Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area whose estimated population in 2015 was 644,610. As of 2017, the city of Wichita had an estimated population of 391,586.The city began as a trading post on the Chisholm Trail in the 1860s and was incorporated in 1870. It subsequently became a destination for cattle drives north from Texas to railroads, earning it the nickname "Cowtown". In the 1920s and 1930s, businessmen and aeronautical engineers established aircraft manufacturing companies in Wichita including Beechcraft, Cessna, and Stearman Aircraft. The city transformed into a hub of U.S. aircraft production and became known as "The Air Capital of the World".