Kansas State College Menus

Anderson Hall, Kansas State College’s administration building, makes for a photogenic cover. The college’s name was changed in Kansas State University in 1959.


Click image to download a 1.3-MB PDF of this menu.

The lunch menu inside is dated April 1, 1952, and was apparently used on trains 11 & 12, the Idahoan. The menu offers three table d’hôte meals–halibut, omelet, or salisbury steak–or a chef’s salad.



The menu below is in somewhat better condition. However, it wasn’t used on a UP train at all, instead being used for a 1953 Kiwanis Club dinner in Manhattan, Kansas. This must have been an important meeting, as it featured International Kiwanis Club president Walter Ray, who came to Manhattan for the meeting from Detroit.


Click image to download a 1.0-MB PDF of this menu.

According to this newspaper, Ray visited Kansas Kiwanis clubs in February, 1953, which provides a rough date for the use of this menu. Since this is the only university menu I’ve seen dating after 1952, I suspect UP stopped using them that year and a UP employee used some of the leftover menu blanks for the Kiwanis meeting.


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