Wichita, Kansas
Wichita (/ˈwɪtʃɪtɔː/ WITCH-ih-taw)[10] is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County.[3] As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532.[5][6] The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020.[8] It is located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River.[3]
For the county, see Wichita County, Kansas.
Wichita, Kansas
United States
1868
1870
Robert Layton
166.52 sq mi (431.28 km2)
161.99 sq mi (419.55 km2)
4.53 sq mi (11.73 km2)
1,303 ft (397 m)
397,532
395,699
2,454.05/sq mi (947.52/km2)
500,231 (US: 84th)
2,205.2/sq mi (851.4/km2)
647,919 (US: 93rd)
Wichitan
UTC-5 (CDT)
473862 [3]
Wichita began as a trading post on the Chisholm Trail in the 1860s and was incorporated as a city in 1870. It became a destination for cattle drives traveling north from Texas to Kansas railroads, earning it the nickname "Cowtown".[11][12] Wyatt Earp served as a police officer in Wichita for around one year before going to Dodge City.
In the 1920s and 1930s, businessmen and aeronautical engineers established aircraft manufacturing companies in Wichita, including Beechcraft, Cessna, and Stearman Aircraft. The city became an aircraft production hub known as "The Air Capital of the World".[13][14] Textron Aviation, Learjet, Airbus, and Boeing/Spirit AeroSystems continue to operate design and manufacturing facilities in Wichita, and the city remains a major center of the American aircraft industry. Several airports located within the city of Wichita include McConnell Air Force Base,[15][16] Colonel James Jabara Airport, and Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, the largest airport in Kansas.
As an industrial hub, Wichita is a regional center of culture, media, and trade. It hosts several universities, large museums, theaters, parks, shopping centers, and entertainment venues, most notably Intrust Bank Arena and Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center. The city's Old Cowtown Museum maintains historical artifacts and exhibits the city's early history. Wichita State University is the third-largest post-secondary institution in the state.
Infrastructure[edit]
Flood control[edit]
Wichita suffered severe floods of the Arkansas river in 1877, 1904, 1916, 1923, 1944, 1951 and 1955. In 1944 the city flooded 3 times in 11 days.[240] As a result of the 1944 flood, the idea for the Wichita-Valley Center Floodway (locally known as the "Big Ditch") was conceived. The project was completed in 1958. The Big Ditch diverts part of the Arkansas River's flow around west-central Wichita, running roughly parallel to the Interstate 235 bypass.[64][241] A second flood control canal lies between the lanes of Interstate 135, running south through the central part of the city. Chisholm Creek is diverted into this canal for most of its length.[64][242] The city's flood defenses were tested in the Great Flood of 1993. Flooding that year kept the Big Ditch full for more than a month and caused $6 million of damage to the flood control infrastructure. The damage was not fully repaired until 2007.[243] In 2019, the Floodway was renamed the MS Mitch Mitchell Floodway in honor of the man credited for its creation.[244]
Utilities[edit]
Evergy provides electricity.[245] Kansas Gas Service provides natural gas.[246] The City of Wichita provide water and sewer.[247] Multiple privately owned trash haulers, licensed by the county government, offer trash removal and recycling service.[248] Cox Communications and Spectrum offer cable television, and AT&T U-Verse offers IPTV.[249] All three also offer home telephone and broadband internet service.[250] Satellite TV is offered by DIRECTV and DISH. Satellite internet is available from Viasat, Hughes, and soon Starlink.
Health care[edit]
Ascension Via Christi operates three general medical and surgical hospitals in Wichita—Via Christi Hospital St. Francis, Via Christi Hospital St. Joseph, and Via Christi Hospital St. Teresa—and other specialized medical facilities.[251] The Hospital Corporation of America manages a fourth general hospital, Wesley Medical Center, along with satellite locations around the city.[252] All four hospitals provide emergency services. In addition, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs runs the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center, a primary and secondary care facility for U.S. military veterans.[191]
In popular culture[edit]
Wichita is mentioned in the 1968 hit song "Wichita Lineman" by Glen Campbell. It is also mentioned in the songs "I've Been Everywhere", and "Seven Nation Army".
Allen Ginsberg wrote about a visit to Wichita in his poem "Wichita Vortex Sutra", for which Philip Glass subsequently wrote a solo piano piece.[277]
The stage play Hospitality Suite takes place in Wichita as does its 1999 film adaptation, The Big Kahuna.[278] The city is the setting for the comic strip Dennis the Menace.[279]
The films Wichita (1955) and portions of Wyatt Earp (1994), both of which dramatize the life and career of former Wichita lawman Wyatt Earp, are set in Wichita,[280][281] as were early episodes of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955-1961),[282][283] the first adult-oriented western TV series.[284][285] The short-lived 1959–1960 television western Wichita Town was set during the city's early years.[286]
Other films wholly or partially set in the city include Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979),[287] Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987),[288] The Ice Harvest (2005),[289] and Knight and Day (2010).[290] In the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven, the lead character is identified as a Wichita lawman.[291][292]
Wichita's Old Cowtown Museum, a re-creation of early Wichita, has served as a setting for various western- and pioneer-themed films,[293] including two of the Sarah Plain and Tall trilogy.[294][295] A Wichita-area airport served as settings for The Gypsy Moths.[296][297]
