KEY:

WICHITA REGISTER OF
WRHP - HISTORIC PLACES

REGISTER OF HISTORIC
RHKP - KANSAS PLACES

NATIONAL REGISTER OF
NRHP - HISTORIC PLACES

For more information contact:

Historic Preservation Office
Metropolitan Area Planning Department
10th Floor-City Hall
455 N. Main
Wichita, Kansas 67202
(316) 268-4421
www.wichita.gov

F
ind out more about Wichita’s history on
the Discover Historic Wichita! guided
trolley tour.
316-352-4809
INTRODUCTION
Discover Historic Wichita was first published
in 1997. A second edition was printed in 2002 with
a few minor changes. Since that printing, Wichita
property owners have expressed a growing interest
in listing their properties in the Register of Historic
Kansas Places (RHKP) and the National Register of
Historic Places (NRHP) and many have been added.
Also, a commercial area, the Warehouse and Jobbers
District, was listed in 2003 and Wichita’s four historic
districts were listed in the RHKP and NRHP in 2004.
In this latest edition additional research was conduct-
ed to ensure accuracy.
The brochure is organized alphabetically by the
name of the structure. The entries are also numbered
to correspond with locations on the map found at the
front of the brochure.
An online publication of the Discover Historic
Wichita brochure is updated as properties and/or his-
toric districts are added to Wichita’s inventory of list-
ed properties. The current version is on the Historic
Preservation Office website at http://www.wichita.
gov/Residents/History/.
Biographical notes of relevant architects have
been added to this brochure. Wichita’s periods of
economic boom and bust brought these professionals
to town to take advantage of building surges. These
itinerant architects would practice in Wichita for the
period of the boom and then move on to other states
following the cycles of economic prosperity. Proud-
foot and Bird are most notable of Wichita’s itinerant
architects.
If you are interested in learning the history of
your property, you may contact the Historic Preserva-
tion Office at 316-268-4421. Other resources include
the Local History Section of the Wichita Public Li-
brary, Wichita State University Libraries’ Department
of Special Collections, and historic photos of Wichita
may be seen at http://www.wichitaphotos.org
iiii
 Please respect the privacy of our historic
property owners. With a few exceptions, the his-
toric properties listed are privately owned and not
open to the public. Three of the listed properties
are museums. The Allen House has guided tours
by appointment only. Old City Hall is the Wichita-
Sedgwick County Historical Museum and is open
to the public Tuesday – Sunday. Calvary Baptist
Church is home to the Kansas African American
Museum and is open to the public Tuesday – Fri-
day and Sunday.

Read more about each property listed on the

Kansas and/or National Registers online at http://
www.kshs.org/resource/national_register/index.php

iiiiii
 Wichita Historic
Landmarks and Districts

ADMINISTRATION BUILDING,
MUNICIPAL AIRPORT
3350 S. George Washington Blvd.
Construction of the Art Deco building be-
gan in 1929 and was completed in 1934 with the
infusion of federal funds through New Deal relief
programs. The facility provided municipal air
service to Wichita until Mid-Continent Airport
was constructed in 1951. The building and its
grounds were then sold to the federal government.
Special features include the stone panels on the
front façade and the 37-foot cast Carthalite mural
designed by L.W. Clapp (1898-1964). The mural
depicts Charles Lindbergh’s arrival at the coast of
Ireland after crossing the Atlantic in 1927. The
building is now home to the Kansas Aviation Mu-
seum. (RHKP, NRHP)
2

FRANK J. AND HARVEY J. ABLAH HOUSE

102-04 N. Pinecrest
The Ablah House is a two-story, Art Mod-
erne residence with a flat roof and two intersecting
units on a modified L-plan. The walls are clad with
variegated brick on the ground floor and smooth
stucco on the upper façade. Round porthole win-
dows at the entrance accent the flowing lines of the
structure. The family tradition of working together
and living together is the most distinguishing factor
in the rationale behind the architecture of the two-
family house at 102-104 N. Pinecrest. The physical
design of the residence epitomizes the close-knit
family that lived and worked together in Wichita
for over 90 years. To date, less than ten residential
structures in the Art Moderne style have been iden-
tified in Wichita. Such scarcity makes this house
unique. (RHKP, NRHP)
3

ADELINE APARTMENTS
1403 N. Emporia
The Adeline Apartment Building located at
1403 N. Emporia on the corner of 13th and Emporia,
was designed by the Wichita builder Thomas C.
Naylor. A former resident of Illinois, Naylor was
active in Wichita from 1918-1926. The Adeline
Apartment Building is an excellent example of the
garden style apartments that were built in Wichita
during the boom years from 1915 through 1930.
Typical features of garden style apartments are size
of the building: no more than three stories tall, 18
to 26 apartment units and a landscape component.
The Adeline Apartments were located one block
east of the Wichita trolley route which connected
the neighborhood to the downtown commercial
district, the University and College Hill on the east
side and the mills and other industrial concerns on
the north side of town. (RHKP, NRHP)
4

ALEY HOUSE
1505 N. Fairview
Built in 1889, the Aley House is one of the fin-
est examples of Queen Anne architecture in Wich-
ita. The three-story home was originally built for J.
H. Aley, a Civil War veteran, Wichita merchant and
civic leader. Built on a limestone foundation, the
house features stained glass windows, a corner tower,
fish-scale shingles, and a recessed balcony. (WRHP,
Park Place/Fairview NR Historic District)
5

HENRY J. ALLEN HOUSE

255 N. Roosevelt
At the urging of Elsie N. Allen, wife of Kan-
sas Governor, U.S. Senator, and newspaper owner
Henry J. Allen, Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959)
was commissioned to design the couple’s College
Hill residence and garden house. The design pro-
cess began in 1915 and the house was occupied by
early 1918. Constructed of buff brick with Carthage
limestone trim and French tile roof, it is the last of
Wright’s Prairie residences. This style emphasized
simplicity and clean outline. It utilized wide mason-
ry masses and low horizontal lines that blended with
the flat landscape. Wright also designed the Allens’
furniture in collaboration with George M. Nie-
decken, some of which is on display in the house.
(WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
6

ALLEN’S MARKET
2936 E. Douglas
Allen’s Market was designed by Wichita archi-
tect Glen H. Thomas (1889-1962) and constructed
in 1930 by Henrion Improvement Company. Its Art
Deco design is highlighted with colored Carthalite,
an artificial ornamental stone created by the Ce-
ment Stone & Supply Company of Wichita, Kansas.
Carthalite was a very inexpensive substitute for
cut stone and was a competitor of terra cotta. A
flexible material, it was ideal for garden furniture,
and it was easily adapted to any architectural style.
(RHKP, NRHP)
7

AMIDON HOUSE
1005 N. Market
This three-story Queen Anne style house with
its gabled roof, turned porch supports, and stone
label lintels was constructed in 1887 and purchased
by Samuel B. Amidon in 1896. The pressed brick
construction with narrow mortar joints is consid-
ered unusual for its time. The house has dentilled
cornices, two-story bays, and a wrap-around porch
with elliptical arches between the porch supports.
Colonel Amidon, considered “the greatest attorney
in the Middle West” by the Wichita Eagle, was a
national leader in the Democratic Party and a per-
sonal friend of Woodrow Wilson. (WRHP)
8

ARKANSAS VALLEY LODGE

615 N. Main
This two-story, red brick hall was the home
of the Arkansas Valley Lodge # 21, F. & A.M. of
the Prince Hall Masons. The lodge was chartered
in 1885 and by 1910 it registered 100 members and
was in need of a new meeting place. They purchased
land at that time and built the present structure.
Originally a three-story building, the third floor
was removed after damage from a storm in 1947. It
is one of the few remaining commercial buildings
from Wichita’s original African American business
district and served the community through the years
as a social center for banquets, dancing, and meet-
ings. Although the building reputedly was designed
by Josiah Walker, a local African American man,
there is no evidence to support the claim. A man
named Isenhart was the general contractor and sev-
eral of the lodge brothers sublet contracts. In 2003
Sedgwick County renovated the structure and built
a one-story addition on the north side. (WRHP,
RHKP, NRHP)
9

AVIARY
330 Circle Drive
Constructed by George Bird (1854-1953),
from the architectural firm of Proudfoot and Bird,
the residence was completed in 1887. Calling his
home The Aviary, Bird designed the structure with
a mixture of Queen Anne and Richardsonian Ro-
manesque elements. A carved stone tablet is inte-
grated into the chimney masonry. This cartouche,
inscribed with the name Aviary, is a Proudfoot and
Bird trademark. (WRHP)
10

BELMONT ARCHES
Central and Douglas at Belmont
With their welcoming light fixtures, the Bel-
mont Arches represent technological advancement
in the electrification of residential neighborhoods
as an extension of the “White Way” projects that
were developing in commercial districts. They
adapt the American interpretation of Classical Re-
vival architecture using limestone Tuscan piers and
wrought iron arches to create a triumphal entryway
into the most prestigious neighborhood of 1920s
Wichita. The Belmont Arches were designed by
Wichita architect Ellis H. Charles and constructed
by prominent builder George H. Siedhoff in 1925.
The Belmont Arches identified this streetscape as
a high quality residential neighborhood that retains
prestige yet today. (RHKP, NRHP)
11

FRANK E. BLASER HOUSE

136 N. Crestway
This Spanish Colonial Revival residence is
located in Wichita’s College Hill neighborhood and
was built by longtime Wichita contractor Frank E.
Blaser in 1929. This house typifies Spanish Re-
vivalism so well that it is included in Virginia and
Lee McAlester’s book A Field Guide to American
Houses. Characteristics of the style found on the
Blaser House include an asymmetrical and stucco-
finished exterior; multi-level side-gable roof with
clay tiles; arched doorways; metal casement win-
dows with scattered iron grillwork on the windows.
The house features an attached garage on the east
elevation. (RHKP, NRHP)
12

BOND/SULLIVAN HOUSE
936 Back Bay
Built in 1929, this unique Spanish Colonial
Revival bungalow was designed by architect and
contractor Sherman G. Bond (1867-1958) as his
personal residence. He and his wife lived in it
until 1942 when they sold it to Odom F. Sullivan,
a business owner who established a large chain
of movie theaters in Wichita. Sullivan, who also
served as Mayor of Wichita in 1942-1943, lived
in the house until his death in 1981. It is one of
a very few Spanish Colonial Revival bungalows in
Wichita. (RHKP, NRHP).
13

BOWERS HOUSE
1004 N. Market
This American Foursquare house was built
in 1906 for Dr. Charles E. Bowers, a noted physi-
cian who introduced the use of x-rays for medical
treatment in Wichita. The two-story, tan brick
structure has a raised basement, of which the exte-
rior walls are red brick and are separated from the
upper stories by a cast concrete stringcourse. This
brick house is unique in the Midtown neighbor-
hood among the wood frame houses typical of that
era. (RHKP, NRHP)
14

BROADVIEW HOTEL
400 W. Douglas Ave.
Wichita’s eight-story Broadview Hotel is
situated along Douglas Avenue on the east bank
of the Arkansas River. Completed in 1922, the
Broadview is part of a long tradition of well-known
Wichita hotels that include the Occidental, the
Eaton, and the Allis. Designed by Ed Forsblom,
the Commercial-style building was developed by
George Siedhoff. Two bays were later added to the
north end of the building in 1929, and a one-story
ballroom was added in 1950. The ballroom features
mosaic murals by American Indian artist Blackbear
Bosin that depict events in regional history. The
building was nominated for its association with
Wichita’s early 20th century downtown develop-
ment. (RHKP, NRHP)
15

BROOM CORN WAREHOUSE

416 S. Commerce
The building at 416 S. Commerce served as
a broom corn warehouse from the time of its con-
struction in 1920 at the height of Wichita’s reign
as a broom corn capital to 1940 when the local
economy had shifted from agriculture-related indus-
try and warehousing to aircraft manufacturing. In
the 1920s and 1930s, there were twelve broom corn
dealers in Wichita – three of them with warehouses
in the 400 block of South Commerce Street. Wich-
ita’s broom corn boom coincided with major im-
provements in the local railroad network. The two-
story brick building is part of a row of buildings con-
structed for warehouse use after the construction
of the adjacent Wichita Union Terminal Railway. It
was nominated for its local significance in the areas
of agriculture and industry. (RHKP, NRHP)
16

BROWN BUILDING
105 S. Broadway
The Brown Building was designed by
Schmidt, Boucher and Overend in 1927 and was
built by George Siedhoff Construction Company.
The building was originally six stories tall but
designed to support five additional floors, which
were added in 1928 to meet demand for more com-
mercial space. The red brick building is trimmed
with Carthage and Bedford limestone and features
a two-story arched entrance. Note the Ionic col-
umns located near the top of the building. (WRHP,
RHKP, NRHP)
17

BURTON STOCK CAR BUILDING #9

801 E. 37th Street North
The Burton Stock Car building is a one-story,
ten-bay, saw-tooth roofed structure located in the
middle of an industrial complex. The building is
historically significant for its use by several impor-
tant local and national companies including the
first occupant, the Burton Stock Car Company in
1887. Other tenants included the Jones Automo-
bile Company (1915), Cessna Aircraft Company
(1916), Stearman Aircraft Company (1929), and
Coleman Company (1947). (RHKP)
18

J. ARCH BUTTS PACKARD BUILDING

1525 E. Douglas Avenue
J. Arch Butts commissioned Schmidt Overend
and Boucher to design a new building for his Packard
Auto Dealership in 1930, to be located at 1525 East
Douglas Avenue on Wichita's rapidly developing
"Auto Row." It was home to Butts Auto Company
until the early 1940s and later to Hobbs Chevrolet
until the early 1960s. The two-story concrete build-
ing is a classic example of a 1930s car dealership,
with Modern style and detailing. Distinguishing
features include a once-lighted auto display window
over the ground-floor entrance and a white glazed
terra cotta exterior on the front half of the building.
The upper façade is characterized by a horizontal
band of metal windows. The building was nominated
as part of the "Roadside Kansas" multiple property
submission for its local significance in the areas of
commerce and architecture. (RHKP, NRHP)
19

CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH

601 Water
Local legend attributes the design of the Cal-
vary Baptist Church to Josiah Walker. However, no
provenance substantiates this. A building permit is-
sued to architect U.G. Charles (1865-1947) in 1917
provides documentation that, in fact, Charles prob-
ably designed the structure. A 1916 newspaper arti-
cle indicates that architects Crowell and Van Meter
also drew plans for the church, which apparently
were not used. Built in 1917-1920, it is regarded as
one of only a few surviving structures of Wichita’s
early African American community. The two-story,
red brick church features a large east facade portico
with four Doric columns. The design is based on
an Akron plan of church architecture in which the
interior is wider than it is long and seating for the
congregation is arranged in a half-circle around a
raised platform. The nave features a raked floor,
descending moderately from the entrance to the
platform. Small meeting rooms for Sunday School
classes adjoin the main auditorium, separated by
moveable partitions that could be opened to allow
the classes to participate in portions of the religious
service. The church currently houses the Kansas
African American Museum. (RHKP, NRHP)
20

B.H. CAMPBELL HOUSE

1155 North River Blvd.
Campbell Castle, designed by architect Al-
fred Gould (dates unknown) was built in 1888 for
cattleman Burton Harvey Campbell during the
building boom of the 1880s. It is one of two castle
style homes that Gould designed at that time.
The nearby J.O. Davidson home was demolished
in 1962. The original interior woodwork features
a variety of woods, including walnut, mahogany,
and cherry. The home contains eight original fire-
places. Constructed of rusticated limestone blocks,
the structure features a three-story castellated
tower with carved stone gargoyles. (WRHP, RHKP,
NRHP)
21

CAREY HOUSE (EATON HOTEL)

525 E. Douglas
John B. Carey, a Wichita mayor and busi-
nessman, built the Carey House in 1886-1887.
The five-story, brick Second Empire style hotel
has cut stone trim throughout the facade. Second
Empire features include dormers in the Mansard
roof, a tower, and minimal eave overhang. The east
and north entrances have two-story, semicircular
arched openings with cut stone surrounds. The
northeast corner of the building features a project-
ing square tower extending the full building height
and terminating in a truncated pyramidal roof with
gabled dormers on the north and east sides. On
December 27, 1900 Carry Nation brought her tem-
perance campaign to the elegant hotel bar, throw-
ing billiard balls against the mirror and damaging
John Noble’s painting of “Cleopatra at the Bath.”
In 1905 a west wing was added and the lobby and
mezzanine areas were remodeled, removing the
building’s original bar. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP, East
Douglas Avenue NR Historic District)
22

CARLISLE HOUSE
1215 N. Emporia
The architectural firm of Terry and Dumont
designed this house for W. K. Carlisle, a Wichita
attorney. Built in 1886 during the Victorian era,
the home borrows details and influences from the
Stick and Queen Anne architectural styles. The
two-and-one-half-story house features horizontal
bands, steeply pitched cross gables, and overhang-
ing eaves. In 1977 an extensive community effort
saved the Carlisle House from demolition. (WRHP,
Topeka/Emporia NR Historic District)
23

CARNEGIE LIBRARY
220 S. Main
The Carnegie Library was constructed in 1914
with the aid of a $75,000 gift from Andrew Carn-
egie and designed by local architect A.A. Crowell
(1865-1924). The Wichita City Library moved from
its quarters in the City Hall building to the new
Beaux Arts style structure in 1915. Distinguishing
features include walls of dressed Bedford limestone,
a scroll modillion cornice and label hood lintels.
The recessed arched entrance is emphasized by the
keystone lion’s head design and supported by paired
Ionic columns. The central bay also features a con-
vex hipped roof of green tile topped by a lantern.
The building served as the city library until 1967.
(WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
24

CHAPMAN/NOBLE HOUSE
1230 N. Waco
The Chapman-Noble House was built in
1890 by George B. Chapman, a local merchant
and partner in the Chapman & Walker Dry Goods
store. In 1897, Jane and Isobel Noble purchased the
home. The sisters became prominent Wichitans,
known for their many civic, educational, and social
contributions to the city. The two-and-one-half-
story residence with hipped roof is a fine example
of Queen Anne architecture. The compact mass of
the structure is distinguished by a hexagonal corner
tower and wrap-around porch. Turned porch sup-
ports and decorative fretwork complement the open
stonework of the foundation. John Noble, an inter-
nationally known Wichita artist, frequently visited
his cousins in their home. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
25

L. W. CLAPP HOUSE
1847 Wellington Place
Lewis W. Clapp, businessman, civic leader,
one-time mayor, and developer of the city’s park
system built his home in 1887. It was the first
house constructed in the area known as Clapp
Compound. Designed in the Queen Anne style
by architects Terry and Hayward, the three-story
home features varied surfaces and multiple porch-
es, Doric porch columns, a slate roof, boxed eaves,
dentilled cornice trim and cornice brackets. Exten-
sive remodeling in 1907 included moving the main
entrance of the house to its present corner position
and installation of a carved front door designed by
Mr. Clapp. The house is listed in the historic regis-
ters under the name “Wellington Place”. (WRHP,
RHKP, NRHP, Park Place/Fairview NR Historic
District)
26

MARC CLAPP HOUSE

1817 Wellington Place
This two-story, stucco house designed by C.W.
Terry (1847-1931) is an excellent example of Italian
Renaissance architecture. The home, located in the
Clapp Compound, was built in 1913 for Wichita fi-
nancier Marc C. Clapp, son of L.W. Clapp. Features
of the home include a tiled roof, massive paired
cornice brackets, pedimented portico with dentil
frieze flanked by Ionic pilasters, matching south side
sun porch and north side porte-cochere. (WRHP,
Park Place/Fairview NR Historic District)
27

RDW CLAPP HOUSE

320 N. Belmont
This residence was built for Robert D.W.
Clapp, an officer of Clapp Mortgage Company
and son of L. W. Clapp. The house is a significant
example of Tudor Revival architecture. Carl P.
Dumbolton (1901-1990), who worked for Lorentz
Schmidt and Company from 1922 -1923, modeled
the house after England’s Sheffield Manor. RDW
Clapp referred to his house as Clapp Manor. Con-
structed in 1923 at a cost of $150,000, the three-
story U-shaped residence boasts an 800-square-
foot two-story great hall. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
28

COLLEGE HILL PARK BATHHOUSE

304 Circle Drive
This W.P.A.-funded structure was designed
by Edward Forsblom (1875 - 1961) and built in
1937. The College Hill Bathhouse is a good ex-
ample of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The
distinctive characteristics of the style include a
low-pitched roof with virtually no overhang, a red
tile roof covering, an arcade supported by columns,
molded capitals, arched window openings, grills
on windows, and an enriched door surround. The
fenestration lintels and arcade arches are demar-
cated with radiating arched voussoirs of vertical
brick stretchers. (RHKP, NRHP)
29

COMLEY HOUSE
1137 N. Broadway
This Queen Anne house was built ca. 1890
for Henry Comley, a Wichita lumber baron. The
two-and-one-half-story frame house has ornate
leaded glass and a stained glass window stairway.
The home also features a wrap-around porch
with a wide gazebo-end porch and paired Doric
columns. The house boasts leaded and beveled
sidelights, a sizeable stained glass window, fish
scale shingled bays, and elaborate interior fret-
work. The 1100 block of Lawrence (Broadway)
Avenue became known as Lumberman’s Row due
to the many fine homes erected there by local lum-
ber merchants. The Comley and Parks/Houston
houses are the only survivors of that notable group.
(WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
30

CUBBON/JACQUES HOUSE
1955 N. Market
Built in 1888 in the Queen Anne style with a
wrap-around porch that incorporates a turret roof,
the Cubbon/Jacques House was originally located
on North Fairmount. In 1900 businessman and
Wichita police chief George T. Cubbon purchased
the house and moved it with mules to its present
location. Local history records suggest that it was
Cubbon who ordered the arrest of Carry Nation on
December 27, 1900. The home was the residence
of the Clerk of the District Court, A. E. Jacques,
from 1932-1945. (WRHP)
31

DUNBAR THEATRE
1007 N. Cleveland
The Dunbar Theatre is a focal point of Wich-
ita’s African-American McAdams neighborhood.
Its history is inextricably tied to the history of the
McAdams neighborhood, a traditionally black
neighborhood northeast of downtown Wichita. At
the time the Dunbar Theatre was constructed in
1941, African Americans made up approximately
5% of Wichita’s population. During World War
II and the Cold War, Wichita’s growing aircraft
industry drew thousands of new residents. The
African-American population alone jumped from
5600 in 1940 to 8000 in 1950. Black families were
drawn to Wichita not only because of employment
opportunities, but also because the city had an es-
tablished African-American community, centered
in the McAdams neighborhood. (KRHP, NRHP)
32

EAGLES LODGE #132

200 S. Emporia
The Eagle’s Lodge, built in 1916 with a 1921
addition, is an example of the Beaux Arts Style of
architecture. Named for the famous French Ecole
des Beaux Arts, the style took its cues from classi-
cal architecture as well as French and Italian Re-
naissance design. The style proliferated between
1890 and 1920. Architects generally applied the
style to free-standing public buildings, such as city
halls and county courthouses, and to financial
institutions, including early twentieth-century
banks. Unlike the Eagle’s Lodge, most examples
are symmetrical in massing. The quintessential
Beaux Arts features include masonry construction,
flat roof, pedimented entablature, regularly spaced
pilasters, quoining, brackets, and large arch-topped
window openings with fanlights. (RHKP, NRHP)
33

ELLIS-SINGLETON BUILDING
221 S. Broadway
The Ellis-Singleton building, designed in
1929, is a local interpretation of the Art Deco
style. The brick and terra cotta façade is clearly
influenced by 1920s skyscraper designs and the
availability of decorative materials. The Ellis-Sin-
gleton building’s smooth lines and application of
low relief ornament place it clearly within the Art
Deco style, popular for American skyscrapers in the
late 1920s and the 1930s. The arched entrances
at ground level and the impression of side pavil-
ions add a Mediterranean flavor to the eight-story
building. The building was designed by the firm of
Schmidt, Boucher and Overend. (RHKP, NRHP)
34

ENOCH DODGE HOUSE

1406 W. Second
Enoch Dodge, one of the first two settlers in
the Delano Township and a principal developer in
the 1880s, erected this house in 1887. The details
of the Queen Anne style house include curved
brackets, sunburst designs, and turned posts and
balusters. The 2-story, 14-room home has a wrap-
around front porch, bay windows, original stained
glass and decorative knobs. The second floor fea-
tures elaborate half-circle windows with sunburst
patterns in the gables. Originally a farmstead, the
house is now located in a neighborhood whose
streets are Dodge, Elizabeth, Glenn, Martinson,
and Fern, all of which were named for members of
the Dodge family. (WRHP)
35

ENGINE HOUSE #4
120 S. Seneca
Engine House Number Four is the city’s old-
est fire station. The Romanesque Revival structure,
built in 1889, remained in operation until 1950.
It was replaced by a larger station built at 101 S.
Martinson. The elaborate brick and pressed metal
cornice is supported by a band of corbelled brick-
work. (WRHP)
36

ENGINE HOUSE #6
1300 S. Broadway
The two-story concrete brick fire station,
constructed in 1909, was the last station in Wichita
to be converted from stable and horse-drawn equip-
ment to motorized vehicles. Built to serve as a
front line firehouse for the south side of Wichita,
the station was active until 1953, when a new Fire
Station #6 was built at Santa Fe and Mt. Vernon.
It was then used by the Wichita Fire Reserve until
1988 and is now the home of the Kansas Firefight-
er’s Museum. Like Fire Station #4, the building is
identified as Romanesque Revival, featuring second
floor arched lintels and concrete sills. Note the
prominent quoining pattern found on the building.
(RHKP, NRHP)
37

FAIRMOUNT APARTMENTS
1702 N. Fairmount
Constructed in 1930, this purpose-built
apartment building was designed to provide multi-
family housing in the Fairmount neighborhood
immediately south of Wichita State University.
Wichita contractor John I. Graham, who is known
to have constructed three apartment buildings be-
tween 1928 and 1930, applied for a building permit
to construct this building for an estimated cost of
$35,000. This conventional, low-rise apartment
building exhibits the characteristics of the popular
early 20th century Spanish Colonial Revival style.
(RHKP, NRHP)
38

FAIRMOUNT CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

1657 N. Fairmount
Built in 1910, the Fairmount Congregational
Church is a vernacular interpretation of the Rich-
ardsonian Romanesque Revival style using brick
and wood shingles. The church was designed by
William R. Stringfield, who also designed sev-
eral other Wichita churches and two permanent
structures at the original Wichita Zoo. The Rich-
ardsonian Romanesque Style is an adaptation by
Henry Hobson Richardson (1836-1886) of the
Romanesque style popularized by James Renwick
(1818-1895). Typical of the style, the church has a
steeply-pitched, cross-gabled roof with lower gable
wings, and towers with flared eaves and round
arched windows. (RHKP, NRHP)
39

FAIRMOUNT COTTAGE
1717 Fairmount
Fairmount Cottage is another Proudfoot and
Bird home built in Wichita’s construction heyday
of the late 1880s. The two-and-one-half-story-cot-
tage was built in 1888 for A. S. Parks, president of
the Kansas Sash and Door Company. A combina-
tion of limestone, shingle siding, stained glass, Pal-
ladian windows, and closely spaced, turned porch
supports characterize this Queen Anne style cot-
tage with Richardsonian Romanesque influences.
A full-width front porch extends across the front
facade that projects to the north to form a porte-
cochere. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
40

FAIRVIEW APARTMENTS
206 E. 18th Street
Built in 1924, the Fairview Apartment build-
ing is located a few blocks south of Wichita’s North
End commercial and industrial district once domi-
nated by meat packing plants, the Wichita Live-
stock Exchange and associated banking facilities.
This conventional low-rise apartment building has
16 residential units on each of the first and second
floors. The design of the Fairview Apartments
reflects popular architectural trends in multi-family
housing seen in Wichita and nationwide during
the 1920s. This building has a U-shaped plan
and features buff brick walls with patterned brick-
work at the cornice and a flat roof with a shaped
parapet. The bracketed door hoods with exposed
rafter tails and multi-light upper window sashes
are vernacular elements of Craftsman architecture.
(RHKP, NRHP)
41

J. E. FARMER HOUSE
1301 Cleveland
Frank Garrett and stonemason George Ew-
ing built the house at 1301 Cleveland in 1942 for
Dr. James E. Farmer and his wife Gertrude, who
were both prominent African American profes-
sionals in Wichita. It is located in the McAdams
neighborhood, and, like the McClinton Market,
is representative of population changes during the
first half of the twentieth century, when the area
changed from primarily white residents to over
ninety percent African Americans by the end of
World War II. The house is an excellent example
of a folk interpretation of the Tudor Revival style.
It embodies the distinct characteristics of the style
while also reflecting the personality and craftsman-
ship of the African American builder and mason.
Not only did this property serve as the Farmers’
residence, but it played host to prominent visiting
African Americans, such as singer Marian Ander-
son and boxer Joe Lewis, until segregation in public
accommodations was outlawed in Kansas in 1963.
The property was nominated as part of the "African
American Resources of Wichita" multiple property
submission for its local significance in the areas
of African American heritage and architecture.
(RHKP, NRHP)
42

FRESH AIR BABY CAMP

1229 W. 11th Street
The Fresh Air Baby Camp represents a na-
tionwide trend to raise social conscience about
the role of bacteria and illness and improve health
conditions for children. Wichita residents rallied
to the cause of care for at-risk infants by paying
for the construction of this permanent building.
In 1926, when the new maternity ward at Wesley
Hospital fulfilled the need, the building was turned
over to the Girl Scouts, a national organization
dedicated to the social well-being of young girls.
It was re-named the Girl Scout Little House and
housed their programs for the next 75 years. Ar-
chitect Lorentz Schmidt designed the building; it
was built by the Siedhoff Construction Company.
(RHKP, NRHP)
43

GELBACH HOUSE
1721 Park Place
Built in 1910 by George W. Gelbach, this
two-and-one-half story Neoclassical structure
features colossal Corinthian columns and a double
gallery full-façade porch typical of this style in the
United States from 1900 to 1920. The Corinthian
capitals are made of cast terra cotta. Gelbach
operated a neighborhood grocery store at 108 W.
Sixteenth Street until 1915 when he moved to the
College Hill Neighborhood. (RHKP, NRHP, Park
Place/Fairview NR Historic District)
44

GRACE M.E. CHURCH

944 S. Topeka
Grace Methodist Episcopal Church (1910),
now known as Grace United Methodist Church,
is a two-story, Neoclassical Revival style religious
structure. It was designed by prominent architect,
C. W. Terry (1847-1931), and was completed at a
cost of $65,000.00. The overall dimensions of the
original church building include a frontage of 92 ½
feet on Topeka Avenue and 102 ½ feet on Gilbert
Street. The church’s main construction materials
are cherry red brick and Carthage limestone. In
1958, a two-story education wing was added to the
north side of the church. (RHKP, NRHP)
45

BENJAMIN GULDNER HOUSE

1919 W. Douglas
This transitional Free Classic Queen Anne
residence was built in 1910 using architectural
drawings produced by G.W. Ashby (1860-1933)
of the Radford Architectural Company of Chi-
cago and ordered through the Caldwell Hoffman
Lumber Company in Delano. The lumber for the
house was milled at Western Planing Company in
Wichita. The Radford Company produced cata-
logues and trade publications from 1903 through
1926. A primary feature of the Guldner House
is its one-story, wrap-around porch supported by
Ionic fluted square pillars. This property is the
only documented Radford Company-designed resi-
dence in Kansas at this time. (RHKP, NRHP)
46

HANDS OF GOD
AND MAN
13th and
Broadmoor

The cast concrete relief sculpture was erected

in 1954 at 6909 E. Kellogg, the former site of the
Reformation Lutheran Church. Standing 32-feet-
tall, 16-feet-wide, and 2-feet-thick, the sculpture
is presently located at 13th and Broadmoor on
the grounds of the new Reformation Lutheran
Church. It serves as the centerpiece of a medita-
tion garden. The sculpture was designed by inter-
nationally known Kansas sculptor Bernard “Poco”
Frazier (1906-1976), who created several other
sculpture pieces found in Wichita. Most notable
are the “Hunter and Bison” inside the Wichita
City Hall and the mosaic “Be Still and Know That
I Am God” found on the main facade of the First
United Methodist Church in downtown Wichita.
(WRHP)
47

HARDING HOUSE
1231 N. Waco
The Harding House, built ca. 1890, is an ex-
cellent example of Queen Anne architecture, com-
plete with exterior and interior woodwork unique
to the 1880-1898 period. The home was part of the
redevelopment of Wichita after the economic bust
of 1889. The second floor balcony and first floor
porches feature extensive Eastlake trim and spindle
work. It has a prominent corner tower. The house
was built for Russell Harding, a railroad superin-
tendent. In 1896, it was occupied by M. L. Garver,
an early civic leader and founder of the Wichita
Children’s Home. (WRHP)
48

HAYFORD BUILDINGS
255 N. Market and 115-127 E. Second
These two-story commercial structures are
located one block east of the Occidental Hotel.
The larger, west building was constructed of rus-
ticated concrete block in 1907 and the smaller,
east brick building was added ca.1910. Both struc-
tures feature wood storefronts, metal cornices and
original skylights. The two separate structures are
joined by a small connector that is clad in brick to
match the east building. (RHKP, NRHP)
49

HILLSIDE COTTAGE
303 Circle Drive
Willis Proudfoot (1860-1928) selected this
yet-undeveloped location to build his personal resi-
dence. He designed the Colonial Revival cottage
with an English gambrel roof, an elliptical gable
window, a 15-foot-tall colored glass window light-
ing the interior stairwell, and a circular entrance
porch supported by Doric columns. The basement
and first floor walls are built of native limestone.
A cartouche inscribed Hillside Cottage is located
beneath the colored glass window on the north el-
evation. Proudfoot’s business partner, George Bird,
designed and built his own residence, The Aviary,
nearby. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
50

HOLYOKE COTTAGE
1704 N. Holyoke
This Queen Anne home was built in 1888 for
Reverend J. H. Parker, a Congregational Church
minister who helped found Fairmount College
(now Wichita State University). From 1897 to
1918 the house served as the women’s dormitory
for Fairmount College which was promoted as the
“Holyoke of the West”. The home features a wrap-
around porch and corner turret. (WRHP, RHKP,
NRHP)
51

HYPATIA HOUSE
1215 N. Broadway
The Hypatia House was designed by architect
Ulysses Grant Charles (1865-1947) ca. 1903, for G.
T. Walker, manager of the L. C. Jackson Coal Com-
pany. It is an excellent example of Dutch Colonial
Revival architecture with a front Dutch gambrel
roof. The two-and-one-half-story brick house fea-
tures a front facade wrap-around porch, Tuscan
columns, north side porte-cochere, wide eave
overhangs and clay tile roof. The structure contains
numerous examples of leaded and stained glass
windows. Hypatia Club, founded in 1886 by Mary
Elizabeth Lease as a women’s organization, owned
the house from 1934 to 2001. It is once again a
private residence. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
52

INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER BUILDING

355 N. Rock Island
In 1902, several manufacturers of agricultural
equipment consolidated to form the International
Harvester Company headquartered in Chicago.
Once consolidated, the company expanded
throughout the Midwest to provide showrooms
and retail stores rather than relying solely on
catalog sales. The Wichita building, constructed
in 1910, is typical of manufacturing/warehousing
design of the period having plain brick walls and
modest ornamentation. (RHKP, NRHP)
53

C.M. JACKMAN HOUSE

158 N. Roosevelt
This Spanish Eclectic house was built in 1924
for C.M. Jackman, President of the Kansas Milling
Company. Lorenz Schmidt (1884-1952) designed
this residence in the Spanish Eclectic style, which
was popular in the 1920s. George Siedhoff (1878-
1966), prominent Wichita contractor, built the
house. The house was built in a “U” shape with
the wings serving as bedroom quarters. The house
is stucco with Spanish tile roof and wood windows.
It had a three-car garage on the south side of the
west wing, which was converted to living space
sometime in the1980s. (RHKP, NRHP)
54

JENKINS COTTAGE
1704 N. Fairview
Built in 1894 for G. W. Jenkins, this Vernacu-
lar Queen Anne cottage is an excellent example of
a typical modest home at the turn of the century.
Vernacular styles are represented in structures
that are built without being designed by formally
trained architects. This cottage has ornate ginger-
bread trim, sunburst detailing on its gabled pedi-
ments, porch brackets and turned posts. (WRHP,
Park Place/Fairview NR Historic District)
55
JOHNSON DRUG STORE
2329 E. Central
Although he was not an architect, business-
man Gilbert Johnson is credited for the design of
this Art Deco structure in 1930 with assistance
from masonry fabricator Benjamin Krehbiel and
builder Charles Waldon. The structure is known
for its decorative exterior that features Carthalite
concrete and glazed ceramic tiles in geometric Na-
tive American symbols. The multi-unit building
originally housed a grocery store, a barbershop, a
wallpaper store, and Johnson’s Drug Store. From
1938 to 1968 John Callender, a pharmacist for
Johnson, operated the corner business as Callender
Drug. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
56

JOHNSON COTTAGE
133 S. Charles
Johnson Cottage was designed by noted
architects Proudfoot and Bird. Gus Johnson, a
stonemason, built the cottage in 1887 for himself.
Johnson, who was employed by Proudfoot and
Bird, completed the stonework on many of Wich-
ita’s finest commercial structures. The side gable
cottage is constructed of rusticated limestone with
wood shingles in the gable ends and a gable dormer
with a bay window. A rose and acorn cartouche in
the chimney wall displays the 1887 construction
date. (WRHP)
57

KANSAS MASONIC HOME

401 S. Seneca
Robert E. Lawrence preempted the land
where the Masonic Home now stands and in 1885
built a home on the corner of Seneca and Maple.
In 1896, the Masonic Order and the Order of the
Eastern Star purchased the estate and used it as a
retirement home for members until a fire destroyed
the building in 1916. In 1917, a new facility was
constructed, designed by Edward Tilton (1861-
1933) in the Mission Revival style. Completed in
1921, the buildings were known for their white
stucco walls and red tile roofs. In recent years, the
majority of the complex’s east side buildings were
razed. (WRHP)
58

KAUFMAN BUILDING
210-212-214 S. Broadway
The Kaufman Building is a T-shaped, two-part
commercial block completed in 1924 from plans by
the nationally-known architecture firm Eberson and
Weaver. The four-story building is reinforced con-
crete construction with concrete frame and floors,
a brick façade and brick curtain walls on the side
and rear elevations. The building is nine bays wide.
The storefront was rebuilt in 2006. (RHKP)
59

KEEP KLEAN BUILDING

800 E. 3rd
The exterior of the Keep Klean Building,
built in 1929, represents the early twentieth-
century Commercial Style. This style is most often
seen in downtown commercial buildings from the
1910s and 1920s. Unlike their nineteenth-century
predecessors, these buildings feature simple lines,
without applied or projecting decorative elements
such as elaborate cornices. These buildings had
an emphasis on fire-resistance with fire-proof
materials such as reinforced concrete, brick and
steel. In addition to their clean lines, Commercial
Style buildings are defined by a number of exterior
features such as parapets capped with squared-off
stone or concrete, rough brick with raked mortar
joints, and double-hung windows with square
upper and lower sashes – in contrast to the tall,
narrow windows seen in late-nineteenth-century
commercial buildings. The Keep Klean Building
is an L-shaped building. The building’s principal
exterior material is hard-fired multi-earth-tone
rough bricks with recessed mortar joints. Horizon-
tal limestone bands delineate the buildings levels.
Limestone decorative geometric shapes provide
limited detail. (RHKP, NRHP)
60

KELLOGG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

1220 E. Kellogg Dr.
The first Kellogg School, a Richardsonian
Romanesque-style building was completed in 1890. It
was not until the 1910s and 1920s that the neighbor-
hood surrounding Kellogg School was fully developed
with small bungalows and cottages surrounding the
school. By 1935, overflowing classrooms necessitated
temporary classroom buildings northeast of the main
building. The school district hired local architects
Overend and Boucher to design the new Kellogg
School, and Dondlinger and Sons Construction Com-
pany was awarded the contract with a successful bid
of $113,980. Construction of the Art Moderne school
was completed just in time for the opening day of
school on September 8, 1941. The school was closed
in 1996. It was nominated as part of the “Historic Pub-
lic Schools of Kansas” multiple property listing for its
association with local education and its architecture.
(RHKP, NRHP)
61

EDWARD M. KELLY HOUSE

1711 N. Market
Edward M. Kelly purchased this house in
1914. Kelly was a prominent Wichita grain mer-
chant and served as treasurer of the Wichita Board
of Trade for ten years. Built in 1910, the house
is an example of Neoclassical architecture with
Greek Revival details such as colossal fluted Ionic
columns, a speaker’s gallery, and fluted pilasters on
the corners of the structure. (RHKP, NRHP)
62

KRESS BUILDING
224 E. Douglas
George E. Mackay (dates unknown), archi-
tect for the S.H. Kress Company, designed the
Wichita store building; W.H. Bowen constructed
it in 1929. The Gothic Revival five-story build-
ing required more than 800 tons of steel, making
it the largest steel building in Kansas at the time.
The quatrefoil stone ornaments in the horizontal
banding, the arched window groupings on the top
floor, and the polychrome terra cotta cornice make
this an outstanding edifice. S. H. Kress Company
constructed this innovation in “dime store” design
to determine whether elegant architecture would
attract customers and encourage sales. The build-
ing with its Gothic terra cotta ornamentation ac-
complished its intended purpose and a variation
of the design was constructed in Dallas. Realizing
the success of this strategy, Kress continued to cre-
ate elegant structures to house their retail stores.
(WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
63

LASSEN HOTEL
155 N. Market
Originally developed as the Travelers Ho-
tel, the name was changed during the planning
stage to honor Henry Lassen, owner of a local
milling company, who purchased a major share
of stock. The Columbus, Ohio architectural firm
of Richards, McCarty and Bulford designed the
eleven-story building, which has an exterior of red
brick with segmented balustered parapets and a
treatment of ornate decoration at the tenth floor
of terra cotta arches and window trim. The top
floor windows of the hotel were originally leaded
and stained glass. A two-story lobby with marble
floors marked the entrance into the hotel. The
hotel opened its doors on New Years Eve, 1918.
The hotel was rehabilitated into an office building
in the 1980s. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
64

GOVERNOR L.D. LEWELLING HOUSE

1245 N. Broadway
Built in 1893, Lorenzo D. Lewelling and his
family lived in this Wichita house during his brief
tenure as the Governor of Kansas. He was the
Populist Party gubernatorial candidate for the 1892
election and was inaugurated as governor in Janu-
ary 1893. Lewelling presided over the “legislative
war of 1893” between the Republicans and Popu-
lists over leadership of the House that culminated
in a Kansas Supreme Court ruling in favor of the
Republicans. He was not re-elected governor in
1894. This two-and-one-half-story wood-frame
house features a foursquare form with a mix of
Colonial Revival, Queen Anne and Shingle styles.
(RHKP, NRHP)
65

SENATOR CHESTER LONG HOUSE

3401 East Second
Wichita investor Hardy Solomon built this
1887 farmhouse in what was then a rural area east
of Wichita. By the time Senator Chester I. Long
purchased it in 1911, the area had become the
fashionable College Hill neighborhood of the city.
The large, three-story frame house was modified
in 1912 and again in the 1930s to its present ap-
pearance with a gallery of two-story Doric piers.
The ample rooms were often open for the social
and political gatherings of the prominent family.
(WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
66

JOHN MACK BRIDGE

2700 S. Broadway
Opened in July 1931, Wichita’s southern
gateway is reportedly the longest remaining rain-
bow truss bridge designed by James Barney Marsh
(1854-1936). The 800-foot span of reinforced con-
crete consists of eight tied arches and is nationally
acknowledged and locally revered for its aesthetic
and historic significance. The bridge was named
for John Mack of Newton, a member of the Kansas
State Highway Commission. Mack was known as
“the father of good Kansas roads.” In 1991, when
the bridge was in danger of being demolished, a
community effort was created to save and restore
the bridge to its former splendor. The “Save the
John Mack Bridge” campaign succeeded and in
1992 funds were allocated for restoration and the
bridge was placed on the National Register of His-
toric Places. (RHKP, NRHP)
67

MARKET STREET COTTAGE

1144 N. Market
The house is a Queen Anne Style cottage
and Aesthetic (Eastlake) Period house design from
the early to mid 1800s. It has an L-shaped porch,
multiple gables, fish-scale and horizontal siding,
carved barge boards, carved brackets in the win-
dow bay corners, carved panels under windows,
rectangular, arched, and peaked windows. Interior
has original radiator system, a pair of French doors,
two sets of pocket doors, ornate fireplace surround
with original gas insert, ornate brass door hard-
ware, and original light fixtures. The arched and
peaked multi-paned windows are pocket sashes
that slide up into the walls. (RHKP, NRHP)
68

McCLINTON MARKET
1205 E. 12th
The McClinton Market is representative of the
population changes that occurred in the McAdams
neighborhood in Wichita during the first half of the
twentieth century, when the area changed from pri-
marily white residents to over ninety percent African
Americans by the end of World War II. First built
for white business owners in 1920, this small wood-
frame building was purchased in 1943 by Curtis Mc-
Clinton, Sr., who operated a grocery business there
until 1973. In 1956, McClinton became the first
African American outside of the Kansas City area
to serve in the Kansas State Legislature. The build-
ing was nominated as part of the "African American
Resources of Wichita" multiple property submission
for its local significance in the area of commerce and
for its associations with community leader and state
representative Curtis McClinton, Sr. (RHKP, NRHP)
69

MCCORMICK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

855 S. Martinson
The McCormick Elementary School build-
ing is the only remaining Wichita public school
designed by architects Proudfoot and Bird. Con-
structed in 1889-1890, the original four-room
building was designed in the Richardsonian Ro-
manesque style. In 1910 an addition to the school
doubled the size of the quarried limestone struc-
ture. The school closed in 1992 due to declining
enrollment. The building is now home to the Mc-
Cormick School Museum. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
70

ELIZABETH A. MCLEAN RESIDENCE

2359 N. McLean Blvd.
This bi-level Ranch Style house was designed
by architect Glenn Benedick and built in 1956.
The exterior material of the house is Etowa pink
marble quarried in Tate, Georgia. Reportedly, a
new method using a guillotine device had been
developed to cut stone more precisely and quickly.
The supplier convinced Elizabeth to use the pink
marble instead of brick and allow the company to
use the house as a model for the new technique.
Elizabeth A. McLean was the widow of Benjamin
Drew McLean, son of Benjamin F. McLean a sig-
nificant figure in the history of Wichita. (RHKP,
NRHP)
71

MENTHOLATUM BUILDING
1300 E. Douglas
The Mentholatum Company Building is a
one-story Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival build-
ing, constructed of reinforced concrete. The build-
ing’s exterior is rendered in stucco and originally
was painted white with mint green trim, the colors
of the Mentholatum products. It is nominated for
its association with A. A. Hyde, who founded the
internationally known company. It is also signifi-
cant for its association with the prominent Wichita
architect, U. G. Charles and built by the Wurster
Construction Company in 1908. (RHKP, NRHP)
 MICHIGAN BUILDING
206 E. Douglas
The Michigan
Building, erected in
1909, was built for
72 $60,000 by Wichita’s
first druggist, Oscar D.
Barnes, and his son,
Maurice P. Barnes,
and remained in their
family until 1972. The
Barnes family played
a significant role in
Wichita’s commercial
history by developing
downtown business
blocks. Designed by
Charles W. Terry, the
building is a narrow
structure of reinforced
concrete, steel, and
terra cotta brick that
stands six stories tall.
It is significant for its historic presence in down-
town Wichita’s streetscape and as the home of
several locally prominent music stores. Its physical
presence contributes to the “canyon” of East Doug-
las Avenue, a busy downtown thoroughfare lined
with towering structures. The music stores housed
within the building – the Martin & Adams Music
Company, The Adams-Bennett Music Company
and the Bennett Music House – drew custom-
ers from Wichita and the surrounding region.
(RHKP)
73

MOHR BARN
14920 W. 21st Street North
The balloon-frame wood barn built in 1913
is clad with vertical board and batten siding with
faded red paint and white trim. The barn measures
approximately 40 feet wide by 60 feet long with the
main entrance on the north end of the building.
The eave projection on the gable ends have ex-
posed roof braces and carved verge boards. A white
wood stringcourse separates the gable end from the
lower façade and curves downward as it meets the
corner of the barn and the eave. The wood used in
the construction of the barn is dimensional lumber.
The Mohr farmstead is a highly significant property
relating to the history of Sedgwick County. The
farm has remained in the same family for more than
100 years, passing through four generations. The
property retains its original purpose as a working
farm, contributing to its historical significance. The
barn is an outstanding example of rural architecture
and craftsmanship. (RHKP, NRHP)
74

MODERN CLEANERS BUILDING

904-06 E. Douglas
The Modern Cleaners building is an ex-
ample of the modest, one-story commercial blocks
that housed basic services in the early 20th century.
It was constructed in 1917 by the J.C. Smith Hide
Company, a support business to the local livestock
industry. The structure is unique because it is one
of the oldest surviving commercial buildings in Old
Town. (WRHP, Warehouse and Jobbers NR His-
toric District)
75

MONROE/MAHAN HOUSE
1357 S. Broadway
Research indicates that Reverend J. M. Mon-
roe built this Queen Anne style house in 1887 and
it served as a parsonage for ten years. John P. Mah-
an purchased the home in 1897. Mahan owned the
saloon in the Carey Hotel that became the object
of Carry Nation’s infamous attack on “Demon Al-
cohol” in Wichita. Significant details include the
hipped and multi-gabled roof and limestone foun-
dation. The house is distinguished by its two-story
bays on the north and south elevations. (WRHP,
RHKP, NRHP)
76

MORTON-SIMMONS/KEEN
KUTTER BUILDING
830 E. First
The Morton-Simmons (Keen Kutter) Build-
ing was constructed in 1905 by the St. Louis-based
Morton-Simmons Hardware Company. The brick
structure was built as a distribution center for the
company’s line of Keen Kutter products. With
80,000 square feet, the building was reported to
have contained more wholesale floor space than
any other building in Wichita. Designed by the
St. Louis firm of Mauran, Russell and Garden,
the building incorporates both Italianate and
Romanesque features. The four-story, nine-bay
building boasted an automatic sprinkler system
that included a 20,000-gallon water tank located
in the tower. (WRHP, Warehouse and Jobbers NR
Historic District)
77

MULLEN COURT
1140-1150 N. Topeka Avenue
Built in 1949, the Mullen Court Apartments
is an example of a multi-family residence built in
Wichita in the Moderne style. Its location in one
of Wichita’s older center city residential neighbor-
hoods and its architectural style reflect the con-
struction of new apartment buildings during this
period to accommodate Wichita’s rapidly growing
population. J. B. Muller and J.C. Lamb erected the
building for local apartment developer/manager
Mrs. Eva Mercer Gilham. The buff brick walls, low
horizontal form, glass block sidelights and horizon-
tal muntins convey the building’s Moderne styling.
(RHKP, NRHP)
78

MUNGER HOUSE
Old Cowtown Museum
1871 Sim Park Drive
This one-and-one-half-story log structure is
considered to be the first house in Wichita. It was
constructed of square-hewn cottonwood logs by
Darius S. Munger, an early resident and founding
father of the city. The house sits on a foundation of
rubble stone with mortar consisting of clamshells,
sand, water, and buffalo hair. Built in 1868, the
log structure served as a hotel, post office, hall
of justice and community center. The house was
relocated in 1952 to the grounds of Old Cowtown
Museum. (RHKP, NRHP)
79

NEWBERN/GORE HOUSE
400 S. Roosevelt
The Newbern-Gore house was built in 1927
and is a two-story American Foursquare with
Craftsman and Prairie design elements and has an
original detached garage. This two-story house is
buff brick with a concrete foundation. It is three
bays wide by three bays deep and has a low, hipped
gable roof with composition shingles. The roofs
on the house and garages were replaced in 1992.
The brick is laid in a running bond stretcher pat-
tern with a brick soldier course sill plate, rowlock
windowsills and soldier course window lintels on
the first floor. It has a deep eave overhang with
beaded board soffits and block modillions. The
house was built by Scott Brothers Construction
Company. (RHKP, NRHP)
80

NOKOMIS AND NAVARRE APARTMENT BUILDINGS

420-426 N. Topeka
The Nokomis and Navarre apartment build-
ings survive as a matched pair, although construc-
tion was a year apart. The Nokomis was completed
in 1924 and the Navarre in 1925. Minimally
adorned, the three-story brick buildings have
some craftsman elements and mirror each other
in the placement of porches, windows, and other
architectural details. Each building has a cartouche
bearing its name. Wichita real estate developer
Claude E. Neil and contractor John Denny part-
nered to build these handsome apartment build-
ings. (RHKP, NRHP)
81

NORTH HIGH SCHOOL

1437 N. Rochester
MINISA BRIDGE – 13th Street at the Little Arkansas
River
North High School was designed in 1929
by local architect Glen H. Thomas (1889-1962)
with the assistance of his associates, in particu-
lar, Lawrence W. Byers (1905-1993). Built in the
Thomas-coined “Prairie American” architectural
style, the building is constructed of buff brick
trimmed in polychrome terra cotta. Internationally
known sculptor Bruce Moore created the bas-relief
sculptures and decorative panels that adorn the
exterior of the building. The multi-colored panels
incorporate designs of eagles, buffalo, and Native
American motifs with scenes depicting the lives of
the Native Americans and early settlers. (WRHP)
 The
40-foot wide,
251-foot long
Minisa Bridge
over the Little
82 Arkansas River
at Thirteenth
Street was built
in 1932. Glen
H. Thomas de-
signed the bridge with ornamental elements that
complement the iconographic sculpture used on
North High School. It features Native American
and buffalo images made of Carthalite, a mixture
of crushed colored glass and colored concrete.
Students at North High School chose the name
for the bridge. The translation from a Native
American word, “Red Water”, signifies sunset on
the river. The name was taken from the title of a
symphonic poem composed by Thurlow Lieurance
(1878-1963), Dean of University of Wichita Music
Department. (WRHP)
83

NORTH LINWOOD PARK

1802 E. Harry
Henry Schweiter, a Swiss immigrant, came
to the United State in 1865 and made his way to
Wichita by 1870. He obtained a quarter section
of land that became known as Schweiter farm.
In 1887, Henry and Caroline donated 40 acres
of land to the City of Wichita to be maintained
“solely as a public park.” Now only about 14 acres,
this park contains the only known original sec-
tion of Chisholm Creek remaining within the
city. Threatened by public school expansion, the
heirs of Henry Schweiter and over 3,000 residents
petitioned the City to have the park listed in the
Wichita Register of Historic Places. In September
2001, North Linwood Park was officially listed in
the local register. (WRHP)
84

NORTH RIVERSIDE PARK COMFORT STATION

1029 N. Bitting
The comfort station was constructed as a
Civil Works Administration project in 1934. The
brick building exhibits the character-defining
features of the Art Deco style, as evidenced by its
simplified form and streamlined shape, stepped
facade, iron grill in windows, ornamental detailing
executed in the same material as the building, low
relief geometrical and stylized floral motifs, and
polychromatic colors. The building is notable for
its cast stone decorations. In addition to the foliage
panels on the north and south elevations, on each
side elevation are recessed brick panels featuring
Carthalite Art Deco decorations. Carthalite was
the trade name for a mixture of concrete mortar
mixed with pigmentation and in this instance
crushed colored glass. Here on the comfort station,
the Carthalite panel uses blue, green, and red on
stylized rays. The panel is further accented with
rust-colored brick and open cross brick decora-
tions. (RHKP, NRHP)
85

OCCIDENTAL HOTEL
300 N. Main
This three-story hotel was built in 1873-
1874, only three years after the town was founded,
at a cost of $35,000. The Italianate architectural
style is evident by the exaggerated paired brackets,
widely over-hanging eaves, and segmental arched
window hoods. A reconstructed two-story gallery is
one of the hotel’s most striking features. The Oc-
cidental was the first brick building in Wichita and
was considered one of the finest hotels west of the
Mississippi at the time. It is the oldest commercial
structure remaining from that early period. (WRHP,
RHKP, NRHP)
86

OLD MISSION MAUSOLEUM

3424 E. 21st Street
Built in four stages between 1918 and 1954,
Sidney Lovell (1867-1938), Chicago architect,
designed Units One and Two and Boucher (1890-
1967) and Overend (1891-1939), noted Wichita
architects, designed Units Three and Four. George
Siedhoff Construction Company built the first two
units and Hahner Foreman Construction Company
(purchased Siedhoff Construction Company) built
units three and four. Its smooth Bedford limestone
exterior and Vermont marble interior masonry with
low-pitched red clay tile roof are characteristics of
the Mediterranean Revival style. The mausoleum
contains 2300 crypts and 55 family rooms. (RHKP,
NRHP)
87

ORPHEUM THEATER
200 N. Broadway
Recognized for both its interior and exterior,
the Orpheum is reported to have been the first
“atmospheric” theater designed by John Eberson
(1875-1965), who is credited with popularizing this
genre of movie palaces. The 1,700-seat auditorium
originally featured ceiling lights that imitated stars
and a cloud machine to enhance the mood. Built
in 1922 to accommodate vaudeville and other live
performances as well as movies, its ornate railings,
plaster grillwork, wood lattice and balusters were
intended to create the romantic aura of an Anda-
lusian garden. The vaulted ceilings, Moroccan tile,
exterior terra cotta ornamentation, and the green
tile roof are typical of Spanish Revival architec-
ture. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
88

PARKS/HOUSTON HOUSE
1111 N. Broadway
The Parks/Houston House is one of the finest
examples of Neoclassical architecture in the city.
The four colossal columns and matching pilasters,
speaker’s porch, elliptical arched entry, and leaded
glass windows at the entrance distinguish this ar-
chitecturally significant home. In 1898-1899 A.S.
Parks, who had previously owned Fairmount Cot-
tage, commissioned Elbert Dumont (1849-1904) to
design his new home. It is rumored that the house
was the first residence in the city constructed with
a two-story garage. In 1899 Parks took delivery
on the first steam-powered automobile in the city.
A.S. Parks was president and general manager
of the United Sash and Door Company. He sold
the home to S. J. Houston, another lumber dealer
in 1920. The 1100 block of Lawrence Avenue
(Broadway) became known as “Lumberman’s Row”
due to the many fine homes erected there by local
lumber merchants. The Parks/Houston and Com-
ley Houses are the only survivors of that notable
group. (WRHP)
89

PENLEY HOUSE
3400 Penley Drive
Built in 1917 by F.H. Penley, this Classical
Revival-style house sat on a 20-acre tract with a
drive lined by pine trees. Few of the pine trees
remain and the 20-acre tract was divided into lots
in 1941 for residential development in response to
the city’s World War II-era housing shortage. A
two-story Greek temple portico supported by four
colossal Ionic columns that extend over the galler-
ied porch dominate the structure. (RHKP, NRHP)
90

PHILLIPS 66 STATION
805 E. Central
In 1927, the Phillips Petroleum Company
constructed the first Phillips 66 filling station in
the United States in Wichita. The brick Tudor
Revival style architecture with its front chimney,
steeply pitched roof, and gables was intended to
blend into residential neighborhoods and make
automobile owners comfortable with their “new-
fangled” possessions. It became the standard pat-
tern for all company stations constructed for a
number of years. The station opened on November
19, 1927 and by 1935 there were 14 other Phillips
filling stations operating in Wichita. (WRHP)
91

LON H. POWELL HOUSE

330 N. Crestway
The house Tudor Revival House was built
in 1926 for Lon H. Powell, pioneer grain dealer
and civic leader in Wichita. He came to Wichita
from Eldorado in 1902 and entered the grain busi-
ness here. He oversaw the building of the Wichita
Terminal grain elevator and served as its president
until his retirement in 1944. Powell died May 16,
1954 and the family sold the property in 1963.
Architects were Schmidt Boucher Overend and
builders were John Childs Neely and Aaron Wil-
son. (RHKP, NRHP)
92

PRATT/CAMPBELL HOUSE
1313 N. Emporia
The Pratt/Campbell House was built in 1887
by W. O. Sternberg for George L. Pratt, a lumber
company owner. Cattleman M.C. Campbell pur-
chased the home in 1899. Architecturally, the
brick residence is high-style Queen Anne with
Richardsonian Romanesque influences. It is one
of the finest survivors of the city’s building boom
of the 1880s. Distinguishing features include the
imposing roofline with dormers, a square tower,
and stone lintels and sills. An elegant wrap-around
porch, marked by elliptical arches that spring from
the cushion capitals on the posts, completes the
effect. In 1998 reconstruction of the porch was
patterned after historic remnants found on site.
(WRHP, Topeka/Emporia NR Historic District)
93

PRYOR HOUSE
263 S. Pershing
The building permit for the Pryor House is
dated April 9, 1928 at a value of $10,000 for the
house and garage. Ralph J. Pryor, an independent
oil producer, purchased the home and lived there
until 1943. The Colonial Revival-style house, a
prevalent house style in the College Hill neighbor-
hood, was designed and built by Morris and Son
Realtors. Built in a rectangular plan, this brick
side-gabled house is two stories tall with end wall
chimneys. The north chimney still retains an
iron “P” attached to the upper flue. It is five bays
wide with a central entrance. Block modillions
accentuate the deep eave of the roof. The roof
is French interlocking red tile with open gutters
built in as part of the eave terminating at the gable
ends in a cornice return. It has a contributing
one-story brick garage with the same window, eave
and roof details as the main structure. Both brick
structures feature a running bond pattern. (RHKP,
NRHP)
94

RIVERSIDE COTTAGE
901 Spaulding
Thomas Fitch built this house during the
real estate boom of 1886-1887. It was designed by
the architectural firm of Proudfoot and Bird, and
at the time was one of the first structures in the
newly annexed Riverside area. In their customary
style, the architects used compact mass, curved
forms, and rusticated stone to create this house
that is reminiscent of two other of their residen-
tial designs, The Aviary and Fairmount Cottage.
A cartouche in the main chimney wall bears the
inscription, Riverside Cottage. Thomas Fitch co-
founded the Riverside Land Company with the
intention of selling home sites along the Arkansas
River. The bust of 1890 ended the company’s plans
and delayed development of the area until the
1910s and 1920s. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
95

RIVERVIEW APARTMENTS
404-408 Back Bay Boulevard
Designed by William L. Schultz (1884-1968)
and built by real estate speculator and contractor
J.W. Schrader and Sons in 1927-1928, these garden
apartments were constructed at the peak of Wich-
ita’s oil boom. The newspaper reported, “…they
have all the very latest built-in features…are deco-
rated in the latest Italian stucco...and the lighting
fixtures are of the latest design.” Garden apart-
ments are typically two to three-story multiple unit
buildings with a landscaped setting. Built in an “E”
configuration with courtyard, the Riverview Apart-
ments were designed to integrate with the river
setting and originally had a panoramic view of the
Little Arkansas River and Central Riverside Park.
(RHKP, NRHP)
96

GEORGE R. ROBBINS HOUSE

3333 S. Broadway
This two-story brick house, built in 1889
by George R. Robbins, Wichita pioneer, was the
first house built south of the Arkansas River in
Sedgwick County. Robbins homesteaded this land
in 1869 in a sod house. Subsequent structures in-
cluded a log cabin, a modest frame structure that
burned, and the existing brick house. The bricks,
handmade and fired in St. Louis, were originally
intended for John Bright University in Wichita.
The university was never built and Robbins pur-
chased the brick for his home. (WHRP)
97

H.N. ROBERTS HOUSE

235 N. Roosevelt
The Roberts House, constructed in 1909, is
a two-and-one-half story American Foursquare
with Craftsman details. As the name implies, it was
square or rectangular and exhibited compactness
and geometric precision. One-story wings, full-
width front porches and hipped dormers on one or
more sides of the hipped roof balanced the mass
of the central two-story form. The Craftsman
style, in many sizes and configurations, features a
nonsymmetrical façade and is typically sheathed in
stucco, wood clapboards, or wood shingles. Low-
to medium-pitch roofs with wide eave overhangs
and exposed roof rafters were primary architectural
details. Gabled or shed dormers were also com-
mon. Wichita architect, U.G. Charles (1865-1947)
used the basics of the Craftsman style to design the
Roberts House. (RHKP, NRHP)
98

ROCK ISLAND DEPOT

711 E. Douglas
The Rock Island Depot was built in 1887
by the Chicago Kansas and Nebraska Railway
Company. The rectangular two-story depot served
as a freight and passenger station for the bustling
community that advertised itself as the “Athletic
Ajax of the Aboundful Arkansas.” With its many
Richardsonian Romanesque features, the brick
depot is typical of Victorian era railroad stations
built during the late 1800s. The window and entry
arches on the first floor are of rough-hewn sand-
stone. Passenger service ended at the depot in
1914 when Union Station opened nearby. (WRHP,
RHKP, NRHP)
99

St. ANTHONY of PADUA CATHOLIC CHURCH

256 N.Ohio
St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church was
built by the immigrant German Catholic commu-
nity to serve the German-speaking population in
the parish. The brick structure replaced an earlier
frontier church. Construction began in 1902 and
was completed in 1905. The stained glass windows
were imported in pieces from Europe and assem-
bled in Wichita. It is reported that the distinctive
crown-shaped belfry sometimes served as a land-
mark for early Wichita aviators. This late Victorian
era church is a combination of Roman and Gothic
styles. The three doors with sandstone surrounds
comprise a Roman door with relief carvings in the
tympanums. (WRHP)
100

ST. MARK CHURCH

19230 W. 29th Street North
The St. Mark parish is the oldest Catholic
parish in Sedgwick County. The church was built
in 1903-1908 and served as the mission church for
six surrounding German communities. It was de-
signed by architect Elbert E. Dumont (1847-1904)
and exemplifies the Romanesque Revival style of
ecclesiastical architecture. Much of the limestone
material for the new church was obtained from an
existing structure in Wichita. The Peabody Watch
Factory, built in 1887, was a large factory on West
Douglas that was intended to employ 400 people.
The business never became operational due to an
economic depression at the end of the decade. The
factory was torn down in 1901 and the Wichita
diocese purchased the limestone and other build-
ing materials. Additional limestone was obtained
from Kansas quarries and shipped by train and
wagon to the St. Mark site. (RHKP, NRHP)
101

SCHNITZLER HOUSE
1002 S. Broadway
Henry and Albertina Schnitzler, a prosperous
and congenial family in Wichita, constructed this
two-and-one-half-story home in 1911. The house
is characteristic of the Colonial Revival homes of
its period. The wide, overhanging eaves with block
modillions and full-width porch with columns and
double pediments add to the symmetry of the four-
square plan. The floor plan is typical of this archi-
tectural style with rooms opening into one another.
The home stands as a reminder of the once grand
residences that existed along this portion of South
Broadway. (WRHP)
102

SCOTTISH RITE TEMPLE

332 E. First
Designed by architects Proudfoot and Bird,
this impressive four-story rusticated stone struc-
ture was built in 1887-1888 as the Young Men’s
Christian Association (YMCA). The building is
typical of Proudfoot and Bird designs with its mas-
sive stone masonry, gables, arches, and castellated
tower. It is an excellent example of Richardsonian
Romanesque architecture executed in Kansas lime-
stone. The YMCA sold the building to the Scottish
Rite Masons in 1898, and the Masons commis-
sioned C.W. Terry to design an addition for the
north side in 1907. Terry’s plan blends impeccably
with the architecture of the original structure. The
interior of the building with its grand stairway,
Crystal Room with hand-beveled plate glass, and
third floor art glass dome retains the elegance of a
by-gone era. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
103

SEDGWICK COUNTY COURTHOUSE (OLD) AND

SEDGWICK COUNTY MEMORIAL HALL SOLDIERS &
SAILORS MONUMENT
504 N. Main
Sedgwick County officials employed W.R.
McPherson (dates unknown) in 1888 to design a
new courthouse when it became necessary to ex-
pand from the original location in a former bank
building on Douglas Avenue. Early settlers Julia
P. and Darius Munger had donated land in 1874
to the county for this eventuality. The Classic Re-
vival structure is built of native limestone and is
principally a three-story structure over an above-
grade basement. A projected cornice marks the
individual pyramidal roofs that
crown the four corners and
the central tower. The tower
originally extended two stories
above the roof and boasted a
large clock. The entrances are
distinguished by arched open-
ings and ornate pediments.
(WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)

The Soldiers & Sailors

Monument, on the grounds
of the courthouse, was built
of Vermont granite in 1912-
 1913. Frederick Cleveland Hibbard (1881-1950),
who specialized in Civil War sculpture, created and
cast the four full-length statues that appear on the
monument. The figures represent the Infantry, Cav-
alry, Artillery, and Navy of the Union states. The
104 interior, designated as Memorial Hall, houses a col-
lection of Union Civil War memorabilia. Atop the
monument is a statue entitled “Liberty” which was
cast by the W.H. Mullins Foundry of Ohio. Ernest
Monroe Viquesney designed the commemorative
monument in the popular Greek Revival style of the
time. Viquesney later became nationally renowned
for his World War I commemorative sculpture en-
titled “Spirit of the American Doughboy.” (RHKP,
NRHP)
105

SIM PARK GOLF COURSE TEE SHELTERS

701 N. Amidon
The Tee Shelters are an example of “social
and recreational” facilities of the New Deal Era.
The stone shelter structure shows the influence
of Rustic Park Architecture in its design, as evi-
denced by its stone construction, buttressed base,
and exposed rafters and beams. The shelter’s two
supports are constructed of quarry-faced coursed
ashlar limestone. They are large tapering square
posts, set on integrated rectangular piers with ad-
ditional buttresses at either end, which in turn are
set on poured concrete foundations. Three large
beam supports for the bench extend through the
stone piers about a foot from the base and have
rounded ends. (RHKP, NRHP)
106

SKINNER/LEE HOUSE
1344 N. Topeka
In 1886 Lysander D. Skinner, founder of the
State National Bank in Wichita, built his elegant
Gothic Revival, two-story house at 637 N. Topeka.
The bank failed in the “bust” of the 1890s and
Skinner left Wichita. Ruth Lee, an early home-
steader near Wichita acquired the house. Her
daughter, a local artist and philanthropist, lived in
it until 1978. The house is a frame residence with
clapboard siding, pyramidal roof, and wrap-around
porch. The decorative bargeboards in the front
gable and the second floor balcony are prominent
features. In 1990 the house was moved to its pres-
ent location. (WRHP, Topeka/Emporia NR His-
toric District)
107

SMYSER HOUSE
931 Buffum
This 1919 bungalow house represents the
middle-income socio-economic lifestyle in Wichi-
ta. The Smyser House is a front-gabled, one-story
frame structure with wood lap siding and simulated
half-timbering on stucco in the porch gable end.
This secondary front gable extends from the house
gable over a full front porch and is supported by
battered, square wood posts on block piers. The
same rock-faced concrete blocks form the founda-
tion of the house. Wide eaves are ornamented in
the gable end by three brackets and the wood bal-
ustrade on the porch contains plain flat balusters.
(RHKP, NRHP)
108

SOUTH LINWOOD PARK GREENHOUSE AND

MAINTENANCE BUILDING
1700 S. Hydraulic
Built in 1935, both one-story brick buildings
are simplified examples of the Colonial Revival
style. The design of the greenhouse is attributed to
the Lord & Burnham company of Irvington, New
York. The plans for the greenhouse were dated
1931, but the building was not completed until
1935 with funding and workers from the Works
Progress Administration. The greenhouse and
maintenance buildings represent the variety of
New Deal work relief programs that were seized
upon by the Wichita parks department in order to
continue their program of expansion and develop-

ment of the city’s parks system. These programs

implemented by the Roosevelt administration pro-
vided much needed jobs for the unemployed of the
city – from artists to writers, engineers to construc-
tion workers, and men, women and youth alike.
(RHKP, NRHP)
109

STACKMAN COURT APARTMENTS

1207 Franklin
Known originally as the Franklin Apart-
ments, this brick Tudor Revival building was de-
signed by Glen H. Thomas. The two-story, garden
apartment complex is now named for Frederick
Stackman, the property’s owner. It was constructed
in 1928-1929 during Wichita’s second major period
of prosperity, the petroleum boom of the 1920s.
Several of the early tenants in the eight-unit build-
ing were agents, scouts, and stenographers who
worked for various petroleum companies. The ar-
chitect blended two popular styles of the time. He
combined stucco siding and half-timbering of the
gable ends, typical of Tudor Revival, with the ex-
tended rafters and large brackets on the entrances,
reflecting a Craftsman influence. The U-plan is ac-
cented by a central entry with sculptured fountain
and courtyard. (RHKP, NRHP)
110

STEARMAN HANGAR
McConnell Air Force Base (limited access)
Stearman Hangar, now known as Building #9,
is located at what was originally the north end of
the old Municipal Airport, now the grounds of Mc-
Connell Air Force Base. Stearman Aircraft Compa-
ny built the structure in 1929 at a cost of $42,000.
The company used the one-story building for stor-
age and display of new airplanes before they were
delivered to a client. The south façade has eight
cantilevered steel and glass sliding doors and is said
to be the first aircraft hangar to utilize this door
arrangement. The building has concrete footings,
foundation walls and floors; the interior walls are
thirteen inches thick and made of brick. (RHKP)
111

STEINBUCHEL HOUSE
1905 N. Park Place
Built in 1887-1888, the two-story, ten-room
Steinbuchel House was originally constructed for
Lee Taylor of the Taylor and Hall Insurance Co.
This unusual residence is a combination of Queen
Anne and Richardsonian Romanesque styles. It
was one of the few brick residences constructed in
Wichita in the late 19th century. Few changes have
been made to the house over the years. Typical
architectural features include bracketed posts and
spindle work on the full-façade porch. Other inter-
esting details include an elliptical third-floor win-
dow and a circular sandstone course surrounding a
window at the second-floor balcony. In 1907 Her-
man Joseph Steinbuchel acquired the property. A
marriage between Marie Stackman, widow of Peter
F. Stackman, and Steinbuchel created a combined
family that was to be prominent in real estate spec-
ulation and civic interests in Wichita over the next
30 years. The property was held in the family until
1947. (WRHP, RHKP)
112

STERNBERG HOUSE
1065 N. Waco
William H. Sternberg, a contractor and
builder during Wichita’s economic boom days of
the 1880s, built his own residence in 1886 incor-
porating the Victorian penchant for “gingerbread”
millwork in this multi-gabled Queen Anne home.
Sternberg constructed the house as a model resi-
dence to showcase his abilities. During his career
he contracted the work on more than one hundred
fine residences, commercial, and public buildings
in Wichita. Architectural details include fish scale
shingles, corner posts that articulate the building’s
many angles, dentilled entablature, and Eastlake-
inspired bargeboards. The Sternberg House is one
of the few remaining homes of this elaborate style
in the city. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
113

STONER APARTMENTS
938-40 N. Market
The Stoner Apartment Building was de-
signed by Wichita architect, Fred G. McCune and
built in 1909 by the Wichita contracting firm,
Wenzel Contracting Company. The two-story
brick building is nominated for its architecture as
an example of early Wichita multi-family apart-
ment buildings. The property also has galleried
porches and landscaping elements typical of the
style. (RHKP, NRHP)
114

STOPHER APARTMENTS
2505 E. Douglas
Harry D. Gaines hired contractor Lincoln
Nason to build the Stopher Apartment Building
in 1924. It is a purpose-built two-story rectangular
brick building with a center hall having a para-
peted flat roof, red tile mansard cornice, a wood
entablature that serves as a continuous lintel band
above the windows on the second floor. A brick
soldier course creates a belt course demarcating
the water table. It is one of five apartments built
by H.D. Gaines. (RHKP, NRHP)
115

SUNNYSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

3003 E. Kellogg
The school district hired local architect
Lorentz Schmidt and the firm Vandenburg and
Pauley to construct the building. Construction was
completed in early 1917, and additions were added
in 1920 and 1923. The growing neighborhood was
impacted by the expansion of Kellogg Avenue in
1955, and as traffic increased, it was no longer
possible for pedestrians to safely cross Kellogg.
In 1977, the highway was expanded to six lanes
and safety dictated that a pedestrian walkway be
constructed to allow students and others to cross
Kellogg near Sunnyside School. Despite strong op-
position from the neighborhood, Sunnyside School
closed in 1996. It was nominated as part of the
“Historic Public Schools of Kansas” multiple prop-
erty listing for its association with local education
and its architecture. (RHKP, NRHP)
116

TWENTIETH CENTURY CLUB

536 N. Broadway
Originally a Colonial Revival style residence,
built in 1886-1887 this property became the home
of the Twentieth Century Club, a women’s group
that supported literary, educational and scientific
undertakings, and fine arts. The Club purchased
the house in 1923 and in 1925 constructed a two-
story brick addition on the east side. In 1931, an
auditorium with seating capacity of 700 was con-
structed on the east side of the first addition. The
architectural firm of Schmidt, Boucher and Over-
end designed the auditorium in an Art Deco style
with Spanish influences. (WRHP, RHKP)
117

U.S. POST OFFICE AND FEDERAL BUILDING

401 N. Market
Construction on the U.S. Post Office and
Federal Building began in 1930 and was completed
in 1932 at a cost of $1.2 million dollars. James A.
Wetmore (1863-1940) was the architect. At the
opening, the bunting-draped structure was the fo-
cus of a parade and patriotic celebration attended
by thousands of Wichitans. The four-story, Art
Deco, Indiana limestone building originally housed
the U.S. Post Office, the Federal District Court,
and other U.S. government offices. It is construct-
ed of ashlar limestone with massive towers at the
corners on the south elevation. Incised decorative
motifs mark the tower entablatures and friezes
above the windows. Between 1936 and 1942, the
Treasury Department sponsored a project to com-
mission artwork for newly constructed post offices.
Works by J. Ward Lockwood of Atchison, Kansas
(“Pioneers in Kansas”) and Richard Haines of
Marion, Iowa (“Kansas Farming”) were selected for
the Wichita Federal Building. These oil-on-canvas
murals are located in the first floor area originally
occupied by the Post Office. (RHKP, NRHP)
118

UNIVERSITY HALL (DAVIS HALL)

2100 University
University Hall, located on the campus of
Friends University, was constructed between 1886
and 1888 for the new Garfield University. After
years of financial difficulty, James M. Davis of St.
Louis purchased the building in 1898 as a gift to
the Kansas Society of Friends under the condition
that the city would donate additional land for the
university. The structure was subsequently named
for him. The Richardsonian Romanesque structure
is the first and largest of the public buildings de-
signed by Proudfoot and Bird. Significant architec-
tural elements include an imposing 148-foot clock
tower, multiple circular towers, limestone trim, and
an ornate stone cornice. Round arches mark the
central windows and main entrance to the build-
ing. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
119

W.O. VAN ARSDALE HOUSE

201 N. Broadview
This Italian Renaissance Revival style resi-
dence was designed by Lorentz Schmidt (1884-
1952) and built by Harold Underhill (1891-1967)
in 1921-22. The low-hipped roof covered with red
Spanish tile has wide overhanging eaves with deco-
rative brackets. Open porches on the north and
south elevations feature carved stone columns with
Chinese dragon fish capitals. The south eleva-
tion features a polygonal bay for an interior stair.
(RHKP, NRHP)
120

VIRGINIA APARTMENT BUILDING

401-405 E. Third Street
Constructed in 1917-1918 for Wichita devel-
oper Elmer Reece by Dieter and Wenzel Construc-
tion Company, the red brick apartment building
is an excellent adaptation of the Craftsman style.
Newspaper accounts mention the modern technol-
ogy of the structure – firewalls between the three
sections, electrical outlets in the baseboards and
an electric light at the southeast corner of the
building that burned all night. Dieter and Wenzel
built many other notable buildings in Wichita.
Union Station is one of the few that have survived.
(RHKP, NRHP)
121

JUDGE WALL HOUSE

622 N. St. Francis
Attorney Thomas B. Wall was appointed Dis-
trict Court Judge in 1885 at the age of 28, and at
the time, was the youngest district court judge in
Kansas. Noted for his aid to aspiring young lawyers
and his incorruptible support of the judicial system,
Wall was also active in civic affairs and national
politics. Judge Wall built this home in 1887 and
expanded it in 1898 in preparation for his mar-
riage. He lived there until his death in 1906. The
house demonstrates symmetry of style that is not
typical of high Queen Anne period, but it retains
dominant characteristics of the style such as the
wrap-around porch, hipped roof, second floor bal-
cony, and shingles and decorative bargeboards in
the gable ends. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
122

WEY MANSION
1751 N. Park Place
Herman Wey hired architect Sherman Bond
(1857-1958) to design this home in 1909 for his
large family. Wey, a retired entrepreneur, had estab-
lished a series of hardware and lumber companies
in Kansas and Oklahoma that were managed by
his sons. A newspaper article at the time mentions
that he applied for a building permit “for one of
the handsomest residences that has been erected
in Wichita for some months. It will be …a two-
story and attic building of twelve rooms….” The
Wey house is an example of the Eclectic Classical
Revival style. The hipped roof is marked on two
corners by pedimented gables above projecting
three-sided wings. An unusual curvilinear dormer
is located between the gables. Corinthian columns
support a wide architrave. The home remained in
the Wey family until 1968. (WRHP, Park Place/
Fairview NR Historic District)
 WHEELER, KELLY, HAGNY
BUILDING
120 S. Market
Construc-
123 tion on this
Chicago Com-
mercial style
building began in
1919 and it was
formally opened
as the new year
began in Janu-
ary of 1921. The
seven-story building is clad in red brick with
carved limestone trim and features oculus windows
that embellish the upper façade. The Indiana lime-
stone cornice is detailed with scroll modillions. All
windows above the second floor were originally
hand-blown American glass. When the building
was complete, the seventh floor was occupied by
the Wichita Board of Trade, which had outgrown
its previous location. The Board of Trade was orga-
nized to monitor and protect the wheat commerce
that was so critical to the local economy. The new
quarters were constructed specifically with tall
arched windows and skylights that allowed natural
light to illuminate the entire floor, enabling traders
to examine grain. The architectural firm Richards,
McCarty, and Bulford of Columbus, Ohio designed
the building; Wichita contractor George H. Sied-
hoff supervised the construction. (WRHP, RHKP,
NRHP)
124

WHOLESALE GROCERY WAREHOUSE

619 E. William
Constructed in 1894, this four-story ma-
sonry warehouse was once described as possibly
the strongest structure built in Wichita. Based on
six-foot wide foundations, the warehouse was con-
structed with massive timbered piers, high ceilings,
and heavy wood floor joists. When built, the front
of the structure was oriented toward the railroad
tracks, thus the decorative brickwork and original
loading bays are on the east side of the building.
The Classic Revival Wholesale Grocery Warehouse
is one of the oldest remaining multi-storied ware-
houses in the commercial district associated with
the railroads that crisscrossed Wichita. (WRHP,
RHKP, NRHP)
125

WICHITA CITY HALL (OLD)

204 S. Main
Built between 1890 and 1892 of Cambridge
limestone from Cowley County, the old City Build-
ing is another important design by the architec-
tural firm of Proudfoot and Bird. It features tall,
Norman towers and Roman arches in the heavy
stonework typical of the Richardsonian Roman-
esque style. The central tower houses four clock
faces, each eight feet in diameter. This distinctive
structure now houses the Wichita-Sedgwick Coun-
ty Historical Museum. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
126

WICHITA FELLOWSHIP CLUB

204 W. 18th Street
In 1952 the Wichita Fellowship Club pur-
chased this house, which had been the home of Syd-
ney Clapp Holmes and Winn E. Holmes, a Wichita
attorney. The Holmes lived in the Georgian style
house from the time it was constructed in 1919 until
1952. Mrs. Holmes’ father, civic leader L.W. Clapp,
built the house for them as he created a family com-
pound associated with his own home and property
on Wellington Place. A son and another daughter
lived nearby. The three-story, brick home has paired
end chimneys, keystone lintels and a front entrance
portico with an elliptical fanlight and sidelights.
(WRHP)
127

WICHITA HIGH SCHOOL

324 N. Emporia
This Collegiate Gothic school was designed
by St. Louis architect William Ittner and erected in
1910-1911. This building features a red brick ex-
terior with stone quoins at the corners. Two cren-
ellated towers flank the central entrance. Deco-
rative corbels beneath the second story windows
feature sculpted figures representing educational
themes. Banded windows, crenellated towers,
lintel and sill bands and corner quoins are defining
characteristics of this style. (RHKP, NRHP)
128

WIEDEMAN HOUSE
1805 S. Wichita
The Wiedeman House, built in 1887, repre-
sents a unique interpretation of the Italianate resi-
dential style and stands as one of the last remain-
ing 19th century examples of that style in Wichita.
S.H. Reynolds, who promoted the development
of this residential area, constructed this house.
It is named for John L. Wiedeman who acquired
the house in 1900 when he brought his family to
Wichita. Wiedeman added stables for his horses
behind the house. That structure is now converted
to apartments. The house has an entrance porch
and upper level balcony, stone sills and arched
lintels, and an east wing with projecting bay. The
Italian Villa style is typified by the angular tower,
balustrades, eave brackets and low-pitched roof. It
is believed that the house was originally sided with
clapboard; the stucco was added sometime after
Wiedeman purchased the residence. (WRHP)
129

GRACE WILKIE HOUSE

4230 E. English
This two-story, shingle-clad house contains
eight rooms in a symmetrical, four-rooms-over-four
plan with center stairway ascending from the front
entry alcove. The integrity of the interior includ-
ing fireplaces, woodwork, arched doorways, and
built-in cupboards typical of craftsman detailing
remains intact. The principal architectural detail
of this carpenter-built, vernacular home is a façade
dominated by a steep, centered gable over the en-
trance that is significant of the Tudor Revival style
and applied to a very modest interpretation of a
Colonial Revival subtype (simple, two-story rect-
angular block with moderately-pitched, side-gabled
roof; dormers; symmetrical window placement with
center door; paired, double-hung windows with
multiple panes on upper sash and single pane on
lower sash; and a one-story, enclosed side porch
with low hipped roof). The combination of these
two major styles of the 1920s represents the popu-
larity of these features in a finely preserved ver-
nacular cottage. (RHKP, NRHP)
130

FRED D. WILSON HOUSE

205 N. Pershing
Architect and builder John C. Neely, Jr. built
this Prairie-style house in 1929 in the College Hill
neighborhood of Wichita for Fred D. Wilson, a
banker and real estate developer in Sedgwick and
Butler Counties. The two-story residence is situated
on a corner lot and includes an attached two-car
garage. The house features a modified foursquare
plan with open porches on the front and rear eleva-
tions. The exterior is a buff-colored brick veneer
and the planes of the intersecting hipped roof are
covered with red Ludowici tiles. The residence
retains its original casement windows and exhib-
its a high degree of architectural integrity. It was
nominated as part of the "Residential Resources of
Wichita, 1870-1957" multiple property listing for
its association with the development of the College
Hill neighborhood and for its architecture. (RHKP,
NRHP)
131

WISON-BOYLE HOUSE
225 N. Roosevelt
Joseph Wilson commissioned Frank F. Parsons
to design and build this residence in Wichita’s Col-
lege Hill neighborhood. The Wilson family owned
the house until 1945, when they sold it to William
C. and Marie Boyle. The house features a blend
of architectural styles including Neoclassical and
Colonial Revival, which were popular in the United
States from approximately 1890 through 1955. The
residence is two-and-a-half stories and features a tan
brick exterior with corners accented by raised blond
brick quoining. The roof is hipped with gabled dor-
mers on the front and rear elevations. Window and
door lintels are cast stone with Greek key and gutta
ornamentation. The house was nominated as part
of the “Residential Resources of Wichita” multiple
property submission for its local significance in the
area of architecture. (RHKP, NRHP)
132

WOODBURN HOUSE
547 N. Brookfield
Architect William Newton Caton (1895-
1993) was born in Winfield, Cowley County, Kan-
sas. Caton designed over 60 documented residences
in Wichita as well as in Ponca City, Oklahoma;
Dallas, Texas and other communities throughout
the United States. He typically used wood shingles,
horizontal wood siding, board-and-batten, brick
or rough cut limestone. Varying combinations of
gable and hipped roofs are brought to human scale
by dropping the eave line down to eye level. The
house was designed for contractor L.C. Schrader
(1900-1970) as a speculative house and was pur-
chased by Juanita Woodburn. The house was built
in 1956-1957. (KRHP, NHRP)
WICHITA HISTORIC DISTRICTS

COMMERCIAL
800 WEST DOUGLAS BLOCK
809-811-815 W. Douglas
The 800 West Douglas Block, consisting of
three, two-story brick commercial buildings in
Wichita’s Delano neighborhood, is an icon of Del-
ano’s economic history. All three were typical of
the commercial buildings facing Douglas Avenue,
with shops on the first floor
and lodgings on the second
floor. The 815 West Doug-
las building, the oldest of
Delano’s commercial build-
ings, was erected in 1887
during Wichita’s real estate
and building boom, and has the oldest intact cast
iron front of any of Wichita’s commercial build-
ings. The 809 and 811 buildings, erected in 1906,
are two of a small number of surviving commercial
buildings from Delano’s economic revival during
the early 20th century. (RHKS, NRHP)

CAREY HOUSE SQUARE HISTORIC DISTRICT

The Carey House Square District was the
first historic commercial district created in the city
and was placed on the Wichita Register of Historic
Places in 1977. It is located on the south side of
the 500 block of East Douglas and is contained
within the larger East Douglas Historic District.
The structures on this block were constructed
between 1886 and 1906. They were built to meet
the demand for more commercial and hotel space
that accommodated businessmen who traveled on
the nearby railroads. They now represent the only
uninterrupted original commercial streetscape in
Wichita. The Carey House (Eaton Hotel) is
located within
the bounds of this
district. (WRHP,
RHKP, East Douglas
Avenue NR His-
toric District)

EAST DOUGLAS AVENUE

HISTORIC DISTRICT
The East Douglas Avenue Historic District,
created in June of 1985, was designated a Kansas
and National Register historic district in 2004. It
is located on East Douglas and bounded by Rock
Island on the east and a point midway between
Topeka and Emporia on the west. East Douglas was
the most significant commercial thoroughfare in
Wichita for over 100 years. As such, several build-
ings within the district were architect designed and
represent architectural styles found in the late Vic-
torian era through the early 20th century. (WRHP,
RHKP, NRHP)

FARMERS AND BANKERS HISTORIC DISTRICT

Comprised of the Wichita Commercial Club
(1911) and the Elks Club (1925) buildings, they
were eventually owned and
operated by the Farmers and
Bankers Life Insurance Com-
pany. Both buildings exhibit
Classical Revival details. The
Wichita Commercial Club brick
building is adorned with stone,
terra cotta and marble and faces
south onto 1st Street. The Elks Club has a stone
base topped with a simple stringcourse. Its en-
trance has recessed brass doors and a green marble
surround. (RHKP, NRHP)

WAREHOUSE AND JOBBERS HISTORIC DISTRICT

Created in 2003, this district is bounded by
the railroad tracks on the west, Douglas Avenue
on the south, Washington
Avenue on the east and
Second Street on the north.
There are sixty-one build-
ings in this 33-acre district.
This collection of commer-
cial, industrial and manu-
facturing buildings is the
only remaining district of three such districts that
once thrived in downtown Wichita. The district is
a physical record of Wichita’s economic develop-
ment of the first half of the 20th century and the
vital role that the railroads had in Wichita’s devel-
opment. This district is part of an area in Wichita
known as Old Town. (RHKP, NRHP)

RESIDENTIAL
BITTING HISTORIC DISTRICT
The Bitting Historic
District, created as a local
district in 1978, is located in
the 1100 and 1200 blocks of
Bitting. There are 37 struc-
tures within the district’s
boundaries which represent
the three periods of architec-
tural significance in the city of Wichita: the boom
period of the late 1880s with its Queen Anne
architecture; the Craftsman and Prairie periods
through the 1920s; and the post 1940s Minimal
Traditional period of construction. The district
also contains examples of Revival style architec-
ture and represents a working class neighborhood
during the late 1800s and early 1900s. There is a
small commercial area in the center of the district
including an original Golden Rule filling station
at the corner of Eleventh and Bitting. The district
was designated in the Kansas and National Reg-
ister of Historic Places in 2004. (WRHP, RHKP,
NRHP)
NORTH MARKET ST. APARTMENTS HISTORIC DISTRICT
The North Market
Street Apartments Historic
District encompasses a cluster
of three multi-family purpose-
built apartment buildings.
Proximity to streetcar lines
and easy access to Wichita’s
commercial and industrial districts made the
neighborhood around North Market and Pine
Streets a desirable residential area. Built in 1914,
the two-story Kerbaugh Apartments at 730 North
Market was among the earliest multi-family dwell-
ings in the neighborhood. Real estate developer
Oscar Shirk constructed the building, which began
as a duplex of stacked-flat apartments, but was
converted to twelve apartment units in 1929. It
features Tudor Revival detailing. The Jayhawk
and Alcoba Apartments, located at 722 and 718
respectively, were built in 1929 by J. I. Graham and
included nearly identical floor plans with twelve
one-bedroom apartments. The Alcoba exhibits the
characteristics of the popular early 20th century
Spanish Colonial Revival style and is identical to
the National Register-listed Fairmount Apartments
in Wichita. The Jayhawk features simple Colonial
Revival detailing with minimal ornamentation.
The small district was nominated as part of the
“Residential Resources of Wichita, 1870-1957”
multiple property listing for its architectural signifi-
cance. (RHKP, NRHP)

NORTH TOPEKA APARTMENTS HISTORIC DISTRICT

The North Topeka
Apartments Historic District
includes a cluster of four pur-
pose-built apartment buildings
located at 625, 630, 631, and
632 North Topeka Avenue.
Built within a span of four
years, the buildings share common features of de-
sign and construction. All are rectangular in plan
and two or three stories in height and have brick-
clad exteriors and flat roofs with slightly shaped
parapets. While the buildings illustrate vernacular
interpretations of Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Tu-
dor Revival and Art Deco architecture applied to
multi-family buildings, their form and materials also
share many traits with Tapestry Brick commercial
blocks constructed during the 1920s. One of the
buildings (632 North Topeka Avenue) is a Stacked
Flats Apartment Building with a single residential
unit on each floor. The other three buildings are
Conventional Low-Rise Apartment Buildings that
house between fifteen and twenty-four residential
units organized around a double-loaded corridor.
(RHKP, NRHP)

NORTH TOPEKA AVENUE/10TH STREET

HISTORIC DISTRICT
The homes in the North
Topeka Avenue/10th Street
District are located at 1065,
1103, 1108, 1109, and
1113 North Topeka. This
district is the only remain-
ing cluster of late 19th century
Queen Anne style houses es-
tablished by early founders of
the city. The district reflects the early development
of North Topeka Avenue as an important residen-
tial neighborhood and its subsequent changes to a
multi-family residential and finally to a commercial
area. The Queen Anne style of architecture was
popularized during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
The district lies within the Midtown Neighbor-
hood. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)
PARK PLACE/FAIRVIEW HISTORIC DISTRICT
The Park Place/Fairview Historic District is
located in the 1400 through 1700 blocks of Park
Place and Fairview and the 1800 block of Wel-
lington Place. There are 196
structures in the district reflect-
ing three major periods in the
architectural history of Wichita:
the boom period of the 1880s;
the Craftsman and Prairie era;
and the post-1940s Minimal Tra-
ditional period of construction.
The four most prominent styles
in the district are Queen Anne,
Neoclassical, National Folk, and
Craftsman. The main house types are American
Foursquare and Bungalow. Several of Wichita’s
individually registered historic landmarks can be
found in the district, including the L.W. Clapp
House, the Marc Clapp House, the Wichita Fel-
lowship Club, the Wey Mansion, Jenkins Cottage,
Gelbach House, and Aley House. The local his-
toric district was created in 1978 and listed in the
Kansas and National Register of Historic Places in
2004. (WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)

TOPEKA/EMPORIA HISTORIC DISTRICT

The Topeka/Emporia
Historic District was created
as a local historic district in
1977, and placed in the Kan-
sas and National Register of
Historic Places in 2004. It is
located in the 1000 through
1300 blocks of North Topeka
and North Emporia. There
are 81 structures in this
district, with the majority of
them representing the Queen Anne, Colonial
Revival, Neoclassical, and Craftsman styles of
architecture dating from 1885 to 1911. American
Foursquare and Bungalow are the predominant
house types in this district. Locally designated
historic structures in the district include the Pratt/
Campbell House and the Carlisle House. The
district lies within the Midtown Neighborhood.
(WRHP, RHKP, NRHP)

WINDERS HISTORIC DISTRICT

Three buildings comprise the district:
1044 S. Topeka, 1045 S. Topeka and 1038-1040
S. Topeka. Over the years, the Winders multi-
generational family built and owned several houses
in this block on South Topeka; these three remain
significantly unchanged and well documented.
The grouping represents three
consecutive architectural
eras between 1890 and 1949,
and includes both single fam-
ily and multi-family housing
structures. The oldest, at 1044
South Topeka, is a wood frame
vernacular residence with Classical Revival influ-
ences that lend a grace to the one-and-a-half-story
house type that was popular with the middle class
in the last decade of the 19th century. It was built
for Harry J. Winders. 1045 South Topeka was built
for Harry’s son, Ira D. Winders, in the nationwide
hey-day of Craftsman bungalows. It is on the
site of an earlier Folk Victorian cottage built for
his grandfather, Elias Winders. 1038-1040 South
Topeka is a World War II-era brick duplex. It was
constructed for Ira Winders in reaction to the dire
housing shortage in Wichita as the local aviation
companies, Beech, Boeing, and Cessna hired work-
ers to keep up with national demand for airplanes
in wartime.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES

GROVE PARK ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE

The Grove Park Archeological Site is located
at 28th Street North and Grove on the south bank
of the east fork of Chisholm Creek. The site is the
oldest known human habitation site in Wichita.
Remains in the area have been dated between
3,000 B.C.-1,200 A.D. The site contains the ar-
cheological remains of at least three pre-European
American Indian occupations: Early Archaic,
Plains Woodland and Central Plains. (WRHP)

HACKBERRY ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE

The Hackberry Archaeological Site is located
north of Pawnee and one-half mile east of Oliver
in the Cessna Park area. The multi-component site
contains the archeological remains in a lower stra-
tum dating to Early Ceramic times (circa A.D. 1 to
A.D. 1,000) and an upper level that may be affili-
ated with the Middle or Late Ceramic occupation
(800-1,600 A.D.) of the Arkansas River Valley.
This site is on record in the Kansas State Histori-
cal Society as a prehistoric bison kill site. (WRHP,
RHKP)

PAINTED TURTLE ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE

The Painted Turtle archeological site is lo-
cated in an area one-half mile west of Oliver and
one-quarter mile south of Pawnee. The site con-
tains archeological remains that have been dated
by radiocarbon testing at 1,010 A.D. + 75 years. It
is unique as one of the few Plains Woodland sites
identified in south central Kansas. (WRHP)
ARCHITECTS
GEORGE WILLIAM ASHBY
George W. Ashby (1860-1933), notable Riv-
erside, Illinois architect, was born in LaFayette,
Indiana on October 28, 1860. He received his
degree in architecture from Purdue University. He
moved to Chicago in 1880 where he apprenticed
with William LeBaron Jenney (1832-1907). In
1887 he moved to Riverside and then on to Ber-
wyn in 1893, but kept his architecture office in
Riverside. In 1903 he became part of the Radford
Architectural Company and co-authored many of
the early publications as well as designing house
plans and building specifications the company sold.
Radford’s Artistic Homes (1908) lists G.W. Ashby
as the vice-president of Radford Architectural
Company.
It is unknown how long G.W. Ashby re-
mained with Radford Architectural Company.
Ashby maintained separate offices in the same
buildings as the Radford Architectural Company
– the Green Block in Riverside and later in the
Medinah Building in Chicago. He published his
own book, Ashby’s Design of Schools and Libraries
in 1909.
He formed an architecture firm with his son,
William B. Ashby and another architect whose
last name was Schultze in Berwyn, Illinois. They
specialized in the design of residences, schools, mu-
nicipal and commercial buildings. With only one
exception, every grade school in Berwyn, Cicero,
Stickney and Lyons was designed by G.W. Ashby.
He practiced architecture until his death in 1933.

GLENN E. BENEDICK
Glenn E. Benedick (1915-2001) was born
in Plainview, Kansas on September 19, 1915. His
family lived in Arizona for one year and then
moved to Manhattan, Kansas. He completed pub-
lic school in Manhattan and received his architec-
ture and architectural engineering degrees from
Kansas State University in 1938. He worked for the
Army Corps of Engineers during WWII and met
his wife Betty in Utah. He learned his craft work-
ing with William N. Caton (1895-1993). He also
worked with Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) on
the Dymaxion House. Benedick designed schools,
churches and houses and in later years took up
woodcarving. He retired in 1984 and sold his
practice to his nephew Richard Kraybill (1945- ).
Glenn Benedick died on December 21, 2001 and is
buried in Kensington Garden Cemetery.

WILLIAM NEWTON CATON

William N. Caton (1895-1993) was born in
Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas on January 27,
1985 to Harry A. and Lola McCampbell Caton.
William graduated from Winfield High School in
1913 and attended Kansas State College earning a
degree in Engineering in 1917. He enlisted in the
U.S. Army Air Corps and did a tour in England in
the Signal Corps. The small churches and houses
in England are reflected in his designs. He typically
used wood shingles, horizontal wood siding, board-
and-batten, brick or rough cut limestone. Varying
combinations of gable and hipped roofs are often
brought to human scale by dropping the eave line
down to eye level. Interior finishes include the use
of exposed masonry.
When he came home from the war, Caton
married his childhood sweetheart and went to work
in the family monument business. Shortly after his
marriage, his wife died and he moved in with his
parents. His first foray into architecture was design-
ing and building a house and several smaller struc-
tures for his parents.
He opened his architecture practice in Win-
field in 1924. He designed churches, mansions,
modest homes and rental housing. He survived the
Depression through public work and mausoleum
commissions. Caton designed over 60 documented
residences in Wichita (See appendix) as well as in
Winfield, Kansas; Ponca City, Oklahoma; Dallas,
Texas and other communities throughout the
United States. In 1950 Don Potter and Bob Yadon
joined the firm and in 1956 they became partners
in Caton Yadon & Potter. Caton sold his interest
in the firm to Yadon and Potter upon his retire-
ment in 1966 for the whopping price of 50 cents
each. Caton continued to be involved with small
projects until his death on December 9, 1993.
Other Wichita architects that trained with Caton
were Glenn E. Benedick (1915-2001) and Uel C.
Ramey (1918-). Caton is buried in Highland
Cemetery in Winfield, Kansas.

SHERMAN G. BOND
Sherman G. Bond (1867-1958) moved to
Wichita in 1903; he was 34 years old. His oc-
cupation in the 1904 Wichita City Directory is
designated as Contractor. In 1906 and subsequent
years he identifies himself as “Architect, Contrac-
tor, and Builder” with offices at 219 E. Waterman.
Beginning in those early years, he purchased ads
for his services in the directories, placing himself
with ambition among the advertisements of many
prominent businesses.
Bond successfully established himself in
Wichita as indicated by a building permit applica-
tion that he obtained on behalf of owner Herman
C. Wey in April 1908. Bond was the architect/con-
tractor for Wey’s prestigious residence at 1751 Park
Place. The Wey Mansion represents a magnificent
home of the early 20th century. On a smaller
scale, but interesting in its own right, is the home
that he built for his bride in 1928. This distinctive
Spanish Colonial Revival bungalow with Crafts-
man elements is located on Back Bay Boulevard.
Bond is however, represented by a larger body of
work in commercial structures. Sherman G. Bond
was born in 1867 in Illinois. He was a member of
Albert Pike Lodge/Wichita Consistory, and IOOF.
S.G. Bond died in 1958 at age 92.
CECIL FRANCIS BOUCHER
Cecil F. Boucher (1890-1967), was born in
Boca Raton, New Mexico on June 8, 1890. He at-
tended the University of Illinois at the same time as
Lorentz Schmidt. He came to Wichita in 1917 and
joined Lorentz Schmidt and Company architectural
firm. In 1925, the firm reorganized and became
Schmidt Boucher and Overend. In 1931, the firm
reorganized and became Overend and Boucher.
Cecil Boucher moved to Menlo Park, California in
1960 and died there on April 27, 1967.

ELLIS HAMLINE CHARLES

Ellis H. Charles (1893-1986) was born May
5, 1893 in Jeffersonville, Indiana to Leonidas and
Henrietta Charles. He was the nephew of Ulysses
Grant Charles (1865-1947), a noted Wichita ar-
chitect. Ellis graduated from Wichita East High
School and went on to study architecture at the
Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago. He
graduated from Armour Institute, precursor of Il-
linois Institute of Technology, in 1917 and returned
to Wichita. He married Margie Ruth Wilkinson in
1918.
In addition to the Belmont Arches, Charles
designed the West Side Christian Church (1928),
Fire Station No. 1 at 3rd and Water (1930, demol-
ished), Ingalls School (1927), Sorosis sorority build-
ing on the campus of the University of Wichita
(1940). He also designed several residences includ-
ing his personal residence at 1518 North Woodrow
(1939). After the depression, he worked for the
Federal Housing Administration from at least
1937 through 1939 according to the Wichita City
directories. He is again listed as an architect in
1940 and listed with a partner Ortmeyer from 1941
through 1943.
Charles moved to Dallas, Texas and took an-
other job with the Federal Housing Administration
in 1945. He left the FHA job and went to work
for noted Dallas architect Mark Lemmon (1889-
1975).
Lemmon, an institutional architect, designed
churches, schools, office buildings, and university
complexes (Southern Methodist University and
University of Texas). Ellis Charles died in Dallas
in August 1986.

ULYSSES GRANT CHARLES

Documentation of U.G. Charles’ (1865-
1947) work is found in the Wichita Eagle and
Wichita Beacon newspapers, advertisements and
listings in the Wichita City Directories, and Build-
ing Permit files at Wichita’s City Hall. From these
resources twenty-three residences, seventeen com-
mercial structures, and fourteen public, fraternal,
and church buildings have been identified to date
as Charles designs. Twenty of these known fifty-
four structures are extant. His house designs were
built principally between 1902 and 1910. He ac-
complished the thirty other identified buildings
between 1905 and 1912 with three exceptions
(1917) and two buildings in 1922).
U.G. Charles was born in Indiana and ar-
rived in Wichita in 1887 with six of his adult fam-
ily members. In 1894 after the birth of his son,
Charles moved his family to Oshkosh, Wisconsin
to take employment as head of the design depart-
ment for the Northwestern Car and Machine
Works. He subsequently left Northwestern to open
his own architectural office at which time he also
gained a position with the Morgan Company, a
nationally recognized sash and door manufacturer.
He was engaged in design work at Morgan for five
years, and then accepted a similar position at the
Radford Architectural Company.
Ulysses G. Charles’ residential designs in
Wichita indicate that Charles was strongly influ-
enced by the new rectilinear style that is known
as American Foursquare, which was popularized
in catalogs by the Radford Company. Just at the
time that Radford was opening his new architec-
tural publishing company (1902), U.G. Charles left
that company and returned to Wichita to take up
work as an architect.
Charles’ residences are all monumental in scale
and the majority of them adhere to the American
Foursquare style in both frame and brick, using
simple massing with full-width porches and flared-
eave dormers.

ANTHONY ALLAIRE CROWELL

Anthony A. Crowell’s (1865-1924) most
significant contribution to Wichita architecture is
the Carnegie Library building, 220 S. Main (1914),
which may have been his first big contract after
arriving in Wichita in about 1912. It seems that he
worked in this city for approximately five years. He
established a partnership with George W. VanMe-
ter (1915-?) and among the designs they created
were St. Mary’s Convent on East Lincoln (1914)
and Webster Elementary School, 640 N. Emporia
(1915). They also submitted plans for the Calvary
Baptist Church in 1916, which apparently were
never used.

CARL P. DUMBOLTON
Carl P. Dumbolton (1901-1990). No other
biographical information available. Dumbolton is
credited with designing the RDW Clapp residence
at 320 N. Belmont (1923). He worked for Lorentz
Schmidt and Company from 1922 -1923.

ELBERT E. DUMONT
Elbert E. Dumont (1847-1904), an architect
from Farmerville, New York, arrived in Wichita in
1884. He formed a partnership with C.W. Terry for
two years, during which time they designed many
commercial and residential structures including
the Carey House (Eaton Hotel), 525 E. Douglas
(1886) and the Carlisle House, 1215 N. Topeka
(1886). During 1886 he created his own company
with another Terry associate; Albert W. Hayward
(dates unknown). The partnership of Dumont and
Hayward produced several business blocks, a fire-
house, and the original Wichita University build-
ing, located on East Lincoln. The men worked
together for about five years, at which time Hay-
ward left Wichita. Elbert Dumont continued his
architectural career until shortly before his death
in 1904. That time period of his work is associated
with the Parks/Houston House, 1111 N. Broad-
way (1898) and St. Mark Church, 19230 W. 29th
Street North (1903).

JOHN EBERSON
John Eberson (1875-1965) was born in Aus-
tria and lived in St. Louis and Chicago in the early
1900s; he then settled in New York City in 1926.
He is best known for his designs of grand theater
buildings throughout the mid-western United
States that popularized the “atmospheric” style of
elegant and ornate theatre architecture. Wichita’s
Orpheum Theater is an example of that high style.
In 1923-1925, Eberson maintained an office in
Wichita with associate architect Harry E. Weaver
(1886-1970) as the firm Eberson and Weaver, but
listed his residence as Chicago. During that time,
they designed the Shirkmere Apartment build-
ing, 256 N. Topeka (1923), the York Rite Temple
(1925), and the Kaufman Building, 212 S. Market
(1923). The 1920 Illinois Census shows that Har-
ry Weaver lived near Chicago with his family and
worked as an architect. This suggests that Weaver
and Eberson were colleagues and by 1923, Weaver
had re-located to Wichita to represent the firm
in designing local buildings. The duration of this
professional relationship is unknown, but by 1930
Weaver had moved his family to Houston, Texas.
By 1955, Weaver had gained a reputation as an
important Texas architect.

EDWARD FORSBLOM
Edward Forsblom (1875-1961) was born in
Titusville, Pennsylvania and came to Wichita in
1905. He was associated with C.W. Terry for 13
years and succeeded Terry in the firm when the
elder architect retired. Wendell Parks (1902-1991)
joined Forsblom in 1928; in 1940 Parks became a
partner and the architecture firm of Forsblom &
Parks was formed. Forsblom retired in 1960 and
died August 7, 1961. His is buried in Old Mission
Cemetery. Edward Forsblom designed fire sta-
tions, park buildings, churches, schools, residences
and commercial buildings. His broad portfolio of
designs includes the Broadview Hotel, Lincoln
Heights Village Shopping Center, College Hill
Bath House, Wilner Auditorium and Jardine Hall
(WSU), Lincoln School, Robinson School, and
Fire Station #2.

ALFRED GOULD
Alfred Gould (dates unknown) apparently
lived in Wichita for only one or two years. The
1887 City Directory lists him as being “from Bos-
ton”. It is known that he formed a brief partner-
ship with C.W. Terry for about four weeks in that
year. During that time Gould obtained contracts
to design the prestigious Burton Campbell and J.O.
Davidson residences on the west bank of the Little
Arkansas River. If Terry was involved in those
plans, it is undocumented. Campbell Castle, as it is
known locally, still stands as Gould’s distinguished
contribution to Wichita.

RAYMOND M. HARMON
Raymond M. Harmon (1915-1983) grew
up in Wichita and was the son of railroad postal
clerk Raymond Harmon, Sr. and his wife Lillian
Harmon. He married his wife Erlis and by 1940
he had opened an architectural firm at 116 S.
Main in Wichita. His architectural career was well
launched with the design of the Dunbar Theater
in 1941. Later in his career, Harmon practiced
engineering, becoming president of Harmon and
Beckett Engineers.

ARTHUR B. HARRIS
Arthur B. Harris (1898-1957) was born and
raised on a farm in Sumner County, Kansas. He
attended Kansas University and graduated in 1923
with a degree in Architecture. After marrying
Hazel Walcher of South Haven, Kansas, he settled
his family permanently in Wichita in 1927. He
soon found employment with architect Glen H.
Thomas and his first big project was involvement
in the design of the new Wichita North High
School. Arthur Harris was associated with Thomas
throughout his career, becoming a full partner in
1944 (Thomas & Harris). Harris’ work spans many
important Wichita structures including Alcott
Elementary School (1930), John Marshall Interme-
diate School (1939), Huston Nurses Home, Wes-
ley Hospital (1940), Grace Presbyterian Church
(1946), St. Patrick’s Church (1950), and First
Baptist Church (1950). In 1950 Roy E. Calvin,
Jr. joined the partnership (Thomas, Harris, Calvin
& Associates). Structures attributed to that firm
include West High School (1951), Mid-Continent
Airport, Administration/Service Building, (1952),
and Sedgwick County Courthouse (1957). Arthur
B. Harris died in 1957 and is interred in Wichita
Park Cemetery. Glen H. Thomas died in 1962.
Calvin, surviving them both, formed his own com-
pany Calvin, Perkins, and Jones. Glen C. Thomas
(1922-2008) and Robert B. Harris (1927- ), sons
of the founders, worked in their fathers’ company
and continued the legacy with partners Charles
Ash (1917-2009) and Claude Mason (1924- ),
subsequently forming Thomas Harris Ash & Ma-
son.

WILLIAM BUTTS ITTNER

William Ittner (1856-1936) was born and
reared in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended the
Manual Training School of Washington Univer-
sity after high school and then went on to Cornell
University and received a degree in architecture
in 1887. From 1910 through 1916 Ittner was the
Architect of the St. Louis Board of Education and
designed all public schools during that time period.
He became a well-known for his school building
architecture and designed more than 500 schools
built in 115 cities in 29 states. Wichita High
School is the one of three schools in Kansas at-
tributed to him. The other two are located in
Lawrence, Kansas.

SIDNEY LOVELL
Sidney Lovell (1866-1938) was born and
raised in Racine, Wisconsin and upon graduating
high school became an architect’s apprentice in
that city. In 1883, Lovell apprenticed with Col.
J.M. Wood of Chicago who was an established
architect known for theaters and public build-
ings. That association became Wood and Lovell
in 1891. The first mausoleum Lovell designed is
the Community Mausoleum in Chicago’s Rosehill
Cemetery, which reportedly was the prototype for
the mausoleum at Forest Lawn in Glendale, Cali-
fornia. Lovell designed units 1 and 2 of the Old
Mission Mausoleum in Wichita which were under
construction from 1918 through 1922 and 1927
through 1929 respectively.

GEORGE E. MACKAY
No biographical information is known about
George E. Mackay (? - ?), other than the fact that
he was one of a cadre of architects employed by
the S.H. Kress Company. The architectural divi-
sion operated from about 1905 until 1944. During
that time, company architects designed the exteri-
ors and interiors of over 200 Kress stores. Mackay
is known to have designed the store at 224 E.
Douglas in Wichita (1929) as well as the store in
Montgomery, Alabama (1929).

WILLIAM M. MAMPE
William M. Mampe (1881-1932) was born in
Germany and immigrated to the United States in
1907. In 1910 he was living in Winfield, KS and
by 1913 had moved to Wichita. He designed the
Pacific Hotel (1913) and the Eagle’s Lodge #132
(1916). His World War I draft registration card
shows him living in the Broadmoor Hotel in
Kansas City, Missouri and his occupation as school
architect for the Kansas towns, McPherson and
Anthony. He designed the McPherson Carnegie
Library (1917) and two buildings on the Tabor
College campus in Hillsboro (ca. 1920). He died
in St. Louis, Missouri in 1932.

JAMES BARNEY MARSH

Originally an Iowa bridge salesman, James
Barney Marsh (ca. 1854-1936), is responsible for
hundreds of concrete arch bridges of his own de-
sign. Between 1910 and 1930 he built distinctive
“Rainbow Arch” bridges throughout the mid-west-
ern and western states that are now recognized as
structurally sophisticated as well as aesthetically
pleasing. Over 30 Marsh Arch bridges remain in
Kansas including the exceptional eight-span John
Mack Bridge in Wichita.

MAURAN, RUSSELL & GARDEN

Architects John Lawrence Mauran (1866-
1933), Ernest John Russell (1870-1956) and Ed-
ward Gordon Garden (1871-1924) were associates
in St. Louis from 1900 to 1909. In 1905-1906 the
Morton Simmons Company of St. Louis commis-
sioned them to design a warehouse in Wichita for
their Keen Kutter line of hardware products. That
structure is located at 830 E. First Street.

WILLIAM R. McPHERSON
William R. McPherson (dates unknown)
is documented as an architect active in Wichita
from 1887 to 1888. A Wichita newspaper article
records his design projects as the Smith, Skinner,
Walters and Snively commercial block at 141 N.
Market Street (1888) and the Sedgwick County
Courthouse, 504 N. Main (1888). The 1887 City
Directory lists him as “From Indianapolis, IN”. No
other biographical information is known about
him.
FRED G. MCCUNE
Fred G. McCune (1869-1943) was born in
1869 in Corydon, Wayne County, Iowa. He came
to Wichita in 1884 while working for the Rock
Island and Santa Fe railroads in maintenance and
construction. His biography in the 1910 History of
Wichita and Sedgwick County Kansas: Past and Pres-
ent did say he graduated from Architecture Col-
lege, but the college was not identified. In 1893,
McCune went out on his own and began designing
and constructing buildings throughout southern
Kansas and northern Oklahoma. He designed the
College of Music; the Whitlock Block on South
Emporia; the Ratcliffe Block in Cunningham, Kan-
sas; Thomas Kirse Block in Medford, Oklahoma;
furnished plans for schools in Spivey, Sawyer, Ha-
zelton, and Maize, Kansas. He designed and built
the 12-story Bitting Building, the Noble Block,
Elks Club, Harry Cottman residence, and the W.F.
Kuhn residence on University Avenue. McCune
advertised in the 1909 Kansas Farmer’s Star as a
“successful contractor and builder for a period of
more than 20 years” specializing in reinforced con-
crete and brick. He died in Oklahoma.

PROUDFOOT & BIRD

Willis T. Proudfoot (1860-1928) arrived in
Wichita from Iowa in 1885 to establish an archi-
tectural practice. George Washington Bird (1854-
1953) joined him in 1886 and for the next several
years their business flourished due to the boom of
development in Wichita. The Richardsonian Ro-
manesque style of architecture, which is a hallmark
of their work, is exemplified in public and private
buildings. Fine examples of their residential designs
remain in Wichita as various stone cottages in-
cluding Proudfoot’s home, “Hillside Cottage” and
Bird’s home, “The Aviary”. They also left a legacy
of monumental public buildings such as University
Hall, 2100 University (1886), the Scottish Rite
Temple, 332 E. First (1887), McCormick Elemen-
tary School, 855 S. Martinson (1889), and the old
Wichita City Hall, 224 S. Main (1890). Having
established their careers and depleted the building
boom, Proudfoot and Bird left Wichita in 1893 to
pursue opportunities in other cities. They contin-
ued their partnership for another 20 years.

HARRISON GEORGE OVEREND

Harrison G. Overend (1891-1957) was born
in Peoria, Illinois. He attended the University
of Illinois and earned a degree in architecture in
1917. Overend, Lorenz Schmidt, G.H. Thomas,
and C.F. Boucher were all members of the Alpha
Rho Chi architectural club and knew one another
from their college days. Overend came to Wichita
in 1919 to join Schmidt and Company architec-
tural firm. Schmidt, Boucher, and Overend was
formed in 1925. In 1931, he and Cecil Boucher
left Schmidt and organized their own company,
Overend and Boucher. He remained with that
partnership until his death on April 30, 1957.
H.G. Overend is entombed in Old Mission Mauso-
leum.

RICHARDS, McCARTY & BULFORD

Clarence E. Richards (1865-1921), Joel
E. McCarty (1857-1952) & George H. Bulford
(1870-1942) rose in prestige to become a lead-
ing architectural firm in Columbus, Ohio in the
first half of the 20th century. The senior partner,
Richards, was educated and worked in El Dorado,
Kansas before making his way to Columbus in
about 1900 where he met the other two men and
established the company. Their designs are princi-
pally represented by structures in Ohio but others
are also scattered throughout Indiana, Tennessee,
and Kentucky. Two of the firm’s designs completed
shortly before Richards’ untimely death are seen in
Wichita, Kansas (Lassen Hotel, 1918 and Wheeler,
Kelly, Hagny Building, 1919).
LORENTZ SCHMIDT
Lorentz Schmidt (1884-1952) was born in
Clyde, Kansas April 25, 1884. He finished high
school in Emporia, Kansas and attended Kansas
State Normal School (now Emporia State Univer-
sity) for one year. He attended the University of
Illinois and graduated with a B.S. in architecture
in 1913.
Schmidt came to Wichita from Illinois to
begin his architectural practice in 1915. He was
associated with Glen H. Thomas for three years
until Thomas formed his own company. Cecil F.
Boucher (1890–1969) joined Schmidt in 1917
and Harrison G. Overend (1892-1957) came to
the firm in 1919. In 1925 Schmidt and Company
reorganized as Schmidt, Boucher, and Overend, an
association that lasted until 1931. The prominent
firm designed private residences as well as many
public buildings including schools, churches, com-
mercial, and university structures. Throughout the
1930s, 1940s, and until his death in 1952, Lorentz
Schmidt continued to design theaters, schools and
churches, plus commercial and hospital buildings.
He is well-known for school design; a few
of which are: Horace Mann Elementary (de-
molished), Washington (demolished), Linwood
(demolished), East High, Hamilton, Blessed Sac-
rament, James Allison, and Roosevelt. This as-
sociation with the Wichita School District helped
launch his career throughout the region. His list
of Kansas’s schools includes schools in Newton,
Andover, Augusta, Belle Plain, Clyde, McPherson,
Liberal, Hugoton, Clearwater, Ellinwood, Col-
wich and Dodge City. His blueprint record also
includes the Stillwater, Oklahoma High School.
Schmidt also designed churches, hospitals, com-
mercial buildings and residences. Other Schmidt
structures in Wichita are Hillcrest Apartments,
Ranney-Davis Warehouse, Ellis-Singleton (Petro-
leum) Building, Brown Building, St. James Episco-
pal Church and Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. A
number of his significant residential structures are
found in College Hill, Midtown and Riverside.
Schmidt also did architectural work for the
planned war housing projects during World War
II at Hilltop Manor and Planeview in Wichita, as
well as war housing projects in Great Bend, Inde-
pendence, Liberal, Pratt, Victoria, Junction City
and Independence. Schmidt died on February 5,
1952.

DON BUEL SCHUYLER

Don Schuyler (1888-1972) started out in his
father’s construction company, which eventually
included his uncle, brother, and cousin. At this
time the family used the original spelling of their
name, “Schuler”. Don graduated from Fairmount
College and left the city in 1913 to pursue stud-
ies in architecture at the University of Illinois. He
completed a BS degree in 1916. During these stu-
dent days, Shuler obtained employment with Chi-
cago architect Francis Berry Berne (1883-1967)
and was tapped by Byrne’s colleague Frank Lloyd
Wright to work as a site architect in 1916-1917.
The job was the construction of a Wright-designed
house back in Shuler’s hometown, Wichita.
Schuler fulfilled that position and the Henry J.
Allen House holds the distinction of being the last
Prairie Style residence that Wright designed.
Don Shuler remained in Wichita for the next
ten years, during which time he opened a private
architectural practice, changing the spelling of
his name to “Schuler”. One of the first big proj-
ects that he completed was a memorial arch that
spanned Wichita’s main intersection at Lawrence
and Douglas Avenues. The arch was a tribute to
returning military troops at the close of World War
I. The arch was dismantled in 1920.
Building permit applications indicate that
Schuler’s career in Wichita included a mix of
high style churches, commercial buildings, and
residences as well as modest residences. Many of
the high-style designs show influences from Frank
Lloyd Wright patterns.
 Don Schuler left Wichita in 1926. At that
time he changed the spelling of his name again to
“Schuyler”. He worked in an architectural firm in
Mobile, Alabama for about seven years, and ulti-
mately established a private practice in Tuscaloosa.
It was in that state that the bulk of his work was ac-
complished. According to a 1954 inventory, nearly
90 structures in Alabama were credited to him as of
that time.

WILLIAM L. SCHULTZ
Wichita City Directories document William
L. Schultz’s (1884-1968) career as a draftsman
for various architects in Wichita including A.A.
Crowell, 1913; S.S. Voight, 1918, 1920, 1923; and
W.V. Street (1886-1960) in 1922. From1924 to1955
he is listed as an independent architect. He is best
known for his work with contractor J. W. Schrader
in the design for the Riverview Apartment building,
404-408 Back Bay Boulevard (1927-1928).

CHARLES W. TERRY
Charles W. Terry (1847-1931) resided and worked
in Wichita for about thirty years. He moved to
the city in 1885 and worked for the first two years
with several associates including Elbert Dumont
(1874–1904), Alfred Gould (dates unknown), A.W.
Hayward (dates unknown), and Charles Louis
Thompson (1873-1949). Dumont and Hayward
soon started their own business, as did Gould.
Edward Forsblom (1875-1961) joined C.W. Terry
in 1906 and purchased the business in 1916 when
Terry retired to California. Terry died there in
1931. C.W. Terry’s company is credited with many
fine residences extant in Wichita including the
L.W. Clapp House, 1847 Wellington Place (1887),
the Steinbuchel House 1905 Park Place (1887), the
Cyrus M. Beachy House, 3715 E. Douglas (1909),
and the Marc Clapp House, 1817 Wellington Place
(1913). He also designed the elegant north ad-
dition to the Scottish Rite Temple (1907), 332 E.
First Street, and numerous commercial buildings.
GLEN HERBERT THOMAS
Glen H. Thomas (1889-1962) moved
to Wichita in 1916 to join the firm of Lorentz
Schmidt, whom he met when they were architec-
ture students at the University of Illinois. After
serving in World War I, he returned to Wichita in
1919 and established his own company. Lawrence
Byers (1905-1993) worked as a draftsman/architect
for Thomas from about 1929 to 1935 and is cred-
ited by Thomas as an important contributor to the
North High School design in 1929. Glen Thomas
also hired Arthur B. Harris (1898-1957) in 1928,
which was the beginning of a long and successful
association; in 1944 Harris became a full partner
(Thomas and Harris). Their work spans many
important Wichita structures including Alcott
Elementary School (1930), John Marshall Interme-
diate School (1939), Huston Nurses Home, Wes-
ley Hospital (1940), Grace Presbyterian Church
(1946), St. Patrick’s Church (1950), and First
Baptist Church (1950). Roy E. Calvin, Jr. (1920-
1982) joined the partnership in 1950 (Thomas,
Harris, Calvin & Associates). Structures attributed
to that firm include West High School (1951),
Mid-Continent Airport, Administration/Service
Building, (1952), and Sedgwick County Court-
house (1957). Glen H. Thomas died in 1962, hav-
ing outlived Arthur Harris. Calvin, survived them
both and formed his own company Calvin, Perkins,
and Jones. Glen C. Thomas (1922-2008) and Rob-
ert B. Harris (1927- ), sons of the founders, had
worked in their fathers’ company and continued
the legacy with partners Charles Ash (1917-2009)
and Claude Mason (1924- ), subsequently form-
ing Thomas Harris Ash & Mason.

EDWARD TILTON
Edward Tilton (1861-1933), a nationally
known architect, made his contribution to Wichita
in 1917 when he designed a new Kansas Masonic
Home, 401 S. Seneca. Tilton was a founder of the
National Beaux Arts Society of Architects and
designer of the U.S. Immigration Station on El-
lis Island. He is most noted as a key architect in
Andrew Carnegie’s philanthropic quest to provide
hundreds of public libraries across the United
States. Tilton’s philosophy that “A library building
should combine aesthetic and practical; the former
to allure, the latter to satisfy” was the basis of his
many library designs in states such Pennsylvania,
Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, including 15 in
Cleveland, and in Washington, DC.

SAMUEL SIEGFRIED VOIGT

S. S. Voigt (1885-1937) was born in Leipzig,
Germany and arrived in Wichita in 1896 with
his parents Carl and Anna. Voigt completed an
architectural and engineering degree from an In-
ternational Correspondence in 1909. He married
Florence English of Marysville, Ohio in 1912. He
worked as a draftsman for Wichita architect Fred
G. McCune (1869-1943). While working for Mc-
Cune, the firm designed and built a large num-
ber of buildings in Wichita and the surrounding
area. In 1913 Voigt established his own practice
as an architect and engineer. According to the
1929 Who’s Who in Wichita, Voigt designed more
than 400 schools, 200 churches and numerous
residences. He has completed designs in Kansas,
Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas. He died Novem-
ber 17, 1937 in Wichita.

JOSIAH (or JOSHUA) WALKER

Josiah (or Joshua) Walker (ca. 1860-1923) is
reputed to have been the architect of the Arkansas
Valley Lodge #21, 615 N. Main (1910) and the
Calvary Baptist Church, 601 N. Water (1917).
No documentation has been found to substanti-
ate this. It is known that he was a member of the
Calvary Baptist Church, a Mason, and that he
attended the cornerstone ceremonies of the lodge
building. His obituary states, “He was a bricklayer
and plasterer by trade and ran a boarding house
attended the cornerstone ceremonies of the lodge
building. His obituary states, “He was a bricklayer
and plasterer by trade and ran a boarding house and
real estate office.” Walker appears to have been an
active member of his community and it is assumed
by this that at the very least, he was involved in the
efforts to raise the two important structures. Due to
the fact that he was a skilled laborer, it is possible
that he was a subcontractor for the masonry work.

JAMES A. WETMORE
James A. Wetmore (1863-1940) served as the Acting
Supervising Architect for the United States Treasury
from 1915 to 1933. Wetmore was responsible for
the passage of the 1926 Public Buildings Act, which
prompted the construction of the $300,000,000 Fed-
eral Triangle project and other important buildings in
the District of Columbia. Wetmore is credited with
overseeing the design of more than 2,000 post offices
and other public buildings across the country during
his tenure, including the U.S. Post Office and Fed-
eral Building in Wichita (1932).

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) is considered
the preeminent American architect. Wright was born
in Richard Center, Wisconsin on June 8, 1867. He
attended engineering school at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison, but never completed his degree.
He began his career with minimal formal training
and a drafting position in the firm of Adler & Sul-
livan in Chicago. Eventually his own studio became
the workplace for many of his colleagues as they de-
veloped the Prairie School of architecture. Wright’s
work spanned more than sixty years and included
two designs for residences and a university building
in Wichita. In 1915 he accepted a commission for
the Henry J. Allen House, which was built at 255
N. Roosevelt. It is considered the last of his Prairie
Houses. By 1935 his experiments with well-designed
homes for people of modest means attracted Charles
and Louise Hoult of Wichita. They contracted with
him to draw a plan for this “Usonian” house type.
In the end the arrangement was abandoned and the
house was never built. However, the design became
the prototype for many others built elsewhere over
the next 20 years. Corbin Education Center was
one of the last buildings by Wright. He designed it
in 1957 for the campus of the University of Wichita
(Wichita State University). It was built in 1963, after
his death. During his lifetime, Frank Lloyd Wright
built 532 homes, museums, and office buildings.
More than 400 of his structures still stand. Wright
died in Phoenix, Arizona on April 9, 1959.
WICHIT
WICHITAA 'S HIST OR
ORYY
HISTOR
AT A GLANCE.....
Archaeological evidence indicates that the
site of present-day Wichita, which is located at the
junction of the Arkansas River and Little Arkan-
sas River in south central Kansas, has served as a
trading center and meeting place for at least five
thousand years. Early inhabitants were nomadic,
following the game they hunted throughout the
central continent. European explorers may have
first visited Kansas in 1541, when
the Spaniard Francisco Vasquez de
Coronado hunted for the mythical
“golden” cities of Quivira. French
and American explorers followed
in later centuries.
The forces of westward ex-
James R. Mead
pansion and financial rewards at-
tracted the first white settlers to
the area in the 1850s and 1860s,
some of whom realized great profits
from hunting and trapping the
wildlife and trading with the na-
tive population. Among them were
James R. Mead, Jesse Chisholm, Jesse Chisholm
William Greiffenstein, and Will-
iam Mathewson; men who later
shared a vision for a city on the
prairie.
The first recorded permanent
settlement was a collection of grass
houses built in 1863 by the William
Wichita Indians. Due to the tribe’s Greiffenstein
pro-Union sentiment in the midst
of the Civil War, the Wichita
moved north from Indian Territory
(Oklahoma) under the protection
of the U.S. government. J. R. Mead,
among others, established profit-
able businesses trading with the William
Matthewson
Wichita and supplying the government agency
charged with their protection. When the region’s
native peoples were “removed” to Indian Territory
in 1867 to open the area for white settlement, the
trading business followed them, using the Wichita
site as a base and establishing the Chisholm Trail
as a route of transport.
The City of Wichita was incorporated in
1870 as a village due to the efforts of Mead,
Greiffenstein and other pioneers, and became
county seat of Sedgwick County soon thereafter. A
short-lived army post known as Camp Beecher was
established nearby, providing a market for local
businesses. In 1872, the railroad arrived, and
Wichita became the destination for Texas cattle
being driven north along the Chisholm Trail for
shipment by rail to eastern markets. This industry
coupled with the grain and milling market, led to
rapid growth of the community. By 1886 Wichita
was incorporated as a city of first class, and was
established as the region’s principal city.
Just as the city experienced its initial growth
during the post-Civil War era, so did the periods of
the two 20th-century world wars bring further de-
velopment. In 1917, the first plane, the Cessna
Comet, was manufactured in Wichita. Over the
course of the inter-war years, this industry would
grow to establish Wichita as the “air capital.”
World War II brought thousands of aircraft manu-
facturing jobs to the city in the early 1940’s, result-
ing in a population explosion. Activation of the
Wichita Air Force Base (renamed McConnell in
1954) in 1951 attracted thousands more. The en-
trepreneurial spirit that prompted Wichita’s
founding continued in the development of several
companies that would rise to national promi-
nence, such as Mentholatum, Boeing, Beech, Lear,
Cessna, Coleman, White Castle, Pizza Hut, and
Koch Industries.
Wichita today reflects the impact of each
development throughout its history. Evidence of
these eras can still be seen in the city’s architec-
tural heritage. From the mansions of the early
cattlemen to the industrial buildings of the 20th
century, the spirit of those who built Wichita into
a manufacturing, financial, educational and cul-
tural center lives on.