Hiawatha is the largest city and county seat of Brown County, Kansas, United States. The population was 3,417 at the 2000 census, and it was estimated to be 3,237 in the year 2006. It is the largest city on U.S. Route 36 between St. Joseph, Missouri, and Denver, Colorado. Hiawatha is named after a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called The Song of Hiawatha. In the poem is legendary Onondaga and Mohawk Indian leader Hiawatha. Adjacent to the former Ioway-Sac reservation and the present-day Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Hiawatha is called Hári Wáta in Ioway, meaning "I am looking far away". This name may be the result of choosing Ioway words that sound like the English name. It has nothing to do with the Onondaga-Mohawk leader. Hiawatha is nicknamed the "City of Beautiful Maples" because of its countless trees that produce delightful colors in the fall season. The city also has the oldest Halloween parade in the nation, starting in 1914. The year 2007 marked Hiawatha's 150th anniversary.