Maize

History

The Maize Town Company, led by N. F. Neiderlander, founded Maize in 1886 at the first stop outside of Wichita on the Wichita and Colorado Railway. The post office opened that same year as did the town's first church, having relocated from nearby. Maize's first school opened in 1887; its first newspaper opened in 1895. Maize State Bank, the town's first financial institution, opened in 1901, and, by 1908, a business community had emerged. In 1915, the Maize Town Company dissolved, and Maize was incorporated as a city. Several natural disasters struck Maize in the 1930s and 1940s, including the Dust Bowl in 1934–35, a plague of grasshoppers in 1936, and a flood in 1944. Maize began to grow rapidly in 1950, more than doubling in size by 1956. This growth has continued, accelerating in recent years as Wichita has expanded to the northwest, and transformed Maize into a suburb.

Geography

Maize is located at (37.779178, −97.467267) at an elevation of 1,348 feet (411 meter). It lies on the west side of Big Slough Creek, roughly southwest of the Arkansas River in the Wellington-McPherson Lowlands region of the Great Plains. Located in south-central Kansas, Maize is on K-96, immediately northwest of Wichita. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.02% are water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  7,717
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  7,481
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  6,817
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,897
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5,705
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5,517
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,355
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,901

Largest nearby schools

• North High
  High · Wichita · 2,074 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• Northwest High
  High · Wichita · 1,416 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• West High
  High · Wichita · 1,370 students · 14.7:1 ratio
• Heights High
  High · Wichita · 1,292 students · 15.8:1 ratio
• Maize Sr High
  High · Maize · 1,289 students · 14.5:1 ratio
• Maize South High School
  High · Wichita · 1,095 students · 16.6:1 ratio
• Eisenhower High School
  High · Goddard · 1,002 students · 17.9:1 ratio
• Valley Center High
  High · Valley Center · 995 students · 15.3:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 3.7 — 2025-12-09
  10 km SW of Gypsum, Kansas
• M 2.6 — 2025-11-30
  5 km WSW of Danville, Kansas
• M 2.6 — 2025-09-30
  9 km SW of Gypsum, Kansas
• M 2.9 — 2025-09-23
  7 km WSW of Gypsum, Kansas
• M 2.5 — 2025-08-23
  6 km SSE of Spivey, Kansas
• M 3.36 — 2025-06-26
  4 km SE of Braman, Oklahoma