History & Museums

Loaded with history! 

The story begins aboard a steamboat ... On April 27, 1855, the Cincinnati and Kansas Land Company departed Cincinnati, Ohio, on the Steamboat Hartford, bound for north-central Kansas. The plan was to head west via the Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri and Kansas rivers, which led to founding an abolitionist community in Kansas Territory. New York investors in the land company played a substantial role in naming Manhattan for the new town.

A new town of Boston was already established where the Hartford was grounded, and Bostonians liked the new arrivals. Once convinced to stay, the town became Manhattan at the newcomer's gracious request. 

The Little Apple®

Manhattan, NY, originally coined the term "Big Apple" in early 1900s, and made the name part of a '70s tourism campaign. It's only natural, then, for Manhattan, KS, originally named after the large borough, to follow suit. MHK went with a different-sized luminosity, and became “The Little Apple®”, and was first called The Little Apple in 1977.