Salina Kansas History & Facts

Salina is a city in, and the county seat of, Saline County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 46,889.

In the early 1800s, the Kanza tribal land reached eastward from the middle of the Kansas Territory. In 1858, settlers from Lawrence founded the Salina Town Company with a wagon circle, under constant threat of High Plains tribal attacks from the west. It was named for the salty Saline River. Saline County was soon organized around this township, and in 1870, Salina incorporated as a city.

As the westernmost town on the Smoky Hill Trail, Salina boomed until the Civil War by establishing itself as a trading post for westbound immigrants, gold prospectors bound for Pikes Peak, and area American Indian tribes. It boomed again from the 1940s-1950s when the Smoky Hill Army Airfield was built for World War II strategic bombers.

It is now a micropolis and regional trade center for North Central Kansas. Higher education institutions include the KSU College of Technology and Aviation and Kansas Wesleyan University; and employers include Tony's Pizza, Philips Lighting, Exide Battery, ElDorado National, and Asurion.

Shortly prior to European colonization of the area in the early 1700s, the site that would become Salina was located within the western territory of the Kansa people. Claimed first by France as part of Louisiana and later acquired by the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, it was within the area organized by the U.S. as Kansas Territory in 1854. The French traders who mapped the forks of les Grande Riviere des Cansez, located the western village of les Cansez at the general confluence of the Smoky Hill, Saline, and Solomon Rivers with villages of the Paducas tribe just to the west on heads of those streams.

By the time of exploration of the prairie by the United States following the Louisiana Purchase in the early 1800s, the Republican Pawnee had established its influence in the Smoky Hills, driving the Kansa to its northeastern Kansas settlements.

Salina is located at 38°50′25″N 97°36′41″W (38.8402805, -97.6114237) at an elevation of 1,224 feet (373 m) Located in North Central Kansas at the intersection of Interstate 70 and Interstate 135, it is 81 miles (130 km) north of Wichita, Kansas, 164 miles (264 km) west of Kansas City, Missouri, and 401 miles (645 km) east of Denver, Colorado.

Salina lies in the Smoky Hills region of the Great Plains approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) west-southwest of the confluence of the Saline and Smoky Hill Rivers. The Smoky Hill River runs north then northeast through the eastern part of the city; the Saline River flows southeast immediately north of the city. In the northeast part of the city, the old channel of the Smoky Hill branches from the river's current course and winds west, north, and back east before draining back into the river. Mulberry Creek, a tributary of the Saline, flows northeast through the far northern part of the city. Dry Creek, a tributary of Mulberry Creek, flows north through the western part of the city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 25.15 square miles (65.14 km2), of which 25.11 square miles (65.03 km2) is land and 0.04 square miles (0.10 km2) is water.

Famous Peoples From Salina Kansas

Tyrees Allen

(born July 31, 1954) is an American actor on stage, television, and film.

Allen was born in Salina, Kansas. In 1972, he graduated from Salina Central High School. He later attended Marymount College in Salina, where he graduated with a degree in Theater Arts.

Allen's fifty-five television credits include these: series regular roles on Women's Murder Club and Dark Blue; recurring and guest roles on The Practice, Alias, Cold Case, Without A Trace, Castle, Scandal, CSI:Miami, and Brothers & Sisters.

Allen appeared in New York in the 2000 Broadway production of Aida and the 2003 Broadway revival of William Shakespeare's Henry IV.

In May 2013, Allen played the role of "Troy Maxson" in the August Wilson play Fences at the African-American Repertory Theater in DeSoto, Texas

We also serve Wichita city.

More Info.

PD&G Wallcover Inc.

Call Us: 949-487-9261
Email: deb@pdgwallcover.com