Salina is a city and the county seat of Saline County, Kansas, United States.^GR6 First settled by Preston B. Plum in 1856 along the Saline and Smoky Hill Rivers, and founded by William A. Phillips in 1858, Salina is situated at the intersection of Interstate Highways I-70 and I-135 in central Kansas. The population was 45,679 at the 2000 census. Recent estimates put the population at over 47,000.