Kansas, United States: Towns to Explore on Foot

The things to do in Kansas reach far beyond its familiar image of open plains. This landlocked Midwestern state combines Indigenous history, the legacy of Bleeding Kansas, farming country, aerospace, wind power, distinctive cities and stories that range from Dorothy Gale to Carrie Nation. Neywo offers free audio guides for 3 cities in Kansas, with 920 narrated places in total and 12 walking tours.

What to see and do in Kansas

Explore the history of the Free State

Kansas was shaped by a fierce argument over freedom and slavery. For thousands of years, diverse Indigenous peoples lived here: communities in the east built villages along river valleys, while people in the west were more mobile and hunted large bison herds.

The first non-Indigenous settlement was at Fort Leavenworth. Settlement accelerated during the 1850s, when Kansas Territory became a battleground between abolitionist Free-Staters from New England and pro-slavery settlers crossing from Missouri. Lawrence was founded by Free-Staters who opposed the spread of slavery, while pro-slavery settlers tried to influence the vote. The violence became known as Bleeding Kansas.

Kansas entered the Union as a free state in 1861, a history reflected in its unofficial nickname, The Free State. The Homestead Acts later brought more settlers and farms, including veterans who established homesteads after the Civil War. African Americans led by Benjamin “Pap” Singleton also established Black colonies in a land associated with John Brown. That difficult founding story remains central to Kansas’s identity.

Visit the state’s historic cities

Kansas has three cities with Neywo audio guides, each offering a different way to explore the state.

Topeka, the capital, has 13 narrated places. Its highlights include the Kansas Museum of History, Cedar Crest, the Kansas Historical Society and Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park. Together, these places connect the state’s broader history with its political and civil-rights story.

Wichita is the most populous city in Kansas and has 49 narrated places. Among its notable sites are the Allen-Lambe House, the B-29 Doc Hangar, Education and Visitors Center, Calvary Baptist Church and Exploration Place. Wichita also reflects the state’s links with aviation and industry.

Manhattan is another city to explore with Neywo. Its audio guide includes 858 narrated places, making it the largest city collection listed for Kansas.

See how the landscape changes across the state

Kansas changes character from west to east. Western Kansas lies within the great central plain and is generally flat or gently rolling. The middle of the state becomes hillier, while the east includes hills and forests.

The state’s underlying geology consists of sedimentary rocks that are horizontal or gently dip westward. Water also helps define Kansas: about 74 miles of its northeastern boundary follows the Missouri River. Kansas has no coastline, but its broad landscapes range from humid continental to semi-arid steppe and humid subtropical climates.

Mount Sunflower, rising just over 4,000 feet, is the state’s highest point. Kansas is also generally considered the geographic center of the contiguous United States, with Lebanon approximately at that center. These details help explain why a state often imagined as uniformly flat has more variety than its wide horizons suggest.

Discover farming, aerospace and wind power

Agriculture remains one of Kansas’s defining strengths. The state has produced high yields of wheat, corn, sorghum and soybeans, and fields continue to shape much of its landscape.

Modern Kansas also combines farming with an extensive aerospace industry. Wind power is another major part of the state’s economy and energy landscape; in 2019, wind generated the largest share of Kansas’s electricity. These industries sit alongside city life in a state with fewer than three million residents and one of the lowest population densities in the country.

Population is unevenly distributed. Rural flight has drawn people from the countryside toward cities in recent decades. Wichita is the most populous city, while the largest urban area is the Kansas City metropolitan area, which straddles the border with Missouri and surrounds Kansas City, Missouri.

Follow Kansas’s cultural connections

Kansas has an outsized place in popular culture. It is famously associated with Dorothy Gale, the central character of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In the fantasy film, Dorothy—played by Judy Garland—lived in Kansas with her aunt and uncle.

Music provides another connection. The rock band Kansas was formed in Topeka, the hometown of several of its members. Wichita was the birthplace of guitarist Joe Walsh.

The state also has a distinctive history of alcohol prohibition. In 1881, Kansas became the first state in the United States to adopt a constitutional amendment prohibiting all alcoholic beverages. The ban remained until its repeal in 1948. Carrie Nation, one of the best-known figures of the anti-saloon movement, vandalized her first saloon in Kiowa.

These stories create a cultural identity built on both imagination and conviction: the fictional Kansas of Dorothy Gale, and the real Kansas of activism, argument and music.

Explore Kansas with Neywo

Neywo has free audio guides for 3 cities in Kansas, with 12 walking tours and 920 narrated places in total. Narration is available in 11 languages. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule.

Download Neywo and explore Topeka, Wichita and Manhattan as you walk through the Free State.