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is the largest city in and the county seat of Reno County, Kansas, United States, northwest of Wichita, on the Arkansas River. Hutchinson's nickname is
. The population was 40,787 at the 2000 census. Every September Hutchinson hosts the Kansas State Fair, and in March it hosts the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Basketball Tournament. Hutchinson is also the home of the noted Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center aerospace museum, near the state fairgrounds.
The city of Hutchinson was founded in the year 1871, when Indian Agent C.C. Hutchinson contracted with the Santa Fe Railway to make a town at the railroad's crossing over the Arkansas River. The community was known to be called "Temperance City."
On January 17, 2001, of compressed natural gas leaked from the nearby Yaggy storage field . It sank underground, then rose to the surface through old brine, or salt wells making around 15 gas blowholes.
An explosion in the downtown area at 10:45 a.m. destroyed 2 businesses and damaged 26 others. An explosion the next day in a mobile-home park took the lives of two people. The Kansas National Guard was called in to help evacuate parts of the city because of the gas leaks, and a team of specialists looked over all the city for leaks after the event. These events were broadcast on nationally televised news stations across the country.
The Hutchinson High School football team (the Salthawks) has had six straight appearances, including five straight wins, in the 6A & 5A State Championship Game. They have just been moved down to 5A.
Hutchinson is home to the Prairie Dunes Country Club, a golf course frequently ranked among the best golf courses in the U.S., and has hosted several United States Golf Association national championship tournaments. The club was founded by Emerson Carey and his four sons in the mid 1930s. The course was designed by Perry Maxwell, and the first nine holes opened on September 13, 1937. Twenty years later in 1957, a second 9 holes were opened, designed by Press Maxwell (Perry's son).