The University of Kansas, often referred to as KU or Kansas, is a public research university in the U.S. state of Kansas. The main campus in Lawrence, one of the largest college towns in Kansas, is on Mount Oread, the highest elevation in Lawrence. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area: the Edwards Campus in Overland Park, and the university's medical school and hospital in Kansas City. There are also educational and research sites in Parsons, Topeka, Garden City, Hays, and Leavenworth, and branches of the medical school in Wichita and Salina. The university is one of the 62 members of the Association of American Universities.Founded March 21, 1865, the university was opened in 1866, under a charter granted by the Kansas State Legislature in 1864 following enabling legislation passed in 1863 under the Kansas State Constitution, adopted two years after the 1861 admission of the former Kansas Territory as the 34th state into the Union following an internal civil war known as "Bleeding Kansas" during the 1850s.