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Wichita
The largest city in Kansas, on the Arkansas River
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in Kansas, set on the Arkansas River in the south-central part of the state where the eastern prairies meet the Great Plains. A cattle-drive railhead in the 1870s - the original "Cowtown" at the end of the Chisholm Trail - it grew into an industrial center on the flat plains.
In the early 20th century Wichita became a hub of aircraft manufacturing, earning the nickname the "Air Capital of the World," and companies building business jets and aircraft parts still anchor its economy. The surrounding country is open, level, and given over to wheat and grazing.