City of Manhattan
City of Manhattan
Manhattan, Kansas
Manhattan, settled in 1855, is located in the heart of the scenic Flint Hills in northeast Kansas. Home of Kansas State University (20,000 students) and Fort Riley (12,000 soldiers), the community encompasses approximately 11 square miles and has a current estimated population of 44,000 with a daytime population of 49,000. The City's projected population for the year 2010 is estimated to be 56,539.
Manhattan, the "Little Apple", just off Interstate I-70, is 125 miles west of Kansas City. The community serves a three county, 139,000 population regional area for education, trade, health care, entertainment and communication. The area boasts a number of attractions including Tuttle Creek Dam and Lake, managed by the Corps of Engineers, which offers 15,000 acres of boating, water-skiing, fishing and public hunting land. Nearby Fort Riley, founded in 1853, is a permanent post and has long been one of the nation's largest U.S. Army military installations. Today the military reservation covers approximately 101,000 acres with a military strength of approximately 12,000 soldiers. In addition to military personnel at Fort Riley, 4,000 civil service employees work at the installation.
Within Manhattan, Kansas State University, founded in 1863 and the nation's first land-grant college, is one of the leading examples of the successful system of land-grant universities developed throughout the United States. The University campus, annexed by the City in 1994, covers over 315 acres. The University has eight Colleges: Agriculture, Architecture, Arts and Sciences, Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Human Ecology, and Veterinary Medicine. Sixty Department are represented by the eight Colleges. As well as being an international mix of races and cultures, the University offers many educational, recreational and athletic attractions, including the prestigious Alfred M. Landon Lecture Series on Public Issues. The "K-State Wildcats" are members of the Big 12 Athletic Conference and have championship football and basketball teams.
Manhattan is also home of Manhattan Christian College, a four-year Bible College founded in 1927, which is adjacent to the KSU campus. Manhattan Area Technical College, established in 1965, offers continuing education and vocational courses for business and industry.
Additional community amenities include excellent public and private education through a public high school (grades 10-12), a ninth grade center, two middle schools (grades 7-8), nine elementary schools (grades K-6) and two church-related schools, one for grades K-12 and one for grades K-8. Two hospitals (recently consolidated), the Riley County/Manhattan Health Department, three medical clinics and 65 medical doctors provide health care services to the community. Over 50 churches, representing 35 denominations, are in Manhattan. Also, the community is the home of the American Institute of Baking and a Federal Job Corps Center.
As for recreation, the community has an abundance of public parks (over 90) and sports facilities, including a zoo and an 18-hole public golf course, one public 9-hole executive course and one private golf course. In conjunction with Kansas State University, Colbert Hills Golf Course is currently being constructed in the northwest part of the community. Colbert Hills is planned to be opened in the Spring of 2000. Major events and activities are offered in the public parks providing countless recreational opportunities to persons of all ages. In addition, the community boasts an exceptional trail system suitable for biking or walking and is accessible to people with disabilities. The trail is currently nine (9) miles in length and circles half of the community.
In recent years, working together with its many and varied public-spirited partners, the City has demonstrated its continued commitment to sound, progressive, and forward-thinking municipal planning. Recent development has included a $60 million public-private constructed, 300,000 square foot enclosed shopping mall in downtown Manhattan (late 1980s), $90 million in local highway improvements, development of the new Manhattan Corporate Technology Park with Sykes Enterprises as the first anchor tenant, opening of a new airport terminal and general aviation facility at the Manhattan Regional Airport, and the purchase of nearly 80 acres for a new park in the northeast section of the community.
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