Manhattan, Kansas

About Manhattan, Kansas

Manhattan is a city located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the July 2006 census estimate, its population was 50,737, making it the eighth-largest city in Kansas. Manhattan is the county seat of Riley County. A small part of the town extends into Pottawatomie County. It is the principal town within the Manhattan, Kansas Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Nicknamed The Little Apple in 1977 as a play on New York City's "Big Apple," it is most well-known for being the home of Kansas State University. Eight miles (13 km) west of the town is Fort Riley, a United States Army post. In 2007, CNN and Money magazine rated Manhattan as one of the ten best places in America to retire young.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act opened the territory to settlement in 1854. That fall, George S. Park founded the first Euro-American settlement within the borders of the current Manhattan. Park named it Polistra (in some histories referred to as Poliska or Poleska).