USA > Kansas > Sedgwick County > History of Wichita and Sedgwick County, Kansas, past and present, including an account of the cities, towns and villages of the county, Vol. I > Part 29
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The year 1910 will go down in history as a wonderful twelve- month of building. The chronicle will read like a romantic tale of twelve chapters, each filled with the vigorous interest of human achievement as applied to architecture. In the year 1909 over four millions of dollars were expended for new homes and new business blocks in this city. That was a remarkable record, and it was heralded to the four winds. Yet still greater things are hap- pening in this year of 1910. Specifically, the 1909 building rec- ord was $2,658,760 for the erection of new homes, more than a thousand of which were builded. For business structures, $1,414,- 900 was expended. For public buildings, additions and barns more than $400,000 was spent.
At the opening of the present year building operations started off with a bound. In one day the fire marshal's office issued per- mits for the construction of more than half a million dollars' worth of business blocks. At the end of the first month the total was close to three-quarters of a million. February was a short month, filled with bad weather. Building operations were light for that reason. At that, however, buildings to cost more than $100,000 were commenced. March made for itself a record that probably will stand for some years. In all, 183 buildings of all sorts were started. In the fire marshal's permit book they were
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scheduled to cost $670,000. April came forward with 152 permits, for a total of $460,000.
The figures for the first four months of the year are:
Month.
No. Permits.
Cost.
January
91
$ 735,075
February
79
100,570
March
183
669,280
April
152
457,551
Total
505
$1,962,476
These permits and amounts were classified as follows: Resi- dences, 400 permits for $756,951; business houses, 46 permits for $1,080,950 ; churches, one permit for $100,000 ; barns and additions, 58 permits for $25,575. Some idea of the speed with which Wichita is growing may be gained from a comparison of figures. In April of 1908, 41 permits were issued for buildings to cost $73,500. During the following April the number of permits leaped to 162 and the amount to $309,000. April, of 1910, estab- lished a new record of 184 permits for a total of $457,551. Fore- most among the new buildings of this year stands the new Beacon block. This huge monolith of concrete and steel will be the first ten-story building in the city. Construction work was started in February, and at the present time the ninth floor is being com- pleted. In nine months from the date of beginning the building will be completed and occupied by The Beacon Publishing Com- pany. The structure is costing $300,000.
The second sky-scraper to be erected in this city will be started June 1. The site at the corner of Main street and Douglas avenue is now being cleared for this new Schweiter block. Another $300,000 is being invested in this modern office structure. Other substantial buildings in the business district are: Butts building, six stories high; the Michigan building, seven stories ; Commercial Club home, of five stories ; new theater, to cost $100,- 000; new auditorium, to cost $150,000, and scores of smaller structures. At the stock yards $500,000 is being expended for the enlargement of the packing plants and the yard facilities. A new $50,000 exchange building has just been completed. In the wholesale district several substantial structures have been started or completed. Among these are two large wholesale
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PROMINENT BUILDINGS IN WICHITA
grocery houses and a six-story warehouse for a steamfitting supply house.
"THE MATHEWSON."
Mrs. Grant Bradshaw Hatfield has sent "The Beacon" a very interesting communication, in which she urges the adoption of "The Mathewson" as an appropriate name for the new audi- torium. Some of the points covered by Mrs. Hatfield's letter are given below :
"I desire to propose the name, 'The Mathewson,' for the new Wichita auditorium which is now being built.
"The subject of this sketch is the Father, Founder, Scout, Frontiersman and only original 'Buffalo Bill.' Mr. Mathewson's prophetic eyes were the first to see the possibilities of building a great city here. He came to the site of Wichita when there was nothing here but barren prairie. He remained, to suffer all the hardships of frontier life, and is still active in supporting the progressive policy of the city.
"I think it would be an appropriate acknowledgment of his service to the city if the mayor and city commissioners should decide to use Mr. Mathewson's name for the auditorium, which is to be the most imposing building of its kind in the Southwest. Mr. Mathewson has personal knowledge of more Wichita history than any other living man. As an agent of the general govern- ment he arranged the first treaty ever made with the Indians in this particular territory. That was in 1867, and for many years thereafter he remained the friend and protector of every white resident of the territory.
"The title of 'Buffalo Bill' did not come to him merely because of his skill as hunter, but was given him by a grateful people who were indebted to him for their lives. During the early history the colony here was prevented from securing food by the savages, who continually guarded the camp. William Mathewson braved the dangers of a venture upon the plains, killed scores of buffalo from the grazing herds, and with the aid of a few other mem- bers of the colony managed to transport the animals to the starv- ing people at the camp and the surrounding country. Another evidence of his bravery and service to the early settlers was his rescue of two little girls, who were the only survivors of a family raided by a band of Kiowa Indians. These girls were taken to Washington and a congressional appropriation secured for their
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
education. Through all the struggles incident to pioneer life, Mr. Mathewson never was known to withhold a helping hand from a needy individual who was worthy, and for fifty years he has worked and talked and sacrificed to help make Wichita a great city. I hope all the friends of Mr. Mathewson in the city will urge the mayor and the city commissioners to name the new auditorium 'The Mathewson,' "
SKETCH OF MR. MATHEWSON.
Mr. Mathewson is of tall and commanding figure: six feet and one-half inches in height; noted for his great strength and won- derful power of endurance; forehead broad and of medium height; features distinctly marked, without angularity ; blue eyes and formerly dark hair and complexion ; modest in his demeanor, he abstains from all boasting; retiring in his disposition, he avoids publicity, preferring the quiet and seclusion of private life. Positive in his character, calm and self-possessed in the moment of danger; energetic and persevering. He is a bright example of that class of men who opened the country to the de- mands of civilization.
The same patriotic blood trinkles the veins of every Ameri- can. Then, citizens of Wichita, why not execute your loyalty by placing some token of appreciation in memory of this brave living frontiersman, who so nobly withstood all privation of such life and which now stands as the result of our Peerless Princess, of which we are each and everyone so proud, and christen the spacious assembly hall or auditorium now under discussion "The Mathewson," as a reminder to our progeny and a tribute of our appreciation.
Note .- William Mathewson was the original "Buffalo Bill," and was employed for a long time in furnishing buffalo meat to General Sheridan's army. Wichita was for years General Sheri- dan's headquarters .- Editor.
THE INTERESTING ROMANCE OF WICHITA'S FIRST SKYSCRAPER.
The new Beacon building, which has excited widespread com- ment as the first skyscraper ever erected in Kansas, will house 1,000 people daily. The work which will engage these people will cover nearly every field of human labor. In the first place,
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PROMINENT BUILDINGS IN WICHITA
the building requires its own corps of servants, twenty in all. At the head of these is the manager, John H. Graham, who has in charge the complex machinery of the little city. In addition to the manager, an engineer, an electrician, a house carpenter, five elevator men and twelve janitors and scrub women will help to oil the wheels each day. One hundred stenographers will remove their hats, tenderly finger their "puffs" and powder their noses in this building every morning. And a vast crowd of professional men, business men, sightseers and agents will keep the four ele- vators working constantly. It is estimated that 10,000 persons will visit the building on business every day. During the lunch hour from 150 to 200 business men will lunch on the tenth floor in the restaurant of the Chamber of Commerce, an organization com- prised of 400 of the foremost of Wichita business men. The view from the roof of a skyscraper is like a glimpse into wonderland itself. Thirty-five miles in any direction on a clear day is a view worth climbing a mountain to see, though even here the tall building offers a superior inducement by carrying us up in an elevator. Looking down at the street one marvels at the little street cars crawling along the narrow pavements. The diminu- tive horses drawing toy wagons, and the pigmy men and women threading their way between the traffic. Away to the south flows the Arkansas river, partially veiled in the smoke of a Septem- ber haze. If your eyesight is good you can count ten bridges spanning it. Just this side of the river lies a broad field of brightest green, plentifully streaked with yellow. Golden rod or field daisies growing on some golf course probably. There is Friends University off in the west, and just this side of it, in our panorama, the Orient shops. That white croquet wicket is the entrance to Wonderland Park. There is the race track in plain view. A person armed with binoculars could easily follow the races from here. Another point in favor of our skyscraper. A , grandstand on the roof from which the inhabitants of the model city can watch any race or ball game within a radius of five miles. So we follow the parapet around its four sides, viewing in turn the Little Arkansas, the packing houses in the north, River- side Park and Fairmount College, all walled in and partially buried by trees. Trees! The eye grows dizzy trying to separate and count them, a forest of green lightly brushed over with autumn red.
Part of the eleventh floor is given over to the machinery of the
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
four automatic elevators. A 110-volt motor operates a 10-volt generator, while the public rides. The elevators run from 7 in the morning till 7 at night. Two of them are worked for two hours longer and one runs all night and furnishes service on Sundays. Almost the entire tenth floor has been designed for the Chamber of Commerce. There is a game room, which can be closed off, a main reception hall, a main dining room, a private reception hall and dining room, a serving room and kitchen. The kitchen is on the eleventh floor and two dumb waiters will carry food and dishes between it and the serving room. The rest of the tenth floor will be devoted to the Boyle Commission Company and the Interurban offices. An interesting feature of the eighth floor is the office of the Paper Mills. The mills are being erected now in West Wichita, and will be directed from the Beacon building. The Natural Gas Company will have its offices on the seventh floor, while on the second, a cigar store will be estab- lished. A bank and a drug store, for which quarters will be pro- vided on the first floor, will complete the industry list of the two- acre city, with the exception, of course, of its daily paper.
The editorial offices and composing room of the Wichita Daily Beacon will occupy the front half of the second story. Two Associated Press cables which are being installed will carry the news of the world into the building. The counting room is the southwest corner of the main floor, with the pressroom back of it, where the new sextuple press, which is to strike off the first copies of "The Beacon" printed in its new home, is being installed. When the freshly printed papers come off the press they go through a chute into the basement, where they are received on tables pre- pared for them and distributed to the newsboys and mailing agents. In the basement are two boilers of 100-horsepower each, which will heat the entire building. Another smaller boiler will provide warm water for the lavatories. Two vacuum cleaners have been installed, which will clean every office every night. Vacuum cleaners are worked by means of compressed air. The compressing of the air leaves a vacuum in the tubes, which creates a suction. So the dust is drawn into the tubes and falls into dust boxes prepared for it. Another clever invention which is being installed is the "air washer," designed to ventilate the basement and other rooms having no outside ventilation. The outdoor air is received into the basement, where it is purified by passing through a miniature rainstorm. It is then fanned into the un-
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PROMINENT BUILDINGS IN WICHITA
ventilated rooms by means of revolving fans. Not less than 12,000 cubic feet of air per minute must flow through the water to keep the air in these rooms pure. An electric switchboard, 20 feet long and 10 feet high, controls the lighting.
The Beacon building was erected by a stock company at a cost of $350,000. Shares of this stock, which sell for $50.00, have been bought in amounts varying from $50 to $10,000. Several children have bought one share apiece. At the present time only about $30,000 worth remains unsold. The first actual money received for Beacon building stock was a check for $1,000, received from Charles Waterschied.
BRIGHT LIGHTS AND MARBLE.
Some interesting facts about this skyscraper are that it takes 1,500 incandescent bulbs to light it, that the Italian marble wains- cotings with Kentucky marble bases costs $20,000, and that there are 75,000 square feet, or a little less than two acres of floor space in the building. The structure contains 600 windows, which the Beacon Building Company have provided with Holland shades at a cost of over $500. The half-acre of glass in these windows was furnished by the Mississippi Glass Company. In addition to the other conveniences of the model city, any member of it may drop a letter in one of the boxes to be found on each floor, and it will be carried to the mailing department in the basement. The consent of the government is to be obtained to widen to a 40-foot street the alley east of the building, which adjoins the postoffice. The telegraph poles will be taken down, the wires put under ground and the street paved with asphalt. Richards, McCarty & Bulford, of Columbus, Ohio, are the architects of the Beacon building. The building contract was let to Selden & Breck, of St. Louis, on the 29th of last December. Actual work commenced . the first week in January, and since that time 200 laborers have been given steady employment, while at times as many as 300 men have been at work. Perhaps nothing in connection with the new building suggests so vividly the growth of the "Wichita Beacon" from a country weekly to a great city daily as the story of the man who is writing the signs for the new building. Thirty- four years ago this man, R. D. Bordeaux, painted the first sign "The Beacon" ever had. He took the design, a beacon-lighted tower, from an old geography, and received his pay for the work
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
in weekly papers. Today Mr. Bordeaux, now an older man, has the very considerable contract for writing all the door signs to be used in the new building, while the beacon tower-his work of thirty-four years ago, is to be commemorated in a stone tower 60 feet high, bearing a revolving searchlight, which will flash for miles across the surrounding country. What would you think of a village of a thousand people, containing as residents twenty-five doctors, fifteen lawyers, ten real estate agents, fifteen wholesale lumber dealers, fifteen life insurance agents and ten fire insur- ance agents, three wholesale jewelers and ten or fifteen first-class dentists, besides the employes of a bank, a drug store and a daily newspaper with a circulation of over twenty-one thousand papers ?
BRIEF HISTORY OF BEACON BLOCK.
By HENRY J. ALLEN.
A painless dentist, whose name shall be unknown, started the magnificent $380,000 building to which "The Beacon" is just moving. This dentist was from Kansas City, and he came to "The Beacon" one day to make an advertising contract, so that he might pull many teeth without pain in this beautiful city. After making his contract, of some considerable dollars, he said he'd go out and engage his rooms and be back soon. He came back three hours later and said he couldn't get an office in town and would therefore have to stay away, as he couldn't extract teeth without pain in the open streets.
A great financier once said that the way to make money was to discover some human need which had not been supplied, and supply it at so much per. The Beacon building was erected to supply a human need. The statement that a man couldn't rent a suite of offices in Wichita was given grave consideration. Investi- gation developed the fact that at all the office buildings there was a waiting list and that the business growth of the city was being retarded by a lack of suitable offices for new firms. Nothing is so important to the development of a city into a great busi- ness center as that it shall have suitably equipped office buildings. The enterprising people of this city realized this fact. "The Beacon" bought a year ago last May for $39,000 the lots where
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PROMINENT BUILDINGS IN WICHITA
The Beacon building now stands, and began the organization of a stock company of $350,000 to put up a ten-story building. Ac- tual work on the building was started January 6, by the Selden- Breck Construction Company, of St. Louis. The progress of the work, under the splendid management of Mr. McDonald, the resi- dent superintendent of this firm, has broken all building records in Kansas. The building has practically been completed in nine months. The cost of the building and grounds will be about $380,000. The original estimate was $350,000, but the directors decided to add several expensive equipments, not originally fig- ured, such as marble wainscoting, wardrobes in each suite of rooms, vacuum cleaning, artificial ventilation, a refrigerating. plant for the delivery of drinking water in the corridors, and other items to make the building absolutely modern.
The architects of the building, Richards, McCarty & Bulford, of Columbus, Ohio, had just finished the splendid newspaper building for the Columbus "Dispatch," so that "The Beacon" was fortunate in receiving the benefit of many special investiga- tions made for the "Dispatch." The Beacon building is fire proof, made of steel and concrete, with a brick and terra cotta exterior. Its wood trim is quarter-sawed oak, with the exception of the first floor, which is finished in real mahogany. The cor- ridors are all finished in Italian marble and tile. The elevator equipment is the best contained in any building of equal size in the Middle West. Four rapid electric traction elevators supply the passenger service. These are the latest type made by the Otis Elevator Company and cost $6,000 each. They run at the rate of 350 feet per minute, and each of the four elevators is operated by a separate 50-horsepower motor, so that the disabling of one machine would not affect the other elevators. When fully occupied The Beacon building will have practically 1,000 tenants. This means that 1,000 business men, lawyers, doctors, stenog- raphers, clerks and bookkeepers will hang up their hats and go to work in the building every week day morning. In addition to this, the Chamber of Commerce will have several hundred vis- itors a day to their beautiful club rooms on the tenth floor. The only element of uncertainty in the success of an office building is in this speculation: "Can it be rented?" This problem was solved early in the case of The Beacon building. There are signed up leases at this time sufficient to occupy over 65 per cent of all the rental space. This is a remarkable record with
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
which to open a building, and doubtless means that by January 1, at the very longest, every office in the building will be leased. This building when fully leased will bring over $74,000 per annum; the cost of maintenance will be $25,000, leaving a net earning of $49,000 on $380,000.
THE SCHWEITER BLOCK.
On the corner of Main and Douglas avenue, in the city of Wichita, the best business corner in Wichita, and the best in Kansas, Henry Schweiter, an old resident of this great county of Sedgwick, single-handed and alone, is erecting a magnificent ten- story building, a credit to the city and a monument to the sagac- ity, thrift and enterprise of the owner, who is one of the best known and much respected citizens of Wichita. Coming to Wich- ita comparatively poor, in an early day in the history of the city and county, Mr. Schweiter bore with patience and fortitude all of the ills and hardships of the early pioneers. By his toil and careful attention to business, he, with his good wife, who always toiled by his side, amassed a fortune. Reared in a sturdy mold, schooled in honesty from his youth, Henry Schweiter now sees the fruition of his hopes in the magnificent building which is going rapidly skyward. Long after the readers of this volume and the enterprising builder of the Schweiter Block shall have crumbled to the dust, this magnificent building, in the very business heart of Wichita, shall stand as a proud monument to the sagacity and business ability of Henry Schweiter. Many a younger man in Wichita would hesitate a long time before hazarding his entire fortune in so large an enterprise. Not so with Henry Schweiter; with a courage that never falters, and a faith in Wichita and its magnificent county which has characterized all of his life, he moves forward in this great building. The building is a great mass of concrete, steel, brick and terra cotta. It augurs well for the future; it is the culmination of a careful, sane, safe judgment which has always guided this man.
"His head is silvered o'er with age, And long experience makes him sage." -Editor.
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PROMINENT BUILDINGS IN WICHITA
WICHITA'S FORUM.
Wichita's splendid Forum, the largest public assembly build- ing in Kansas, is fast nearing completion. The outer side walls are all completed, and work is progressing rapidly on the roof. It is no idle boast when it is said that this building will be the finest and most up-to-date convention building in Kansas. Some idea of the size of this magnificent building may be gained from the following figures, taken from the plans: It is 260 feet long. It is 160 feet wide. The front will be 55 feet high. The rear will be 80 feet high. The arena will be 150 feet long. It will be 80 feet wide. Combined seating capacity, 8,000. It will have a stage 60 feet long, fully equipped with scenery. It will be fireproof, everything about it being brick, steel and cement. It can be used for motor car or horse shows. It will be suitable for lectures and concerts. It was designed by Richards, McCarty & Bulford, of Columbus, O. Constructed by Dieter & Wenzel, of Wichita. The building, exclusive of stage fittings, will cost $150,000. It is being built by the city of Wichita, for the people of Kansas and Okla- homa. This beautiful structure will be completed about the last of January, at which time a benefit concert of the highest order, given by one of the greatest singers of the world, will be given for the purpose of paying for the stage fittings. Everybody will want to be at the opening of this building, and Mayor Davidson and Sam F. Stewart, commissioner of public buildings, hope to make the occasion one long to be remembered.
GOVERNOR OF KANSAS PRAISES GROWING WICHITA.
The address of Governor W. R. Stubbs at the laying of the corner-stone of the Beacon Building during the meeting of the Kansas Editorial Association, March 8: "We are today laying a foundation that is full of significance and meaning. We are put- ting in the corner-stone of a monument to the private enterprise of Mr. Allen as well as to the public spirit and patriotism of the people of Wichita, whose enterprise and energy are the pride and the inspiration of Kansas. In all quarters and sections of our state it is conceded that Wichita represents the highest type of commercial enterprise and development within our borders. The story of Wichita reads like a romance. I am still a young man, but I was twelve years of age when this 'Peerless Princess of the Plains' was born. Forty years ago the buffalo roamed at will up
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HISTORY OF SEDGWICK COUNTY
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