Main Gallery Exhibits
at the Kansas Museum of History
Trains & Towns
Learn about our state's exciting transportation history at the Kansas
Museum of History in Topeka.
You'll see:
- Locomotive from the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad (pictured)
- ATSF drover's car and superintendent's car from the 1880s
- Badges, uniforms, and tools
used by railroad workers
- Biplane built in 1914 by
a Kansan
Ways of moving people, mail, and freight have always
been important to communities.
Native peoples living on the prairie used horses for
hunting, carrying belongings, and moving to new regions. White settlers
brought stagecoach lines to the rough roads and steamboats
to the larger rivers. In 1860 the first locomotive
rolled onto Kansas soil, and new rails spread rapidly after the Civil
War ended in 1865.
No business had a greater impact in Kansas than the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, founded in 1860. Trains carried
passengers and their baggage, mail, and manufactured goods into the
state. They carried farm products out of Kansas to eastern markets.
Nearly everyone depended on the trains in some way, and the presence
of a railroad could make or break a town.
Eventually, competition from other forms of transportation
caused many miles of rail lines to be abandoned.
Kansas provided American aviation with some of its most notable
pioneers. Pilot Amelia
Earhart of Atchison gained national
prominence in 1928 for being the first woman to cross the Atlantic
Ocean by plane. Dissatisfied with her role as merely a passenger
on that flight, four years later she piloted her own plane across
the Atlantic.
Walter &
Olive Ann Beech, Clyde
Cessna, Lloyd Stearman, and others laid the foundations
for the Kansas aviation industry. As many as twenty aircraft manufacturers
were operating in the state during the 1920s. In the following decade,
Wichita claimed the title "Air Capital of the World."
Today the city hosts a number of aircraft companies, including Boeing,
Raytheon (formerly Beech), Cessna, and Bombardier (Learjet).
"They tell you in Wichita that the city's aviation
history began 'aeons and aeons ago when prehistoric seas subsided, leaving
a vast mid-continental plain that was destined to become the largest
natural airport in America.' " -- John Nevill, Aviation,
1930
Research this topic in Kansas history using our transportation
bibliography.
Hours and Fees
Museum hours are 9:00 a.m.
- 5:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Sunday.
Closed Mondays and state holidays.
Admission is $4 for adults, $3 for members and seniors, $2 for students,
and $1 per student for school tours.
Information
For information on our facilities, see Visiting
the Kansas Museum of History. Contact us at KansasMuseum@kshs.org.
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