"Manhattan, Kansas - The Little Apple " a Manhattan Travel Page by AcornMan

Long before the first white settlers came, a large Kaw Indian village stood near the mouth of the Big Blue River on the present site of Manhattan. Originally named Boston, the town was settled in 1855 by New England freestaters when their steamship Hartford ran aground near the confluence of the Blue and Kansas Rivers. The name of the town was changed in honor of Manhattan, New York, where some major investors sponsoring the trip lived. Manhattan, Kansas, officially nicknamed "The Little Apple", has evolved into a dynamic and progressive community of nearly 40,000 permanent residents.

The image of Kansas as a monotonous flat, agricultural plain does not apply here. The area is accurately characterized by lush bluestem pastures, expansive lakes, rugged limestone and oak farmsteads, breathtaking vistas, and secluded, oak and cedar wooded valleys. Additionally, the adjoining Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, an 8,616 acre undisturbed tract of land representing the last large preserve of native tallgrass prairie in the United States, is a site of exceptional visual splendor.