Johnny Kaw is a fictional

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

settler and the subject of a number of

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan is a giant lumberjack and folk hero in American and Canadian folklore. His exploits revolve around the tall tales of his superhuman labors, and he is customarily accompanied by Babe the Blue Ox. The character originated in the o ...

-esque

tall tale A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some tall tales are exaggerations of actual events, for example fish stories ("the fish that got away") such as, "That fish was so big, why I tell ya', it n ...

s about the settling of the territory. The legend of Johnny Kaw was created in 1955 by George Filinger, a professor of

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

at Kansas State University, to celebrate the

centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at ...

Manhattan, Kansas Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 c ...

. The stories were initially printed in the city newspaper, ''

The Manhattan Mercury The Manhattan Mercury is the local newspaper for Manhattan, Kansas. The ''Mercury'' is a daily newspaper published in the afternoon five days a week, and in the morning on Sunday. No Saturday edition is issued. The newspaper is physically printe ...

'', during the centennial and later collected into a self-published book by Filinger, who created Kaw to be Kansas' answer to other heroes like Bunyan and

Pecos Bill Pecos Bill is a fictional cowboy and folk hero in stories set during American westward expansion into the Southwest of Texas, New Mexico, Southern California, and Arizona. These narratives were invented as short stories in a book by Tex O'Reill ...

. Elmer Tomasch of the Kansas State University Art Department provided ink drawings to illustrate the stories and the book. Fiilinger's stories related how Johnny Kaw created the Kansas landscape, geography and pioneer trails. Kaw was said to have dug the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

Valley, planted wheat, invented sunflowers, and grown giant potatoes. Kaw even controlled the weather, lopping the funnels off tornadoes and wringing out the clouds to end droughts. His pets were the mascots for the two state universities: a

wildcat The wildcat is a species complex comprising two small wild cat species: the European wildcat (''Felis silvestris'') and the African wildcat (''F. lybica''). The European wildcat inhabits forests in Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus, while th ...

and a jayhawk, who enjoyed a good fight. The

Dust Bowl The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) a ...

was said to be a result of their fights. Filinger's book was not republished after 1969, but Kansas author Jerri Garretson released a children's picture book about Johnny Kaw in 1997. Her book was illustrated by another KSU art instructor, Diane A. Dollar. A color edition of the book was published in September 2011 and the original version was included in the 2008 anthology, ''Kansas Tall Tales''.

Statue

A statue of Johnny Kaw holding a

scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor mac ...

stands in Manhattan City Park, Kansas .Three small statues were created before the large one was erected in City Park. Mrs. Walter O’Neill of Manhattan sculped the first one for the centennial. It was featured in City Park during the 1955 Centennial, but vandals beheaded it. It was then moved to a farm, where someone backed a wagon over it. The statue seen today was built in 1966, eleven years after the Manhattan Centennial celebration that inspired George Filinger to write the story of Johnny Kaw. George Filinger worked hard to promote the statue’s construction and donated a large share of the required money. The statue cost approximately $7,000, far exceeding the estimates of $3,000 to $3,500. Although, local citizens donated the money required, hoping that the statue would establish Johnny Kaw as a local legend and prove to be a

roadside attraction A roadside attraction is a feature along the side of a road meant to attract tourists. In general, these are places one might stop on the way to somewhere, rather than actually being a destination. They are frequently advertised with billboards. ...

. The statue is constructed of concrete over a steel beam framework. The design was intended to withstand wind and weather and be easy to maintain. The statue was featured in a ''

Zippy the Pinhead Zippy the Pinhead is a fictional character who is the protagonist of ''Zippy'', an American comic strip created by Bill Griffith. Zippy's most famous quotation, "Are we having fun yet?", appears in ''Bartlett's Familiar Quotations'' and became a ...

'' comic strip on September 17, 2005.

References

External links

Gallery of Huge Beings

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaw, Johnny Kansas culture American folklore Fictional characters from Kansas Outdoor sculptures in Kansas Novelty buildings in Kansas Roadside attractions in Kansas Fictional giants Tall tales Concrete sculptures in the United States 1966 sculptures Fictional farmers Individual signs in the United States Fakelore Statues of fictional characters

Statue

See also

References

External links