Here’s a fun fact! Billy the Kid’s mother, Catherine McCarty, actually signed the petition to make Wichita, Kansas, a city back in 1870. The owner of a downtown laundry, she was also the only female entrepreneur to sign the document.
Billy the Kid, a figure straight from the Old West, lived in the city for a time. Wichita does have Old West roots, but today is the largest city in Kansas. As settlers streamed across the country, seeking adventure, new land to settle and economic opportunities, Wichita was in a prime location to serve these travelers. It began as a trading post on the Chisholm Trail in the 1860s, with so many cattle drives pouring into the area that it was called “Cowtown.” But the flat terrain and open skies gave way in the 1920s and 1930s to becoming a center for aviation - “The Air Capital of the World.”