Famous Kansan List

Samuel Crumbine Dwight Eisenhower Carrie Nation
Bob Dole George Washington Carver Charles Curtis
Amelia Earhart Lucy Hobbs Taylor Glenn Cunningham
Gwendolyn Brooks Jesse Chisholm Martin/Osa Johnson
Hattie McDaniel Elizabeth Hoisington Walter Chrysler
Russell Stover Nancy Landon Kassebaum Charles Koch
Fred Harvey Blackbear Bosin William Coleman
John Steuart Curry Emmett Kelly Kay McFarland
Langston Hughes Lynette Woodward Gordon Parks
James Naismith Vinnie Ream Hoxie Mary Ann Bickerdyke
Frank Carney Brad Sneed Mort Walker
William Allen White    

 

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Samuel Crumbine

    Dodge City, Secretary of the State Board of Health, led public health campaign against the use of common drinking cups.  He invented  the roller towel and the fly swatter.

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 80.

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Dwight Eisenhower

    Abilene, five-star U.S. Army General, Supreme Allied Commander of European theater during World War II and 34th President of the United States

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 41

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Carry  Nation

    Medicine Lodge, temperance advocate.  The Ablah Library at Wichita State University maintains a website for their Carry A. Nation Collection.

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 89

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Bob Dole

    Russell, Served in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, vice presidential candidate in 1976, sought Republican presidential nomination in 1980 and 1988, and 1996 GOP presidential nominee

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 41

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George Washington Carver

    Ness County, agricultural scientist, mortgaged his Kansas homestead to go to college.  Studied the peanut and invented many ways to use them.

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 8

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Charles Curtis

    Topeka, served in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate and as Vice President of the United States

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 36

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Amelia Earhart

    Atchison, the first woman granted a pilot's license by the National Aeronautics Association and the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page13

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Lucy Hobbs Taylor

    Lawrence, the first fully trained woman dentist in the world

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 95

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Glenn Cunningham   

    Elkhart, held the world record in the mile run in the 1930s

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page190

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Gwendolyn Brooks

    Topeka, famous poet, winner of Pulitzer Prize

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 135

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Jesse Chisholm

    Sedgwick county, Indian trader and scout

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 10

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Martin/Osa Johnson

    Chanute, photographers and explorers.  The Axe Library at Pittsburg State University maintains a website of their Martin & Osa Johnson collection.

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 19

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Hattie McDaniel

    Wichita, film actress, Academy Award winner

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 203

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Walter Chrysler

    Wamego and Ellis, established the Chrysler Corporation

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 109

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Russell Stover

    Alton, candymaker and famous businessman

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 125

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Elizabeth Hoisington

    Newton, first female U.S. Army General

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 55

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Charles Koch

    Wichita, billionaire head of Koch industries

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 117

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Fred Harvey

    Leavenworth, founder of Harvey House restaurants

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 113

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further information (Kansan article on Newton's Fred Harvey Farm)

 

 

 

Nancy Landon Kassebaum

    Topeka, Maize and Council Grove, first female U.S. senator from Kansas

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 57

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William Coleman

    Wichita, the famous Coleman Company founder

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 110

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John Steuart Curry

    Jefferson County, artist, he has murals in the Kansas State Capital

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb page 137

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Blackbear Bosin

    Wichita, artist, he made the Keeper of the Plains sculpture in Wichita

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb,  page 134

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Kay McFarland

    Topeka, first woman in Kansas to serve as a District Judge and as State Supreme Court Justice

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 64

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Langston Hughes

    Topeka and Lawrence, poet and author

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 146

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Gordon Parks

    Fort Scott, photographer, writer, and motion picture director.  First African American to direct a studio project - The Learning Tree -shot in Fort Scott.  The Axe Library at Pittsburg State University maintains a website of their Gordon Parks collection.

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 154

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James Naismith

    Lawrence, inventor of the game of basketball and the first basketball coach at the University of Kansas

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 205

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Emmett Kelly

    Sedan, circus clown

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 200

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Mary Ann Bickerdyke

    Salina, Civil War nurse and veterans' supporter

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 77

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William Allen White

    Emporia, editor and publisher, Pulitzer Prize recipient for "What's the Matter With Kansas?"

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 172

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Lynette Woodward

    Wichita, basketball standout at University of Kansas, captain of U.S. women's basketball team that won gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics, first woman on the Harlem Globetrotters

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 223

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Vinnie Ream Hoxie

    Kansas Territory, first woman sculptor chosen to sculpt an official sculpture of a president when she sculpted a  statue of President Lincoln.

    399 Kansas Characters by Dave Webb, page 145

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Brad Sneed

     Born in Newton, Kansas Brad Sneed is an author and illustrator of children's books.

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