Wichita

About Wichita

Wichita is the largest city in Kansas, set on the prairie where the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers meet in the south-central part of the state. The Wichita people lived here in the 1860s, and the city that took their name grew as a trading post on the Chisholm Trail, where cowboys drove Texas longhorns north to the railroad. In the 1870s Wichita was a rowdy cowtown, briefly policed by a young Wyatt Earp, and later grain milling and oil brought steady growth.

In the 20th century Wichita became the Air Capital of the World. Pioneers like Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech and Bill Lear built aircraft here, and companies including Textron Aviation and Spirit AeroSystems still make the city a center of aviation manufacturing. Today Wichita has about 400,000 residents and a friendly, affordable character, with a growing downtown, the brick warehouse district of Old Town filled with restaurants and nightlife, and the Delano District's revived main street.

Visitors find more attractions than they might expect. The 44-foot Keeper of the Plains sculpture, standing at the river confluence and surrounded by fire pots lit each evening, is the city's signature landmark. The Sedgwick County Zoo is one of the best in the region, Botanica showcases gardens and a children's garden, and Old Cowtown Museum recreates the frontier town. Exploration Place science center, the Wichita Art Museum, the Mid-America All-Indian Museum and the Kansas Aviation Museum in the historic former airport terminal round out a visit.