kansas (d. 1954)
• 1893-01-23 Frank Carlson, American politician (Gov/Rep/Sen-R-Ks), born in Cloud County, Kansas (d. 1987)
• 1893-07-23 Karl Menninger, American psychiatrist (Menninger Clinic), born in Topeka, Kansas (d. 1990)
• 1894-01-03 ZaSu Pitts, American actress (Life With Father; Dames; Wedding March), born in Parsons, Kansas (d. 1963)
• 1895-01-20 Eva Jessye, American singer, actress, songwriter (Hallelujah) and 1st black woman to receive international distinction as a choral conductor, born in Coffeyville, Kansas (d. 1992)
• 1895-03-03 Robert Gordon, American silent film actor (Hearts and Spangles; King of the Pack), born in Belleville, Kansas (d. 1971)

• 1896-02-24 Richard Thorpe, American director (Jailhouse Rock), born in Hutchinson, Kansas (d. 1991)
• 1897-04-14 Claire Windsor, American actress (The Blot), born in Cawker City, Kansas (d. 1972)

• 1897-11-14 John Steuart Curry, American painter and lithographer (Baptism in Kansas), born in Dunavant, Kansas (d. 1946)
• 1898-12-09 Emmett Kelly, American circus clown (Weary Willie), born in Sedan, Kansas (d. 1979)
• 1899-01-06 Phyllis Haver, American silent screen actress (What Price Glory), born in Douglass, Kansas (d. 1960)
• 1899-02-22 Dwight Frye, American actor (Black Camel, Dracula, Frankenstein), born in Salina, Kansas (d. 1943)
• 1900-03-03 Ruby Dandridge [Ruby Jean Butler], American actress (Father of the Bride), born in Wichita, Kansas (d. 1987)
• 1901-02-22 Charles Evans Whittaker, American Supreme Court justice (1957-62), born near Troy, Kansas (d. 1973)
• 1901-05-18 Harry Robert Wilson, American composer, born in Salina, Kansas (d. 1968)
• 1903-09-25 Olive Ann Beech, American businesswoman (Co-Founder of Beech Aircraft Company), born in Waverly, Kansas (d. 1993)
• 1904-07-05 Milburn Stone, American actor (Gunsmoke, Pickup on South Street), born in Burrton, Kansas (d. 1980)
• 1904-08-13 Charles "Buddy" Rogers, American musician and actor (An Innocent Affair, Wings), born in Olathe, Kansas (d. 1999)
• 1906-04-04 John Cameron Swayze, American newscaster (The Hindenberg), and spokesperson (Timex), born in Wichita, Kansas (d. 1995)
• 1907-08-03 Lawrence Brown, American trombonist (Duke Ellington Orchestra), born in Lawrence, Kansas (d. 1988)
• 1907-11-26 Ruth Patrick, American botanist and limnologist, born in Topeka, Kansas (d. 2013)
• 1908-07-21 Harold "Jug" McSpaden, American golfer, course designer (17 PGA Tour wins), born in Monticello, Kansas (d. 1996)
• 1909-02-16 Hugh Beaumont, American actor (The Mole People, Leave it to Beaver), born in Lawrence, Kansas (d. 1982)
• 1909-07-26 Vivian Vance [Jones], American stage and screen actress (I Love Lucy - "Ethel Mertz"; The Lucy Show - "Viv"), born in Cherryvale, Kansas (d. 1979)
• 1911-12-15 Stan Kenton, American musician, jazz pianist, arranger and bandleader (Artistry In Rhythm), born in Wichita, Kansas (d. 1979)
• 1913-05-03 William M. Inge, American playwright (Picnic-Pulitzer 1953), born in Independence, Kansas (d. 1973)
• 1914-12-13 Larry Parks [Samuel Lawrence Parks], American actor (The Jolson Story, Love Is Better Than Ever), born in Olathe, Kansas (d. 1975)
• 1915-12-05 Carl Donnell "Kansas" Fields, American jazz drummer, born in Chapman, Kansas (d. 1995)
• 1916-05-26 Moondog [Louis Thomas Hardin], American composer, musician and poet, born in Marysville, Kansas (d. 1999)
• 1916-09-18 John Jacob Rhodes, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona), born in Council Grove, Kansas (d. 2003)
• 1917-06-02 Max Showalter, American actor and composer (Kansas, Niagara, Stockard Channing Show in Caldwell), born in Caldwell, Kansas (d. 2000)
• 1917-06-07 Gwendolyn Brooks, American poet (The Bean Eaters, Annie Allen, Pulitzer 1950), born in Topeka, Kansas (d. 2000)
• 1918-08-24 Ray McIntire, American chemical engineer (invented Styrofoam at Dow), born in Gardner, Kansas (d. 1996)
• 1919-08-09 Ralph Houk, American baseball catcher, coach, manager and executive (World Series champion 1947, 52-53, coach, 58; mgr 1961-62; NY Yankees), born in Lawrence, Kansas (d. 2010)
• 1919-11-21 Steve Brodie [John Stevenson], American actor (The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp), born in El Dorado, Kansas (d. 1992)
• 1921-01-10 Rodger Ward, American aviator & race car driver, born in Beloit, Kansas (d. 2004)
• 1921-06-08 Sheila Ryan, American actress (Big Fix, Mule Train, Ringside, Caged Fury), born in Topeka, Kansas (d. 1975)
• 1921-07-16 Bernard W. Rogers, United States Army general who served as the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army and NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, born in Fairview, Kansas (d. 2008)

• 1923-09-03 Mort Walker, American cartoonist (Beetle Bailey, Hi & Lois), born in El Dorado, Kansas (d. 2018)
• 1923-09-27 Mary McCarty, American singer, dancer, stage and screen actress (Babes in Toyland; All That Jazz;, Trapper John, M.D.), born in Winfield, Kansas (d. 1980)
• 1925-05-22 James King, American tenor, born in Dodge City, Kansas (d. 2005)
• 1925-07-02 Marvin Rainwater, American country singer (Ozark Jubilee), born in Wichita, Kansas (d. 2013)
• 1926-07-02 Lee Allen, American tenor sax player (Walkin' With Mr Lee), born in Pittsburg, Kansas (d. 1994)
• 1926-12-17 Patrice Wymore, American actress (The Big Tree), born in Miltonvale, Kansas (d. 2014)

• 1928-04-12 Russell L. Rogers, American electrical engineer and astronaut (X-20), born in Lawrence, Kansas (d. 1967)
• 1928-07-20 Jan Meyers, American politician (Rep-R-Kansas, 1985-97), born in Lincoln, Nebraska (d. 2019)
• 1928-12-20 Jack Christiansen, American NFL football player. 1951-58 (Detroit Lions - 3 x Champion, 5 X Pro Bowl), NFL and college coach (San Francisco 49ers, Stanford University), born in Sublette, Kansas (d. 1986)
• 1929-04-13 Marilynn Smith, American golfer (Titleholders Championship 1963-64), born in Topeka, Kansas (d. 2019)
• 1929-11-15 Ed Asner, American Emmy Award-winning actor (The Mary Tyler Moore Show - "Mr. Grant"; Lou Grant; Roots; Up), and activist, born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2021)
• 1930-02-12 Arlen Specter, American Senator (Republican-PA, 1981- 2011), born in Wichita, Kansas (d. 2012)
• 1930-06-25 George Murdock, American actor, born in Salina, Kansas (d. 2012)
• 1930-11-03 Lois Smith (née Humbert), American stage and screen character actress (Five Easy Pieces; The Doctors; True Blood), born in Topeka, Kansas
• 1932-01-15 Dean Smith, American athlete (Olympic gold 4x100m relay 1952) and actor, rodeo cowboy and stuntman, born in Emporia, Kansas (d. 2023)
• 1932-03-02 Frank E. Petersen, American soldier and both the 1st African American Marine Corps aviator and Marine Corps general, born in Topeka Kansas (d. 2015)
• 1932-07-29 Nancy Kassebaum, American politician (Sen-R-Kansas, 1979-97), born in Topeka, Kansas
• 1932-08-26 Joe H. Engle, American USAF Major General, test pilot (X-15), and NASA astronaut (STS-2; STS-51-I), born in Chapman, Kansas
• 1932-10-13 Jack Colvin, American actor (Incredible Hulk), born in Lyndon, Kansas (d. 2005)
• 1934-05-19 Jim Lehrer, American television news anchor (McNeil-Lehrer Report/PBS Newshour, 1975-2011), and novelist, born in Wichita, Kansas (d. 2020)
• 1935-04-13 Lyle Waggoner, American actor (The Carol Burnett Show; Wonder Woman), born in Kansas City, Kansas (d. 2020)

• 1936-04-20 Pat Roberts, US Senator (Rep-R-KS, 1981-1997), born in Topeka, Kansas

• 1936-07-05 Shirley Knight, American actress (Endless Love, Desperate Housewives), born in Goessel, Kansas (d. 2020)
• 1937-02-27 Barbara Babcock, American actress (Dr Quinn,; Dallas; Hill Street Blues), born in Fort Riley, Kansas
• 1937-03-06 Ben Keith [Schaeufele], American musician and record producer (Neil Young, Great Speckled Bird), born in Fort Riley, Kansas (d. 2010)
• 1938-03-12 Johnny Rutherford, American auto racer (Indianapolis 500 1974, 76, 80), born in Coffeyville, Kansas
• 1938-12-13 Tom Shaw, American golfer (The Tradition 1993), born in Wichita, Kansas
• 1939-05-18 Gary S. Paxton [Larry Wayne Stevens], American musician and songwriter ("Monster Mash"; "Alley Oop)', born in Coffeyville, Kansas (d. 2016)
• 1939-09-18 Bob Whittaker, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas), born in Eureka, Kansas

• 1940-08-03 John W. Carlin, American politician (40th Governor of Kansas), born in Salina, Kansas
• 1941-12-12 Terry Kirkman, American rock vocalist, songwriter, and keyboardist (The Association - "Windy"; "Cherish"), and later substance abuse counselor, born in Salina, Kansas (d. 2023)
• 1942-03-28 Samuel Ramey, American operatic bass (La Scala, 1981- ; Metropolitan Opera, 1984-), born in Colby, Kansas
• 1942-06-30 Robert Ballard, American explorer and discoverer (discovered Titanic wreck in 1985), born in Wichita, Kansas
• 1942-07-08 Janice Pennington, American Playboy playmate (May 1971) and model (The Price is Right), born in Seattle, Washington
• 1942-08-25 Margaret L. Thompson Murdock, American army and first woman to win medal for small bore rifle (Olympic silver 1976), born in Topeka, Kansas

Gale Sayers (1943-2020)

1943-05-30 American College and Pro Football Hall of Fame halfback, 4X Pro Bowl, 2X NFL rushing leader (Chicago Bears), and source for the TV movie "Brian's Song", born in Wichita, Kansas [1]

• 1943-09-25 Robert Gates, American statesman (22nd U.S. Secretary of Defense), born in Wichita, Kansas
• 1944-02-27 Alan Fudge, American actor (Man From Atlantis, Paper Dolls), born in Wichita, Kansas
• 1944-03-24 R. Lee Ermey, American actor (Full Metal Jacket- Gunnery Sergeant Hartman), born in Emporia, Kansas (d. 2018)

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