Famous Kansans
These are just a few of the famous people who were either born in Kansas or spent some important time in Kansas.
Malik Abdul-Aziz, actor
Brandon Quintin Adams, actor
Bill Allen, actor
Forest “Phog” Allen, basketball coach
Henry J. Allen, publisher, Kansas governor, U.S. senator
Walter Anderson, founder of White Castle hamburger restaurant chain
William Becknell, trader
David D. Blanton, inventor of the autopilot\
William Bonney (aka Henry McCarty, Henry Antrim, and Billy the Kid), outlaw
William S. Burroughs, beat novelist
Nancy Landon Kassebaum Baker, U.S. senator
Walter Chrysler, automotive pioneer
Virgil Coffer, inventor of first riding lawn mower
Charles Curtis, U.S. senator and vice president
The Dalton Gang, bank robbers
Étienne Veniard de Bourgmont, explorer
Juan de Padilla, missionary, first Christian martyr in America
S. P. Dinsmoor, builder of the Garden of Eden in Lucas, Kansas
Robert Dole, U.S. senator and
presidential candidate
Dina Dove, author
Amelia Earhart, aviator
Virgil Earp, lawman
Wyatt Earp, lawman
Dwight David Eisenhower, general and U.S. president
Melissa Etheridge, singer and songwriter
Joan Finney, Kansas governor
Gary Hart, U.S. senator and presidential candidate
Tom Henry, inventor of the O'Henry candy bar
James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok, lawman and gambler
Langston Hughes, poet
Wes Jackson, plant geneticist
Buster Keaton, actor
Omar Knedlik, inventor of first frozen carbonated drink machine
Alf Landon, Kansas governor and presidential candidate
Henry Leavenworth, pioneer
Stephen Long, explorer
William “Bat” Masterson, lawman and
columnist
Hattie McDaniel, actress
James Naismith, basketball coach and inventor
Carry Nation, temperance leader
Sara Paretsky, mystery novelist
Gordon Parks, photographer and director
William Purvis, inventor of helicopter
William Clark Quantrill, leader of Quantrill Raiders
Andrew Reeder, Kansas territorial governor
Jim Ryan, long distance runner
Luke Short, gambler
George C. Sibley, government trader
Almon Stowger, inventor of dial telephone
Clyde Tombaugh, astronomer
Charles Wilson, inventor of helicopter
Extensive listing of famous Kansans at: http://www.kshs.org/people/index.htm.
