These Kansas history trivia questions run in five rounds: territory to statehood, trails and cattle towns, Kansans of the twentieth century, the land and the map, and the state symbols with the motto.
Read the full guide
Five rounds, from Coronado to the state fossils
Territory to statehood starts with Coronado in 1541 and ends on January 29, 1861. Trails, forts, cattle towns and railroads follows the Santa Fe Trail, the Exodusters and the railroad that missed Santa Fe. Kansans and the twentieth century asks about Amelia Earhart, Black Sunday and the school case from Topeka. The land and the map climbs to Mount Sunflower, and State symbols and the motto ends with a salamander and a soil.
For Kansas Day or any quiz night
The card asks ten questions at a time; each tap shows the right answer, the reason and the page it was read on. Scored round holds the marking until 20 are answered. The full list with answers sits under the card.
Questions and answers
What are some easy Kansas history trivia questions?
In which town was Amelia Earhart born? Which Kansas town was called the queen of the cow towns? By which short name is the Kansas River known? The answers are Atchison, Dodge City and the Kaw.
When did Kansas become a state?
On January 29, 1861, as the 34th state. It came in under the Wyandotte Constitution, which is still the constitution of Kansas, and the state seal carries a cluster of 34 stars for that reason.
What is the Kansas state motto?
Ad astra per aspera, Latin for "to the stars through difficulties." The words run around the top of the state seal, whose design state senator John J. Ingalls presented in 1861.
How were the answers checked?
Each was read on October 3, 2026 on the page linked under it: two Kansas Historical Society articles for 13 questions, National Park Service pages for 3, Wikipedia for the rest. The center-of-the-states marker is left to the road trip quiz.
The 1854 law that opened Kansas left the slavery question to the settlers themselves. What was that idea called?Answer: Popular sovereignty. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas Territory
The first elected territorial legislature met in 1855 in a town that is now a ghost town. Which one?Answer: Pawnee. Source: Wikipedia: First Territorial Capitol of Kansas
Free-state settlers answered the "bogus legislature" with a shadow government of their own. Which town was that movement named for?Answer: Topeka. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas Territory
In which town did the proslavery constitutional convention of 1857 meet?Answer: Lecompton. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas Territory
Kansas joined the Union on January 29, 1861. Which number state did that make it?Answer: The 34th. Source: Wikipedia: Seal of Kansas
Kansas Territory was much bigger than the state. How far west did it reach?Answer: To the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas Territory
Kansas wrote more than one constitution before statehood. Which one is still the constitution of the state?Answer: The Wyandotte Constitution. Source: Wikipedia: Wyandotte Constitution
The Kaw people, whose name is also written Kansa, have been called by which other name?Answer: People of the South Wind. Source: Wikipedia: Kaw people
Lawrence was founded in 1854 by free-state settlers from New England. For whom is it named?Answer: Amos A. Lawrence. Source: Wikipedia: Lawrence, Kansas
Missourians who crossed the line to vote in the Kansas election of March 30, 1855 went by which name?Answer: Border Ruffians. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas Territory
The oldest permanent settlement in Kansas was built in 1827. What is it?Answer: Fort Leavenworth. Source: Wikipedia: Fort Leavenworth
Which senator proposed that the residents of Kansas Territory settle the slavery question by vote?Answer: Stephen A. Douglas. Source: Wikipedia: Wyandotte Constitution
Who was the first European to set foot in present-day Kansas, in 1541?Answer: Francisco Vázquez de Coronado. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas
Who was the first governor of Kansas Territory, appointed in 1854?Answer: Andrew Reeder. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas Territory
Whose newspaper, the New-York Tribune, popularized the phrase "Bleeding Kansas"?Answer: Horace Greeley. Source: Wikipedia: Bleeding Kansas
Trails, forts, cattle towns and railroads 15
The 10th Cavalry, one of the Black regiments Congress authorized after the Civil War, formed in September 1866 at which Kansas post?Answer: Fort Leavenworth. Source: Wikipedia: Fort Leavenworth
The Army set up the camp that became Fort Larned in 1859 to protect traffic on which route?Answer: The Santa Fe Trail. Source: Wikipedia: Fort Larned National Historic Site
Council Grove is named for a treaty signed under an oak with which nation, for a right-of-way on the Santa Fe Trail?Answer: The Osage. Source: Wikipedia: Council Grove, Kansas
Fort Scott, established in eastern Kansas in 1842, is named for which general?Answer: Winfield Scott. Source: Wikipedia: Fort Scott National Historic Site
The Kansas Pacific Railway finished a line in 1870 from Kansas City to which city?Answer: Denver. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas Pacific Railway
The main line of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway bypassed Santa Fe. Why?Answer: The mountain terrain made the route too hard to build. Source: Wikipedia: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
Nicodemus, Kansas, is the only remaining western town founded by African Americans during which period?Answer: Reconstruction. Source: Wikipedia: Nicodemus, Kansas
One main branch of the Santa Fe Trail cut southwest across a desert. What was that branch called?Answer: The Cimarron Cutoff. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Fe Trail
Oregon Trail travelers near present-day Topeka had to ferry across which river?Answer: The Kansas River. Source: Wikipedia: Oregon Trail
What name was given to the African Americans who left states along the Mississippi for Kansas in the Exodus of 1879?Answer: Exodusters. Source: Wikipedia: Exodusters
Which cavalry regiment was mustered in at Fort Riley in 1866?Answer: The 7th Cavalry. Source: Wikipedia: Fort Riley
Which Kansas town was called the queen of the cow towns?Answer: Dodge City. Source: Wikipedia: Dodge City, Kansas
Which Topeka founder and mayor also founded the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad?Answer: Cyrus K. Holliday. Source: Wikipedia: Topeka, Kansas
Which trader pioneered the Santa Fe Trail in 1821?Answer: William Becknell. Source: Wikipedia: Santa Fe Trail
Wyatt Earp wore a badge in two Kansas cattle towns. Dodge City was one. Which was the other?Answer: Wichita. Source: Wikipedia: Wyatt Earp
Kansans and the twentieth century 19
A mural painted by John Steuart Curry in the Kansas State Capitol shows which abolitionist, oversize and raging?Answer: John Brown. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas State Capitol
Big Brutus, a landmark of southeast Kansas, is a giant what?Answer: Electric power shovel. Source: Wikipedia: Big Brutus
Charles Curtis, born in Kansas Territory, was the first Native American to hold which office?Answer: Vice president of the United States. Source: Wikipedia: Charles Curtis
Dwight D. Eisenhower considered which Kansas town his hometown?Answer: Abilene. Source: Wikipedia: Dwight D. Eisenhower
In 1887 Susanna Salter of Argonia, Kansas, became the first woman in the United States to serve as what?Answer: A mayor. Source: Wikipedia: Susanna M. Salter
In which Kansas town was Amelia Earhart born in 1897?Answer: Atchison. Source: Wikipedia: Amelia Earhart
In which year did Kansas give women the vote, almost a decade before the national amendment?Answer: 1912. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas
James Naismith, who wrote the first basketball rule book, founded the basketball program at which school in 1898?Answer: The University of Kansas. Source: Wikipedia: James Naismith
The Kansas State Capitol was declared complete in 1903. How long had the building taken?Answer: 37 years. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas State Capitol
Monroe Elementary School in Topeka is now a national historical park. What had the school been?Answer: One of four segregated elementary schools for Black children. Source: Wikipedia: Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park
On April 14, 1935, a clear, warm day ended in one of the great dust storms. What is that day called?Answer: Black Sunday. Source: Wikipedia: Dust Bowl
Photographer Gordon Parks was born in 1912 in which Kansas town?Answer: Fort Scott. Source: Wikipedia: Gordon Parks
Silent-film comedian Buster Keaton was born in 1895 in which small Kansas town, where his mother happened to be visiting?Answer: Piqua. Source: Wikipedia: Buster Keaton
The term "Dust Bowl" was coined in 1935 by Edward Stanley, a news editor in which city?Answer: Kansas City. Source: Wikipedia: Dust Bowl
Which governor of Kansas was a major-party nominee for president in 1936?Answer: Alf Landon. Source: Wikipedia: Alf Landon
Which poet of the Harlem Renaissance spent most of his childhood in Lawrence, Kansas?Answer: Langston Hughes. Source: Wikipedia: Langston Hughes
Who served as lead plaintiff in the school case that reached the Supreme Court from Topeka?Answer: Oliver Brown. Source: National Park Service: Brown v. Board of Education National Historical Park, History and Culture
Wichita became an aircraft production hub. Which nickname did that earn it?Answer: The Air Capital of the World. Source: Wikipedia: Wichita, Kansas
William Allen White made his name as editor of a newspaper in which Kansas town?Answer: Emporia. Source: Wikipedia: William Allen White
The land and the map 14
Cheyenne Bottoms in central Kansas is the largest what in the interior United States?Answer: Wetland. Source: Wikipedia: Cheyenne Bottoms
The Flint Hills hold the densest intact cover in North America of which kind of grassland?Answer: Tallgrass prairie. Source: Wikipedia: Flint Hills
The highest point in Kansas lies less than half a mile from the border with which state?Answer: Colorado. Source: Wikipedia: Mount Sunflower
How many counties does Kansas have?Answer: 105. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas
In which year was Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve established?Answer: 1996. Source: National Park Service: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Nature
The Kansas River is also known by which short name?Answer: The Kaw. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas River
The lowest point in Kansas lies along which river at Coffeyville?Answer: The Verdigris River. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas
Monument Rocks were the first landmark in Kansas chosen for which national title?Answer: National Natural Landmark. Source: Wikipedia: Monument Rocks (Kansas)
Most of Kansas keeps Central Time. Four counties on the western edge keep which time?Answer: Mountain Time. Source: Wikipedia: Kansas
People in Oklahoma know their end of the Flint Hills by which name?Answer: The Osage Hills. Source: Wikipedia: Flint Hills
The towers of Monument Rocks in Gove County are made of what?Answer: Chalk. Source: Wikipedia: Monument Rocks (Kansas)
What is the highest natural point in Kansas called?Answer: Mount Sunflower. Source: Wikipedia: Mount Sunflower
What is the largest area of public land in Kansas?Answer: Cimarron National Grassland. Source: Wikipedia: Cimarron National Grassland
Why was the Flint Hills prairie never plowed under like most of the tallgrass?Answer: The ground was too shallow and rocky. Source: National Park Service: Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Nature
State symbols and the motto 17
In 2014 Kansas named a marine fossil and a flying fossil. The flying one is Pteranodon. Which is the marine one?Answer: Tylosaurus. Source: Wikipedia: List of Kansas state symbols
Kansas has a state banner as well as a flag. What has the banner shown since 1953?Answer: A sunflower on a blue background. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
Kansas named an official state soil in 1990. What is it?Answer: Harney silt loam. Source: Wikipedia: List of Kansas state symbols
Kansas schoolchildren petitioned in 1976 for which state insect?Answer: The honeybee. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
On the state seal, which way is the wagon train heading?Answer: West. Source: Wikipedia: Seal of Kansas
The western meadowlark became the state bird in 1937 after a vote by whom?Answer: Schoolchildren. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
What does the state motto, Ad astra per aspera, mean?Answer: To the stars through difficulties. Source: Wikipedia: Seal of Kansas
What was added to the Kansas state flag in 1961?Answer: The word Kansas. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
Which animal became the state animal of Kansas in 1955?Answer: The American buffalo. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
Which animal became the state reptile of Kansas in 1986?Answer: The ornate box turtle. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
Which animal was named the state amphibian in 1994?Answer: The barred tiger salamander. Source: Wikipedia: List of Kansas state symbols
Which fish joined the state symbols in 2018?Answer: Channel catfish. Source: Wikipedia: List of Kansas state symbols
Which prairie grass was named the state grass in 2010?Answer: Little bluestem. Source: Wikipedia: List of Kansas state symbols
Which state senator presented the design of the state seal, adopted on May 25, 1861?Answer: John J. Ingalls. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
Which tree, found in every county of Kansas, became the state tree in 1937?Answer: Cottonwood. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
Which vessel appears on the river in the Kansas state seal?Answer: A steamboat. Source: Kansas Historical Society, Kansapedia: Kansas State Symbols
Which wild fruit became the state fruit in 2022?Answer: Sandhill plum. Source: Wikipedia: List of Kansas state symbols
How this list was compiled
Written for this site; nothing was copied from another list. Questions and wrong choices are our own. Each explanation restates, in our own sentences, facts from the page named and linked beside it. Each answer was checked on 2026-10-03 against that page, fetched that day: two Kansapedia articles of the Kansas Historical Society, Kansas State Symbols and Kansas Territory (https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia), for 13 questions; two pages of the National Park Service (https://www.nps.gov) for 3; and the English Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org, text under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license) for the rest. This site is not affiliated with the Kansas Historical Society or the National Park Service. Left out on purpose: population counts and ranks, and current office-holders. The newest state symbols are asked with the year each was named. Not repeated here, because other quizzes on this site already ask them: Topeka as the capital, the sunflower nickname, the state song, the 1854 act by name, the ruling in the 1954 school case, the cattle trails to Abilene and Dodge City, and the marker for the center of the 48 states near Lebanon. Levels are our estimate: easy is fair for any table, medium suits people who know the state, hard will stump most of them. Each round is stored easiest first, and each question carries the date its page was read. Licence: own work