a trading post and industrial hub a regional center of culture media and trade
Wichita lies on the Arkansas River in south-central Kansas, 157 mi (253 km) north of Oklahoma City, 181 mi (291 km) southwest of Kansas City, and 439 mi (707 km) east-southeast of Denver. The Arkansas follows a winding course, south-southeast through Wichita, roughly bisecting the city.
A Trading Post on the Chisholm Trail in the 1860s, it became a destination for cattle drives traveling north from Texas to Kansas railroads, earning it the nickname Cowtown.