From Abilene to Wichita and beyond, a constellation of cities
glitters across the fertile plains of Kansas. Their history is
entwined with that of the state as a whole, and their size and
status are rarely questioned. Yet as James Shortridge reveals, the
evolution of urban Kansas remains a largely untold story of
competition, rivalry, and metropolitan dreams.
"Cities on the Plains" relates the history of Kansas's larger
communities from the 1850s to the present. The first book to
provide a comprehensive, comparative account of an entire state's
urban development, it shows how Kansas's current hierarchy of
cities and urban development emerged from a complex and ongoing
series of promotional strategies. Railroads, the mining industry,
the cattle trade-all exercised their influence over where and when
these settlements were originally established.
Drawing on rich historical research filtered through cultural
geography, Shortridge looks at the 118 communities that ever
achieved a population of 2,500, and unravels the many factors that
influenced the growth of urban Kansas. He tells how mercantilism
dominated urban thinking in territorial days until after statehood,
when cities competed for the capital, prisons, universities, and
other institutions. He also shows how geography and size were
employed by entrepreneurs and government officials to prepare
strategies for economic development. And he describes how the
railroads especially promoted the founding of cities in the
nineteenth century-and how this system has fared since 1950 in the
face of globalization and the growth of interstate highways.
Throughout the book, Shortridge demonstrates how cities competed
for dominance within their regions, and he solves mysteries of
growth and stagnation by evaluating them according to their
abilities to respond to change. Sharing anecdotes along with
insights, he tells why Wichita is "the unexpected metropolis," why
the citizens of Leavenworth thought a prison was a better urban
asset than a college, and how Garden City grew despite the plans of
the Santa Fe Railroad.
"Cities on the Plains" provides an incisive new look not only at
Kansas history but also at how American cities in general have
evolved over the last century and a half.
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