gmillion,
As a native of Kansas we had three men get together to design and produce an aircraft, Travelair, for general public use. They were Walter Beech, Larry Bell and Clyde Cessna. There assocation was short lived but all three put togeather three very famous aviation companies. Beech and Cessna stayed in Wichita and Larry Bell started up Bell Aircraft In San Diego, California. A good number of years later Bill Lear built a new facility in Wichita to complete final design and FAA approval for the Lear Model 23.
As a side note Glenn L. Martin attended a small two year college in Salina