Kansas License Plate Slogan: To the Stars

Kansas first used "THE WHEAT STATE" on license plates in 1949. The slogan fit the state's farm economy and public image: wheat fields were one of the most recognizable features of the Kansas landscape.

The phrase continued uninterrupted through 1959. That makes "The Wheat State" Kansas's first sustained license plate slogan, before later plates shifted toward statehood, geography, and tourism.

The later "Wheat Centennial" slogan in the 1970s returned to the same agricultural identity, but as a commemoration rather than a long-running base slogan.

"to the stars" is the English half of Kansas's motto tradition. The state motto, "Ad Astra per Aspera," means "to the stars through difficulty." The 2024 plate uses the shorter phrase as a readable slogan and connects it to the state's modern tourism branding.

The phrase also ended a long gap. Kansas had used several plate slogans in the mid-twentieth century, then went nearly fifty years without adding a new one to the standard plate. The 2024 base made the motto idea visible again.

For the full motto history, see the Kansas state motto page.

Kansas plate slogans have moved through agriculture, statehood commemoration, geographic branding, wheat history, and the modern motto-based tourism line.

Kansas plate slogans show the state changing what it wanted drivers to notice. "The Wheat State" emphasized agriculture. "Centennial 1961" marked statehood. "Midway USA" sold geography. "Wheat Centennial" looked backward to crop history. "to the stars" returns to the motto.

Those slogans do not contradict each other. They are different slices of Kansas identity: wheat fields, central location, statehood memory, and the aspirational motto adopted in 1861.

For comparison with states that kept one slogan continuously, see Illinois's "Land of Lincoln" and Idaho's "Famous Potatoes".