The history of Wichita detailing the history of Wichita, Kansas from the early settlements of the 1860s to the present day.
Video History of Wichita, Kansas
Prehistory and exploration
The sites at the Arkansas and Little Arkansas Rivers meetings have served as a trading hub and meeting place for nomadic hunters for at least 11,000 years. Human settlements in the Wichita area have been dated, in archaeological excavations, as far as 3,000 BC.
This area was visited by Francisco VÃÆ'¡squez de Coronado in 1541, when he was searching for the "golden cities" which was incredible. While there, he meets a group of Native Americans he calls Quiviras and who has been identified by archaeological and historical studies as Wichita. In 1719, these men moved south to Oklahoma, where they met with French merchants.
The first permanent settlement in Wichita was a collection of grass houses inhabited by the Wichita tribe in 1864. They had moved back to Wichita from Oklahoma during the American Civil War because of their pro-Union sentiment.
Maps History of Wichita, Kansas
Cowtown: Pioneer merchant and amplifier
Pioneer trader Jesse Chisholm, half-white American, half of Indigenous people who were illiterate but spoke with several Native American languages, set up a trading post on site in the 1860s, and Chisholm traded cattle and goods with the Wichita tribe on the southern point along the trail of Wichita to the present Oklahoma (and finally to Texas) known as the Chisholm Line, which soon became a legend in Western knowledge. Chisholm was soon defeated by three clever entrepreneurs: commercial buffalo hunters and merchants James R. Mead (of Iowa), William Greiffenstein (German immigrant merchant), and Buffalo Bill Mathewson (not to be confused with Buffalo Bill Cody); these people led the early commercial development of the area, becoming the main landowner of what became the city of Wichita.
Hunters, farmers and Native Americans in the area are all turning to small nascent settlements as major trading centers for the area, while Wichita entrepreneurs embark on an aggressive sales campaign to lure more settlers (customers and their future tenants) into the area , with a distinctive "boosterism" of successful early settlement settlements. The city, on the eastern edge of the Arkansas River, was officially established in 1870. Among the signatories to the city charter was a woman, the city laundry operator, Catherine "The Widow" McCarty, whose daughter an older teenager, after leaving Wichita, famous, Billy the Kid.
Wichita's position on the Chisholm Trail makes it a destination for cattle drives heading north to access railroads to the eastern market. The Chisholm trail flowed along the eastern side of the community from 1867 to 1871. By the end of 1872, Wichita and the Southwestern Railroad completed a 27-mile branch line from Wichita to Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Train at Newton. As a result, Wichita became a relhead for cattle drives from Texas and other southwest points, from which he earned the nickname "Cowtown." The neighboring town of Wichita on the opposite (west) bank of the Arkansas River, Delano, the village of saloons and brothels, has a special reputation for lawlessness, mostly accommodating rough breeders, visiting. The Wichita/Delano community gained a wild reputation, but the eastern (Wichita) side of the river remained more civil, thanks to many well-known lawyers who passed by, employed to help keep the rowdy cowboys in line. Among them is Wyatt Earp.
After the merger of the city in 1870, rapid immigration produced an explosion of land involving speculation into the late 1880s. Wichita annexed Delano in 1880. In 1890, Wichita had become the third largest city in the state (behind Kansas City and Topeka), with a population of nearly 24,000. After the boom, the city suffered a 15-year comparative depression and slow growth.
Wichita achieved national fame in 1900 when Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) member of Carrie Nation decided to bring his crusade against alcohol to Wichita. On December 27 of that year he entered the Carey House bar in downtown Wichita and destroyed the place with rocks and pool balls. Though he had visited all the bars in Wichita the night before, demanding that they close their doors, the painting of John Noble Cleopatra at the Roman Bath at Carey House had made his wrath particularly.
An island in the middle of the Arkansas River, named Ackerman Island, is home to amusement parks and a dance pavilion. The island is connected to the West Bank of the river through the Project Administration Works Project (WPA) in the 1930s.
Oil boom
In 1914-1915, oil and gas were first discovered in the adjacent Butler area. The discovery is part of the vast Mid-Continent oil province. Some local manufacturers set up headquarters, refineries, and retail outlets, in Wichita because it is the nearest big city.
Archibald L. Derby (1875-1956) participated in an oil explosion in Southeast Kansas, Oklahoma, and in 1916 he drilled a successful well in the Butler area. He later founded Derby Oil Company which has a refinery in Wichita on 21 and Washington Street. and has gas stations all over the region. In 1955 Derby Oil was acquired by Colorado Oil & amp; Gas, a subsidiary of Colorado Interstate Gas, which became part of Coastal Corporation in 1973.
John (Jack) Vickers (1891-1940) is another Wichita oil mogul who started his career in the Butler oil field. Founder of Vickers Petroleum, in 1920, he built a refinery in Potwin Kansas about 20 miles northeast of Wichita. In 1934, at 8500 E Central, he built one of the largest mansions (named Vickridge) seen in Kansas until then. In 1961, the plantation became a new site for Kapaun Mt. Carmel High School.
In 1917 there were 5 refineries operating in Wichita. Seven more were built in the 1920s. But only 3 were still operating by the end of the decade. The Coastal-Derby refinery was the last to close in 1993 with nothing left until 2010. It was destroyed in 2004.
In 1925 Fred C. Koch, a chemical engineer, joined a classmate of MIT, P.C. Keith, at Keith-Winkler Engineering in Wichita. After Keith's departure in 1925, the company became the Winkler-Koch Engineering Company. In 1927, Koch developed a more efficient process of heat cracking to convert crude oil into gasoline, allowing smaller players in the industry to compete with oil majors. The big oil companies quickly sued in response, filed 44 different lawsuits against Koch, and followed him in litigation for years. Koch will win in all but one of the lawsuits (which are then over-turned due to the fact that the judge has been bribed). This extended litigation effectively kept Winkler-Koch out of business in the US for several years. Koch shifted his focus to overseas markets, including the Soviet Union, where Winkler-Koch built a 15-unit crack between 1929 and 1932. Koch and his family will continue to be the richest inhabitants in Wichita and the state of Kansas.
"The Capital of the World Air"
Wichita's main industry is manufacturing aircraft, as has been going on for decades. The city claims the title of "World Air Capital" based on having generated more planes than any other city, anywhere - estimated at more than 250,000 aircraft in the last 100 years. The city produces about one fifth of US civilian aircraft, and is generally a world leader in the production of light aircraft and business jets, in addition to the massive production of military and commercial aircraft, as well as their sub-assemblies, and related products.
In the 20th century, aviation pioneers such as Clyde Cessna and Walter Beech embarked on projects that led to Wichita's establishment as the "Capital of the World Air". Aircraft manufacturers Laird, Swallow, Travel Air, Stearman, Cessna, Mooney, and Beechcraft were all established in Wichita in the 1920s and early 1930s - leading to a city hike to the highest volume aircraft manufacturer in 1929. Under their company , and then with the addition of Boeing, Learjet, Bombardier Aerospace, Raytheon, Culver, Belite, and others, Wichita ultimately produced more than a quarter of a million aircraft, and aircraft manufacturing remains its main industry today.
In 1914 and 1915, oil was found nearby and Wichita became the main oil center. Money derived from oil allows local entrepreneurs to invest in the newborn aircraft industry. In 1917 Cessna Comet became the first aircraft built in Wichita.
In 1920, oilmen Jacob M. "Jake" Mollendick and Billy Burke invited builder barnstormer and builder of the young Chicago plane Emil Matthew "Matty" Laird to come to Wichita to build the design of his new aircraft, backed by their money. Laird Swallow became an instant success, the first "commercial" aircraft successfully produced in the United States; Laird built 43 of them between 1920 and 1923. When Matty Laird returned to Chicago, the Wichita company was named Swallow Airplane Company. Lloyd Stearman and Walter Beech were employees of the Swallow Company, but in January 1925 they left Swallow and collaborated with Clyde Cessna to form Travel Air, whose plane soon surpassed Swallow. Stearman left Travel Air in 1926 to start Stearman Aircraft in Venice, California, and Cessna quit in January 1927 to start Cessna Aircraft Company in Wichita. In 1927, Stearman relocated his factory back to Wichita. In 1929, at least a dozen more Wichita aircraft manufacturers appeared (mostly producing small quantities - even single).
In 1927, land on the southeast side of the city was purchased for use as a site for Wichita Municipal Airport. But the Great Depression interrupts construction. Terminals and runways were completed as WPA projects in the 1930s. In the 1940s the Municipal Airport site also hosted the Wichita Army Airfield and Boeing Airplane Company Plant No. 1. 1. In the 1950s, the military took full control of the site and named it the McConnell Air Force Base. In 1954, the civil aviation service moved to the new Wichita Mid-Continent Airport (now known as Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport) on the west side of the city. Other airports in Wichita include Colonel James Jabara Airport and Beech Field.
From 1927 to 1929, Travel Air, with Walter Beech at the helm, grew to over 600 employees and operated from a large factory complex built several miles outside the city. Because so many employees are working in a large complex, it's nicknamed "Travel Air City" by Wichita residents. The company merged with the great Curtiss-Wright Corporation in the heyday of the company's Roaring Twenties and its takeover just two months before the Stock Market crash in 1929. Workers were dismissed by hundreds during 1930 and 1931 and in the fall of 1932, the remaining Travel Air Employee was released , the equipment is sold, and the entire Air Travel plant sits empty.
In 1928, the aircraft industry varied Wichita producing the highest volume of aircraft from any city in the United States (927 aircraft that year) and assigning Wichita the nation's "Water Capital" - a title officially given to Wichita in 1929 (to 1928). production), by the national trade association of American aircraft manufacturers, which became known as Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce.
- (Continues to produce an incredible quantity of aircraft, to date, Wichita has never given up titles, and finally began claiming the title of "The Capital of the World Air" - generating all other cities in the world in total aircraft production by the end of 1960 -an.)
In the late 1920s, the University of Wichita, under the guidance of professor Alexander N. Petroff, became the only third college in the country to offer degrees in aeronautical engineering. In the late 1930s, the campus had extensive facilities, including a wind tunnel.
- (The school, now Wichita State University, was eventually expanded to offer Master's and Doctorate degrees in aviation engineering, and other related engineering disciplines, and its facilities expanded to include a range of engineering facilities, including several wind tunnels, and in some the last decade of a research alliance with the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR).)
In March 1932, Beech quit Curtiss-Wright Corporation to form Beech Aircraft, with his wife Olive Ann, and hired Ted Wells as his chief engineer. Some of the first "Beechcraft" built in the empty Cessna Aircraft plant, which was also closed during the depression; Beech then hired and then bought the Air Travel factory from Curtiss-Wright and moved his factory to this factory. The first Beech plane, Model 17 (later nicknamed "Staggerwing"), was first flown on 5 November 1932. Almost 100 Staggerwings still exist, many in flying conditions. However, the aircraft that will encourage small companies to become big companies is the Model 18 "Twin Beech", which thousands built from 1937 to 1969 - the longest plane produced continuously in the world when production ended.
Production staggered over in 1946, replaced by the first successful modern, lightweight V-tailed, four-seat, single Beechcraft Bonanza engine. Around 750 were built and sold in the first year, despite a recession and a devastating aviation industry. In various forms, Bonanza is now the longest plane produced continuously in the world, still in production with the six-seat straight-tailed version. Other models evolved from Bonanza, which eventually culminated in Beechcraft King Air and the twin-turboprop Beechcraft Super King Air, the world's most popular turbine powered business aircraft. The Beech line added imported business jets from Britain and Japan, a Swiss military trainer, and also produced military drones.
On February 8, 1980, Beech Aircraft Corporation was purchased by Raytheon Corporation and later sold to Onex Corp, which named it Hawker Beechcraft. Key issues follow both takeovers, including troubled developments from Beechcraft Starship's sophisticated business and jets, and by the end of 2012/early 2013 companies entering into bankruptcy proceedings - emerging without a troubled business-jet line, such as Beechcraft Corp., which focuses only on a line of popular aircraft powered by propellers and military drones. In 2014, the parent company Cessna, Textron, acquired Beechcraft and merged both Cessna and Beechcraft (including the Hawker brand) into a new division known as Textron Aviation.
After the stock market crash of 1929, Stearman and Boeing were acquired by United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (UATC). In 1934, anti-trust action broke out UATC, and Boeing spun into the homes of all UATC manufacturing subsidiaries west of the Mississippi River, including Wichita's Stearman. In the same year, the Wichita factory began producing the Boeing-Stearman Model 75 "Kaydet" Navy and Army-Air Corps biplane main trainer. After the Boeing XB-17 prototype crash in 1935, Wichita banker Arthur Kinkaid (IV National Bank of Wichita) supported Boeing and ensured that the Boeing-Stearman plant would remain in Wichita. By mid 2014, Boeing has suspended operations in Wichita and puts the rest of its facilities in town for sale.
The city experienced a population explosion during World War II when it became the main manufacturing center for Boeing B-29 bombers needed in the war effort. In 1945, an average of 4.2 bombers were being produced every day in Wichita.
For decades, Boeing is the largest private sector company in Wichita (and Kansas), and Boeing-Wichita is Boeing's largest manufacturing complex outside of Washington State, and one of the country's largest factories of any kind.
Wichita saw some of the fastest population growth in the 20th century during the height of the Cold War when Wichita was the headquarters for the Boeing Military Airplane Company and home to the McConnell Air Force Base. BoMAC produces all Boeing B-47 Stratojet aircraft and 63% of Boeing B-52 Stratofortresses in Wichita.
On various occasions, the McConnell Air Force Base runs a 3520th Combat Crew Training Wing (ATC) and a 4347th Combat Crew Training Wing (SAC) B-47 training unit, 381 Strategic Missile Wing that controls the various missiles of the LGM-25C Titan II missile around Wichita, 388 Tactical Fighter Wing, 23d Tactical Fighter Wing, 91st Air Fuel Charging Squadron, 384 Wing Wing Air Wing, and Kansas Air National Guard 184th Tactical Fighter Training Group. Wichita's mid-continental location makes it ideal for basing strategic assets, allowing maximum time to react to Soviet missile strikes launched over the north pole or from oceangoing submarines.
Several aircraft from McConnell AFB fell in the city, including:
- On March 28, 1956 a Boeing B-47 Stratojet, 51-2175 , of 3520 FTW experienced an explosion in the bomb's fuel tank bay and unleashed its wings above Wichita East crashing four miles (6 km) NE city, killing three crew.
- On January 16, 1965, a Boot KC-135 Stratotanker with fuel ( 57-1442 , c/n 17513) crashed after a machine failure shortly after takeoff from McConnell. It fires an area near junction 20 and Piatt in north-central Wichita, killing 23 on the ground plus 7 crew members; the largest non-natural disaster in Kansas's history. The crash site turned into Piatt Memorial Park. A monument was erected in the park in 2007.
- On March 5, 1974, a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker ( 57-1500 , from the 91st Air Filling Squad, 384 Air Filling Air Wings) brought 136,000 pounds of fuel to fall 3,000 feet from the main runway, after which it seems to lose power. Two of the seven crew members were killed.
In 1962, the Lear Jet Corporation was established when the Swiss American Aviation Corporation brought equipment to build a failed ground attack warrior to Wichita, with the aim of turning it into a business jet, and opening a factory at Wichita airport. On February 7, 1963, the assembly of the first Learjet aircraft began and the following year, the company was renamed Lear Jet Corporation. The Lear Jet (later "Learjet") is an instant success, the nation's first "popular" business jet, which sells over 100 units within two years, is rapidly becoming a global generic image of business jets, and popular icons of glamor, lifestyle the upscale "jet-set" - while establishing Wichita as a successful center for jet design. The company was acquired by a series of investors, notably Gates Rubber Company who acquired the company in 1967, and renamed the company Gates Learjet. After three years of deferred aircraft production, the company was acquired in 1987 by a venture company, Integrated Resources, which was renamed Learjet Corporation, and continued production. In 1990, the Canadian aircraft manufacturing company, Bombardier Aerospace, bought Learjet. By the end of 1999, Wichita had produced more than 2,000 Learjets, and the factory was still producing aircraft by mid-2017.
The development of Jet Lear stimulates the Wichita Cessna plan maker and, much later, Beechcraft, to plunge into business jet sales:
- Cessna launched a successful Citation business line in 1970, with the Cessna Fan Jet 500, later renamed Cessna Citation I. Though small and slow, it was much safer, easier to fly, and less expensive to bought and operated from Learjet, and quickly became famous. Expanding versions are followed, and ultimately result in larger and faster business jets that match or exceed Learjet performance and capacity. Today, the Cessna business jet is the most popular in the world, with over 3,000 flights.
- Beechcraft, too, sells business jets, but did not succeed at first. Finally, Beech acquired the Mitsubishi Diamond I design from Japan, and later acquired the Hawker Business Jets division of British Aerospace (producing Hawker 700) - modifying and selling the product successfully under the "Beech" and "Hawker" brands.
In the 1970s, aircraft designer Jim Bede - an aviation engineering graduate from Wichita State University who recently developed Bede BD-1 to the American Yankee in Cleveland, Ohio, leading to the popular Grumman-American light-plane lane - returned to the area Wichita to develop and market the Bede BD-5 micro pack in nearby Newton, Kansas.
The chief aeronautical engineer of Bede was Burt Rutan - who, in the 1980s (with his brother, pilot Dick Rutan test) helped Beechcraft from Wichita develop the world's leading carbon fiber composite plane, the Beech Starship.
In the late 1980s two Boeing 747s were modified in Boeing-Wichita to become VC-25 for use as Air Force One. at the Boeing military aircraft conversion center.
In August 1997, Boeing joined McDonnell Douglas. The company moved its BMAC division headquarters to McDonnell Douglas' facility. Louis. In the 1990s, Boeing responded to the conflict with the union and eventually sold most of its commercial aircraft sub-assembly plants, and operations, to the newly created subcontractor, Spirit AeroSystems (originally mostly owned by Boeing itself), which continues to expand Operation manufacturing Boeing jet aircraft there - but without the financial burden of the original Boeing trade union contract. The facility continues as a major parts supplier for all Boeing jetliners, including the front end of all Boeing jet planes, and 75% of Boeing's most popular Boeing 737 aircraft, including all the aircraft, which are shipped by train to Seattle for final assembly. Other subassemblies for other Boeing aircraft (especially nacelles engines), built by Spirit at the Wichita plant.
In the early 21st century, Wichita aircraft manufacturing saw its roots back to the development of a small aircraft manufacturing company, Belite Aircraft Corp., on the local private airfield (Wichita Glider Port, northeast of the city). Belite's initial product is a re-labeled single-seat version of the popular Skystar Kitfox, a light-metal framed and lightweight sports aircraft.
However, at the beginning of this century, Boeing-Wichita remained the largest single (and state) private enterprise, with about 12,000 workers. The factory built a Boeing subassemblies jet aircraft (including all the most popular Boeing aircraft, 737, and the nose of all other Boeing planes). Labor unrest, however, creates friction.
The declining economy, followed by the September 11 terrorist plane strikes, and the ensuing war, pushed the aviation industry into a depression, and Wichita was one of the hardest hit cities. Of the 48,000 Wichita aircraft employed in 2000, nearly a quarter - 11,000 - were dismissed in the next two years, with several thousand more scheduled for layoffs or leave.
In 2004, following a debated worker strike, and claiming economic needs, Boeing announced it would sell its commercial aircraft manufacturing operations in Wichita - most of its operations there. In 2005, the plant continued to operate, just as before, but under "Spirit AeroSystems" - a Boeing entity made with Toronto-based Onex Corporation - technically a separate entity from Boeing, allowed Boeing to revoke Wichita's contract and union obligations, and forced the wages of factory workers back down. Finally, Boeing sold its stake in Spirit, but Spirit retained its role as Boeing's largest subcontractor - while also branched out to support other manufacturers (especially Boeing's main rivals Airbus) in factories elsewhere, especially in Oklahoma. In 2006, Spirit became a public company, and by 2014 Onex announced it sold its remaining shares.
Boeing retained much of the original Boeing-Wichita compound, however, and continued to operate its reduced Military Division facility there, with about 2,000 workers, primarily modifying the aircraft. Due to wanting an Air Force contract to replace an old KC-135 air tanker, Boeing promised Wichita thousands of related jobs, if the Wichita leaders would press Congress and the federal government to grant Boeing a contract. Although the Wichita leaders obeyed, and Boeing won the contract, Boeing soon announced it would close down the remaining Boeing-Wichita facility, and leave the city permanently by the end of 2013 - ending an 85-year presence in the city - a shock to the city.
However, Wichita remains a major manufacturing center for the aircraft industry today, with Textron (Cessna, Beechcraft and Textron Aviation) and Bombardier (Learjet) having a large manufacturing center in the city, as well as design and engineering facilities run by Airbus, Bombardier International Test Center Aviation, many aerospace subcontractors and parts manufacturers, and some aerospace technology training centers, schools, and research facilities.
Entrepreneur Hub
Wichita is also a significant center of entrepreneurial business during the pre-and post-war period, with Garvey Organizations, Koch Industries, Coleman, Mentholatum, White Castle, Pizza Hut, Tico Tico, Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers, and everything has been set up in Wichita. (Ironically, the White Castle closed all their restaurants in Wichita in 1938 and has not operated in the state of Kansas after a failed revival effort in Kansas City area in the early 1990s.) The entrepreneurial spirit of Wichita leads to the creation of one of the first academic centers to study and support entrepreneurship at the Wichita University Center for Entrepreneurship.
Davis Manufacturing invented and mass-produced the popular 1960s-Ditch Witch excavation machine - and was later acquired by JI Case, which gradually transformed the factory to produce a skid-steer loader- which is now done for Case's parent company, Case New Holland (CNH), under the names "Case" and "New Holland".
Another great Wichita industrial facility, Chance Manufacturing becomes a national leader in amusement park rides, including a racing wheel, and remains active today. Opportunities have also produced trolley-style buses and miniature trains. In addition to Chance vehicles, Wichita has been home to Big Dog Motorcycles.
In October 1932, orchestra leader Gage Brewer introduced an electric guitar to the world from Wichita using an instrument developed by what came to be known as Rickenbacker's Guitar Company.
Recent history has seen an increase in development in the city center and to the eastern and western sides of Wichita. In June 2005, Sedgwick County voters approved a sales tax hike to build a new arena center to replace the aging Kansas Coliseum, located north of the city. This is considered by some as a springboard for launching a new development center.
Politics
The Dockum Drug Store sit-in is one of the first counter-ins counter lunches held for the purpose of integrating separate companies in the United States. The protest began in July 1958 in Wichita at the Dockum Drug Store, a shop in the old Rexall chain, where demonstrators will sit at the counter all day until the shop closes, ignoring the taunts of counterprotesters. The sit-in ended three weeks later when the owner relented and agreed to serve the black customer, taking the place 18 months before the wider show-off Greensboro sits in January 1960. The first 20-foot (6.1Ã- meter) bronze statue was announced in 1998 at a cost of $ 3 million marks a successful sit-down location, with lunch tables and customers describing the protests.
Famous crime
From 1974 to 1991, serial killer Dennis Rader killed 10 victims in and around Wichita. Until his identity was eventually discovered by the police, he was known as "BTK killer". Rader is primarily known for sending letters who ridicule to the police and the media. In 2005 the letter Rader sent to the diskette included a meta-data that caused the police to identify and arrest him.
In August 1976, Michael Soles, an unemployed welder from Sand Springs, Oklahoma, set the sniper's position on the roof of the Holiday Inn Plaza, then the tallest building in downtown Wichita. During the eleven-minute shootings, he killed three people and wounded six others. The gunman was wounded by police and taken into custody.
See also
- Timeline Wichita, Kansas
References
Bibliography
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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