Kansas celebrates 155 years of statehood, though still mired in the worst budget situation of any state in quite a while.
Fitting, perhaps, for a state whose admission brought the nation to the brink of civil war — which the nation subsequently plunged into.
Regardless the circumstances of its statehood, the U.S. Flag Code urges Americans to fly the U.S. flag on the date their state was admitted into the Union. Kansans, unfurl those colors!
U.S. and Kansas flags flying together in Ashland, Kansas. Photo by courthouselover, flickr, via Pinterest
Teachers, take note: Historical records from the National Archives and Records Administration, on Kansas statehood. Good DBQ material for AP history classes, maybe good material for projects:
Kansas Statehood, January 29, 1861
Located in the historical records of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate at the Center for Legislative Archives are many documents that illustrate the important role Congress plays in the statehood process. On January 29, 1861 Kansas became the 34th state; 2011 marks its 150th anniversary. Here is a small sampling of the many congressional records that tell the story of Kansas’s tumultuous path to statehood.
More:
- “Stars at night leave bright trails at Kansas home on the range,” Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub, January 29, 2015
- A ball celebrating Kansas statehood a good idea? Typical Kansans, they did it last Saturday; why wait?
- “Happy birthday, Kansas!” Margaret Hays in the Louisburg Herald.
[excerpt] We have many “firsts” to prove the ingenuity and lasting power of Kansans. Where else would you find another state that can claim so many innovations? Kansas people are responsible for (in no particular order) the Slurpee, the bumper sticker, the bulldozer, the Oh, Henry! candy bar, the helicopter, dial telephone, Mentholatum, time-release medicine capsules and even the autopilot. I’ll be working on this list when you see me tomorrow. I’ll be the one in the sunflower shirt, proclaiming that “there’s no place like home.”- “As Kansas turns 154, five events that shaped our history,” Beccy Tanner, of the Wichita Eagle, in the Hays Daily News
- “Why is Kansas called ‘The Wheat State?'” Nicole Lane in the High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal
- “Senate bill proposes naming a Home on the Range Memorial Highway,” Beccy Tanner (again!) in the Wichita Eagle
- “Kansas, a study in absurdity,” Henry J. Waters III, Columbia Daily Tribune
[excerpt] Consumed by the mythical idea a state can perform the essential duties of statehood without public revenue, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback led his arch-conservative Republican colleagues down a primrose path, slashing taxes with the dream the economy would be stimulated so much tax revenue would increase. After a season of this foolishness, the state budget is in shambles and Brownback scrambles for a budget-saving retreat.- Photos from Kansas at the Pinterest board, Kansas – Home Sweet Home
Four-cent U.S. Postal Service stamp issued in 1961, honoring the centennial of Kansas’s statehood with the state flower, the sunflower. Wikimedia image
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 