Wichita Kansas Fun Facts about our City

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My husband and I were born and raised in Wichita, and we both love our city. Well, technically, my husband grew up in Andover, but it’s close enough. We have been compiling a list of interesting facts about Wichita, KS, and here is our list of Local Gems & Visit Places in Wichita. 

Wichita Kansas Fun Facts: 

• Wichita is the largest city in Kansas! 
• Pizza Hut and White Castle, fast food chains, started in Wichita. You can visit the original Pizza Hut on the Wichita State campus. 
  • Article about the Original Pizza Hut
• The first electric guitar was played at the current Spice Merchant & Co building by Gage Brewer in 1932.
• Wichita has 1,200 + restaurants, 140 + parks, 100 + miles of bicycle and walking paths.
• Wichita has:
  • 21 live theaters
  • 19 museums
  • 30 + art galleries
  • 10 local breweries
  • 23 + food trucks
  • 3 Universities 
• Before Marshal Wyatt Earp earned nationwide fame for his role in the O.K. Corral shootout, he worked as a Wichita city policeman.
• In July 2011, Wichita, Kansas, ranked 8th on the list of the 10 best-value cities.
• In February 2013, Wichita was ranked 23 of 102 significant markets for small-business vitality.
• Wichita is twinned with the following sister cities Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico; Orléans, Loiret, France; Kaifeng, Henan, China & Tlalnepantla de Baz, State of Mexico.
  • You can visit Botanica, the Wichita Gardens, which has a Chinese Garden of Friendship for our sister city Kaifeng. Click HERE to learn more.  
• Wichita made national headlines in 1900. While Kansas had banned the sale of alcohol 20 years earlier, many saloons ignored the law and remained in business.
  • Carry Nation, a militant prohibitionist around whom no drink was safe. On December 27, she waltzed into the bar at Wichita’s Eaton Hotel, smashed their glassware, destroyed a mirror, and severely damaged a lewd painting of Cleopatra. There is a sculpture of Carry Nation in downtown Wichita. 
• Some of Wichita’s local favorite restaurant dishes are:
  • Old Mill Tasy Shops chicken salad – personally, my favorite
  • Artichoke Sandwich bars Famous #8
  • Doo-Dah Dinners breakgest burtio
  • Marchello’s Tony pasta (to go only) 
  • River City Brewing Company’s big shell mac N Cheese
  • Nortons Brewery’s bacon crack appetizer
  • Thi Traditions – Pad Thi
• We are known as “the Air Capital of the World”. 
• The most famous sculpture is the Keeper of the Plains, which stands 44 feet tall along the Arkansas River. Find out more HERE. 
• We have our own Troll! That’s right; artist Connie Eranatt installed a famous Wichita troll near the Keeper of the Plains. Find out more HERE. 
• Entry McCarty lived in Wichita with his mother and brother for about a year in 1870. On July 21, 1870, 124 people signed a petition to incorporate Wichita. Only one female was on that list: Henry’s mother, Catherine McCarty, aka Billy the Kid’s mom.
• The Sedgwick County Zoo is the 7th largest zoo in the United States. 
• The average annual rainfall is 28 inches
• The average yearly snowfall is 15 inches
• The coldest month is January
• The hottest month is July

Click HERE to learn Fun Facts about Kansas! 

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