Kansas is a significant state in my life. I was born here. For many years we came here every summer on vacation to visit family. Some of those family members still live here. On a lesser note, our fifth wheel trailer was built here.
It also has some historical significance to our country. Kansas was one of the states that became the tipping point for the Civil War. In early years, our country was fairly evenly divided between slave states and free states. But as new states were added, the balance of power was in danger of tipping, and Kansas became a “battleground” state. Would it vote to allow slavery, or would it tip the scales further toward abolition?
Henry Ward Beecher, perhaps the most famous preacher of his era and brother to Harriet Beecher Stowe (who wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,”) was enamored with the new Sharps carbines. Invented just before Civil War, they obsoleted ball and powder muskets. Beecher raised money to ship hundreds of these rifles to abolitionist settlers in Kansas, many in boxes marked “Bibles” to escape discovery by confederates. He considered these instruments of God to further the abolitionist cause. The 1850’s church shown below was named in his honor.
On the family side, of interest to a few, here is a current view of the hospital where I was born in Junciton City. 
And here is the place where my 93-year old Aunt now lives in Wamego. See the family albums for personal pictures. 
For fun, Wamego boasts the Wizard of Oz Museum. 
“Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore. Oh, wait, yes we are.” 
And across the street you can follow the yellow brick road. 
Or you can turn around to sample Toto’s Tacoz. 
For foundations, how about the state capitol in Topeka. 
Or the 120 year old music hall in Wamego, built by the local banker to commemorate the 1893 world expostiion in Chicago. 
And for firearms, here is the Beecher Bibles and Rifles Church. 
The church was constructed in the 1850s by armed settlers who came here just to swing the vote toward abolition. It fell into disuse when the community later withered, but has been revived and hosts services weekly.