Lived downtown in NYC for awhile...so I know Houston Street well, of troy!

In Atlantic City (NJ) they practice the same strange linguistic dichotomy with Arkansas Street...pronouncing it
'ARE--kansas' instead of ' ARE--can--saw' like the state...don't know why. Just a localism, I guess.

Which brings to mind this question...Why do we pronounce Kansas one way and Arkansas another? Anybody have the background on this one? ( I would assume it has to do with has to do with American Indian tribal language)