Topics in Kansas History: Transportation

At the center of the nation, Kansas has served as a crossroads to the West. Trails traversed the area long before Santa Fe Trail provided a commerce route from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe. In the late 1840s, emigrants traveled west along the Oregon-California Trail, passing through the northeast portion of the state. read more

Find resources on Transportation:

• Cessna, Clyde
• Chrysler, Walter
• "Down at the Depot," Kansas Preservation, November/December 2003
• Earhart, Amelia
• Earhart, Amelia, Timeline
• "From Coronado to Cattlemen: Assessing the Legacy of 19th Century Cattle Trails on the Southern High Plains," Kansas Preservation, March/April 2003
• Harvey, Fred
• Hockaday, F. W. "Woody"
• "Paved With Good Intentions: Good Roads, the Automobile, and the Rhetoric of Rural Improvement in the Kansas Farmer, 1890-1914," Kansas History, Winter 1995
• "Route 66 in Kansas," Kansas Preservation, May/June 2003

Letters, documents, objects, photographs, and sites

• Biplane--the first successfully flown in Kansas
• Boeing B-29 Superfortress model
• Christmas cards from Amelia Earhart
• Helicopter made by Kansan
• Stewardess uniform from United Air Lines

• Engineer's toolbox
• Gardner, Alexander Photograph Collection
• Locomotive No. 132, AT&SF
• Railroad immigration pamphlets
• Velocipede

• Automobile--1930s Chevrolet Eagle
• Automobile--Great Smith
• Automobile and road pamphlets
• Bicycle--1934 Montgomery Wards catalog
• Farm truck
• Halbe, L. W. automobile photographs
• Snow gate from Interstate 70
• Stagecoach
• Western Trails Project

• Fort Hays State Historic Sitein Hays
• Grinter Place State Historic Site in Kansas City
• Hollenberg Station State Historic Site near Hanover
• Kaw Mission State Historic Site in Council Grove
• Pawnee Rock State Historic Site in Pawnee Rock
• Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site in Fairway near Kansas City

Bibliographies, finding aids, and guides to the collections

• Airplanes Bibliography
• Santa Fe Trail Bibliography
• Steamboats Bibliography

Museum Store

• Books on railroads
• Books on trails

Kansas Heritage, our popular history magazine

• "And Miles to Go Before They Sleep," Spring 1996
• "Head'em Up, Move 'em Out: The Legacy of the Chisholm Trail," Summer 1997
• "'In Their Best Bib and Tucker': The Harvey Girls," Winter 1997
• "Ships That Have Passed in the Night: Steamboating in Kansas," Autumn 1998
• "The Sound and the Fury: The Glory Days of Motorcycle Racing in Kansas," Spring 1999
• "Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Children of the Orphan Trains," Spring 1999
• "All the Livelong Day: The Railroad Comes to Kansas!" Summer 1999
• "Fill 'er up! A Photo Essay," Autumn 1999
• "'You'll Look Sweet, Upon the Seat,' A Photo Essay," Spring 2000
• "The Road Less Traveled," Autumn 2001
• "Comes A Horseman --The Farmers--," Autumn 2003
• "Comes A Horseman --The Native Americans--," Autumn 2001
• "Comes A Horseman--The Soldiers--," Autumn 2002
• "Wingin' It! Barnstorming in Kansas," Summer 1997

Kansas History, our scholarly journal

• "The People's Railroad: The Leavenworth & Topeka, 1918-1931," Spring 2001

Kansas Kaleidoscope, our children's magazine

• "Up, Up & Away," October 1997
• "The Cowboy Story: Trails to Rails," March 1998
• " A Road Much Traveled: Santa Fe Trail," October 1998
• "Trail Blazers!" February/March 2001

Kansas Interpretive Traveling Exhibit Service (KITES)

• Amelia Earhart: Taking Flight in Kansas

Teaching Materials

• Classroom Materials: Trails
• Field Trips: Trails

Find other Transportation topics.