Wichita Kansas History

Wichita is the chief commercial and industrial center of Kansas and has railroad shops, flour mills, meatpacking plants, grain elevators, oil refineries, and a very large aircraft industry.

Wichita was the site of a village in 1863, and was inhabited by Wichita Native Indians. A trading post was established there in 1864 and the city was founded in 1868 by settlers.

The city boomed as a cow town in 1872 when the railroad was extended to Wichita. It became the trade center of an agricultural and livestock region, and oil was discovered in Wichita in the early 1900‘s.

Following the incorporation of the city in 1870, rapid immigration resulted in a land boom involving speculation into the late 1880s. Wichita had become the third largest city by 1920, and Wichita had entered the top 100 largest cities in the United States and by 1930 reached 77th in rank.