Kansapedia

TIMELINE

Timeline in Kansas History

1867

November 5, 1867

Impartial Suffrage Vote

Kansas holds the first referenda on impartial suffrage in the nation. The two measures would give votes for Black men and women. Both are defeated at the polls.

1881
January 1, 1881
Prohibition in Kansas
Kansas prohibition takes effect. Kansas was the first state to do so. Carry Nation became known around the world for her support of the prohibition laws.

1887
February 16, 1887
Votes for Women – City Elections
Kansas Legislature passes a law allowing women the right to vote in municipal elections.

April 4, 1887
First Woman Mayor
Susanna Madora Salter of Argonia, Sumner County, Kansas, becomes the first woman elected mayor in the United States

1894
June 19, 1894
Mass Meeting for Women’s Suffrage
A mass meeting to push for passage of a woman’s suffrage amendment is held in WaKeeney

1912
November 5, 1912
Equal Suffrage Amendment Passes
Kansas voters pass the Equal Suffrage Amendment at the polls, giving Kansas women voting rights.

1919
June 16, 1919
Kansas Ratifies 19th Amendment
Governor Henry J. Allen holds a special session of the state legislature to vote on the 19th Amendment, which passes overwhelmingly. Kansas is the sixth state to support the amendment.

1925
January 26, 1925
Travel Air
Travel Air Manufacturing Company established. Owners Clyde Cessna, Walter Beech, and Lloyd Stearman created the “air capital of the world” in Wichita. The companies they created continue today.

1935
April 14, 1935
Black Sunday
A massive front darkens the entire Midwest in clouds of dust on Black Sunday. The Dust Bowl was devastating to farmers across the plains and they eventually changed their farming practices.

1938
April 1, 1938
Rural Electrification
Rural electrification reaches Kansas. This allowed Kansas farms to have the same technology, like sewing machines and milk machines, as cities across the nation.