Saline County was organized on February 15, 1860, by Preston B. Plumb; Gotthart and John Shippel; Colonel W. A. Phillips;
 A. M. Campbell; James Muri; A. C. Spillman; and Robert Crawford. New Cambria, Gypsum, Salina, Assaria, Smolan and
 Brookville are cities within the county. The county was named for the Saline (salt) River.

 The Salina First Presbyterian Church was organized on May 12, 1860. The first county fair was held in Salina on October 10,
 1872. The first school district, Number 1, Riverside, was organized on February 1, 1866.

 Interesting public figures in the county include Mary Ann (Mother) Bickerdyke, a field nurse in the Civil War, contributed
 much to the county by bringing in over 300 families to the area. Glen Martin, who on August 1, 1908, performed the first
 aircraft flight that took off under its own power was a native of the county. He also designed the first parachute, the first
 bomber, and designed a prototype of the first super airplane. He was founder of Martin Aircraft in California. Tom Braniff, the
 founder of Braniff airlines, was also from the county. Steve Hawley, a NASA astronaut, is from Salina. John Carlin, Governor
 of Kansas from 1979 to 1987, is a native of Smolan. Joseph W. Bristow was an U. S. Senator (1909-1915), and William
 Phillips (1873-1879) and Lewis Hanback (1885-1887) were Congressmen. Rousseau Burch served as a Justice (1902-1935)
 and a Chief Justice (1935-1937) of the Kansas Supreme Court. Film and television actor George Murdock was born in Salina
 in 1930. He starred in the original in Battlestar Gallactica series.

 The Indians have a legend that Salina was safe from tornadoes because it was situated at the fork of two rivers.