Railroads have been an integral part of Kansas history since the 1860s and the state of Kansas has had a part in regulation, taxation and governmental oversight since the beginning.
I thought it would be cool to provide a list of all the publications in the State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library with the word, RAILROADS, in the subject field. I got 125 hits. So I shaved down my search to those publications from the 1800s up to 1921 and got 38 hits. That's probably a friendlier list of publications to peruse.
The list here is certainly not an all encompassing look at railroads in Kansas. Two interesting publications within the KGI list are "Kansas State Roads" 1918 and 1921. The maps in these two books include railroads in Kansas. Both publications appear at the end of the list of publications.
If you're interested in other resources on railroads in Kansas (outside the KGI website) I've added a few links at the end of this article.
Here are the documents available online at the the KGI Online Library, 1876-1921:
A few other online resources:
Kansas Memory (Kansas Historical Society)
Railroads in Kansas (Kansapedia - Kansas Historical Society)
"The Building of the First Kansas Railroad: South of the Kaw River"
by Harold J. Henderson
Kansas Historical Quarterly, August 1947 (Vol. 15, No. 3), pages 225-239
"Kansas Conflict: Populist Versus Railroader in the 1890s"
by Donald E. Press
Kansas Historical Quarterly, Autumn 1977 (Vol. 43, No. 3), pages 319 to 333
Material in the Kansas Historical Society catalog:
SUBJECT HEADING:
RAILROADS
Material in the State Library of Kansas catalog
SUBJECT HEADING:
RAILROADS
Railroads in Kansas
From: Kansas Heritage Group website