People of Kansas

Population composition

Kansas’s early settlers were principally antislavery New Englanders of British ancestry. After the American Civil War and with the building of the railroads, many central Europeans were attracted by the promise of jobs laying track and of free land when the jobs were finished. Small communities populated by citizens of predominantly Russian, Bohemian, German, or Scandinavian ancestry still dot the state. The original languages have largely disappeared, though here and there church services are still conducted in German or Swedish, and a few communities hold festivals each year at which the old folkways, foods, and languages are featured. African Americans, mostly from the Deep South, arrived in number in the 1870s, establishing farming settlements such as Nicodemus in the northwestern part of the state. During World War II, there was an influx of military personnel and aircraft workers, many of whom remained. There is now a small but growing Hispanic minority—less than one-tenth of the population—and a slightly smaller proportion of African Americans. The state is mainly Protestant, with large communities of Methodists, Baptists, and Lutherans. Virtually every denomination and sect is represented in the state, including such rare groups as the Amish and the Dunkard Brethren. Roman Catholics make up nearly all of the remaining religious adherents.

Settlement patterns

Most western Kansas farms or ranches are large, covering not less than one section (a square mile, or 640 acres [259 hectares]) of land, though a farmer’s holdings may not always be contiguous. Eastern Kansas began with small farms, some of no more than 40 acres (16 hectares), but these have grown. State law prohibits corporations, trusts, limited liability companies, limited liability partnerships, or corporate partnerships from owning or acquiring any agricultural land in the state, leaving such ownership the province of family businesses; however, corporate farming has made inroads following the passage of a proviso that allows counties a degree of choice in the matter. Small towns serve as local commercial centres. Many of the small cities, especially in the west, offer unexpected cultural and commercial resources, perhaps because they often lie far apart and draw from large trade territories. In the east the cities are older, closer together, and generally less progressive, though most of them are attractive, with broad, well-shaded residential streets and downtown shopping facilities.

Wichita, the largest city, has the state’s largest buildings, biggest industries, and most-venturesome businesses. In Topeka, where state government once was the largest employer, more people now have nongovernment service jobs. Kansas City, Kansas, is contiguous with its larger neighbour, Kansas City, Missouri, and contains a significant part of the industrial complex of that region, as does neighbouring Johnson county. Overland Park, in Johnson county, was incorporated as a city only in 1960 but by the end of the 20th century had overtaken even Kansas City in population; several large corporations are based there. Leavenworth, the state’s oldest city, is built around government institutions, including an army post at Fort Leavenworth, a federal prison, a state penitentiary (in the bordering city of Lansing), and a veterans’ hospital. Lawrence, home of the state’s largest university, depends on the school for its economy, though the city has worked successfully to attract high-technology and light-manufacturing industry. Most of the other cities depend on farm trade and agriculture-related business.

Kansas suffered during most of its history from two kinds of regionalism: one that pits rural against city dwellers and another that sets the east against the west. The two are related in that none of the state’s principal cities is in the west. More thinly populated than the east, western Kansas has always feared and fought eastern domination, while the east often has ignored the west. The Wichita metropolitan area accounts for more than one-fifth of the state’s population. The Kansas City–Lawrence–Topeka area of northeastern Kansas, containing three metropolitan areas, is even more populous and is the centre of much industry. Rivalry between these two urban areas is obvious in the state legislature. People from the rural areas, mostly farmers, ranchers, and owners of small businesses, as well as residents from the smaller towns, have tended to distrust the cities, often bringing about an impasse in the state legislature.

Demographic trends

Because it has provided insufficient employment opportunities, Kansas has lost a considerable number of its young people to other states. The birth rate, however, has produced a slight natural increase in population in most years. The most conspicuous demographic trend has been the move from the farms to the cities, a trend that has continued with further technological advances in farming and the increasing size of individual landholdings.