Manhattanite Stories

For Stephanie Wick, the decision to move to Manhattan, Kansas, and attend Kansas State University when she was 18 years old was an easy one. “I left my family’s small farm in north-central Kansas at age 18 to attend college at K-State,” she says. “This was going to be my… Read More

While Annie Spence and Laura Clement have shared interest in fitness, it wasn’t a mutual gym or competitive team that brought them together four years ago — it was Bluestem Bistro, a cafe and coffeehouse near the Kansas State University campus. Annie worked there as a manager, and Laura was… Read More

Kite’s Bar and Grill occupies the same space in Manhattan’s Aggieville district as it did when Cheryl and Mike Sieben met there in 1973. However, the city around it has never stopped growing. They started as students, both leaving Kansas hometowns to attend Kansas State University, built a life as… Read More

Home. Only four letters, yet an abundance of meaning. A house isn’t a home; a home is a feeling. It’s belonging somewhere, putting down roots, feeling secure, heard, and valued. Home, as described by Jonathan Rivers, is Manhattan, Kansas.  “Energetic, vibrant, and inquisitive,” Jonathan says.  The three adjectives he uses… Read More

Tony Nichols didn’t know he would retire from his 20-year military career in Manhattan, Kansas, but his real estate agent knew. In 2007, Tony and his wife Janet decided to buy a home in Manhattan after a change of duty station. Over beers at Finn’s Bar downtown, Tony recalls the… Read More