SW CB-183 Kansas - the Sunflower State

Kansas is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansa Native American tribe which inhabited the area. In 1803, most of modern Kansas was secured by the United States as part of the Louisiana Purchase. Southwest Kansas, however, was still a part of Spain, Mexico and the Republic of Texas until the conclusion of the Mexican-American War in 1848. From 1812 to 1821, Kansas was part of the Missouri Territory Kansas was admitted to the United States as a slave-free state on January 29, 1861, making it the 34th state to enter the Union. Topeka is the state capital.  

After the Civil War, the population of Kansas grew rapidly when waves of immigrants turned the prairie into farmland. Today, Kansas is one of the most productive agricultural states, producing high yields of wheat, sorghum, and sunflowers. Kansas is the 15th most extensive and the 34th most populous of the 50 United States. As of 2013, Kansas had an estimated population of about 2.9 million people. Nearly a quarter million people reside in the Topeka metropolitan area. However a phenomenon known as rural flight has caused over the last few decades extensive migration out of the countryside into cities. A consequence is that in Kansas, there are more than 6,000 ghost towns and dwindling communities.

From the back of the postcard

 

This postcard (and another of the State Capitol) were sent by Barbara S. (9 July 2014) Swap-bot.