13 June 2023
GREAT BEND, Kan. (KSNW) — The KSN Summer Road Trip has arrived in Great Bend. Our team will be at Brit Spaugh Zoo, 2123 Main Street, through KSN News at Noon. Stop by to say hello and watch as the news team goes live during KSN News at Noon. We’ll have to be back on the road around 1 p.m.
Great Bend is home to 14,733 people. The town was built on agriculture and the oil industry. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median household income is almost $48,500. But the town is also known for the wildlife at Cheyenne Bottoms, the largest inland marsh in the United States.
Great Bend got its name for being by a “great bend” in the Arkansas River. The town is the county seat of Barton County. The county is named for Clara Barton, making it the only Kansas county named for a woman.
The airport in Great Bend was built as an Air Force base in the early 1940s to handle the B-29 Superfortress bomber being used in WWII. When the war was over, the City of Great Bend took it over and started turning it into a passenger airport.
Jack Kilby was a Great Bend native who received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on integrated circuits. He invented the microchip, which led to many technological advances over the last six decades. He was also involved in creating the handheld calculator.
Things to do in the Great Bend area:
Kansas Wetlands Education Center
Wetlands & Wildlife National Scenic Byway
Kansas Oil & Gas Hall of Fame and Museum
Community & Government:
Great Bend Chamber of Commerce
Notable events, people & heritage:
Jack Kilby, a Great Bend High School grad, invented the integrated circuit (microchip) during his time at Texas Instruments, awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Oscar Micheaux, Author and filmmaker
Sponsors:
Take a picture and upload it to the Summer Road Trip Photo Contest for your chance to win a road trip prize pack from SCHEELS!