Gordon Parks, John Steuart Curry join list of notable Kansans

? Gov. Alf Landon, who ran for president in 1936, automotive giant Walter Chrysler and photographer Gordon Parks are the latest individuals named Notable Kansans.

Gov. Sam Brownback announced the selections Wednesday during an event in Fort Scott, Parks’ boyhood home. Also named to the list were artist John Steuart Curry and paleontologist George F. Sternberg.

Landon joins his daughter, former U.S. Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum, on the list of 25 notable residents, which is being compiled as part of the Kansas sesquicentennial.

Already named to the list are abolitionist John Brown, railroad restaurateur Fred Harvey, basketball inventor James Naismith, railroad magnate Cyrus Holliday, the Rev. Charles Sheldon, psychiatrist Dr. Karl Menninger, Kiowa chief Satanta, Gov. Arthur Capper and Vice President Charles Curtis.

Two more announcements are planned.