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 31
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Of the presidents, the records show M. W. Levy as serving the greatest number of years as such officer, but Rodolph Hatfield as second in term of service in that capacity, and first in number of consecutive terms as a member of the board. Of the secretaries, the present efficient incumbent, C. S. Caldwell, now in his four- teenth consecutive term, leads all in length of service. Mrs. E. C. Furley exceeds all others in time of service as treasurer, having held the position for seven years.
Of the many principals who have served our people well in the grammar schools, and so materially contributed to the successful administrations of superintendents, placing our city school system among the foremost of the country, we can only mention a few of those whose names and work, in many years of commendable identification with Wichita schools, if omitted," would leave these annals incomplete of main features and facts. Many hundreds of young people, now engaged in life's activities, trace their inspira- tion for learning to Principals Mrs. M. N. Neihardt, (nee Dickin- son), Miss Addie J. Brook, Miss Jennie Daugherty, Mrs. Rodolph Hatfield (nee Morehead), Miss Minnie Stuckey, Miss Emma McGee, Mrs. George S. Freeman (nee Mulvey), Miss Amy Burd, Miss Mary Shaw, Prof. D. S. Pense and Prof. J. S. Carson and others of lesser years' service, but of equally efficient work.
HIGH SCHOOL.
In 1874 Prof. B. C. Ward organized the first high school, and its sessions were held in the old frame building on the site of the new high school building. There it was conducted, without any record separation from the grade school, or distinct teachers, for ten years, or till the first high school building was erected, in 1884, and which has been continuously in use, on North Emporia, as a high school, with its many additions, since then, and will so continue till the new building is opened in the fall of 1911. Wich- ita, prior to 1886, and the growth of the "boom," was only a
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healthy country village, and contented with village methods and school equipment. There is no record as to who constituted the first corps of high school teachers, but it is known that for the ten years after its organization, or until the high school building was erected, there was no principal elected, but the superintendent was principal ex officio, and performed the duties of that officer. We find mention, however, not as the first, but among the early high school teachers were Dora Wadsworth, Mary Neely, Josie Reynolds, and one or two others.
For the year 1874-75, Prof. Ward reported forty-eight pupils in the high school department. The first class graduated from the Wichita high school was in 1879, and was composed of three girls and one boy, viz .: Clemmie Davidson, Grace Pope, May L. Throck- morton (now the wife of Mayor C. L. Davidson), and W. B. Throckmorton.
The first principal elected was John G. Steffee, in 1884. Many earnest and efficient men have held the principalship since then, of whom not the least is the present incumbent, Prof. I. N. Allen, with twenty-five teachers and about 800 pupils. With com- pletion of the new high school building, the enrollment will easily reach and pass 1,000. In the present corps of instructors is an early graduate of the school and a very faithful and capable member, Miss Leida H. Mills, whose long and acceptable service, particularly in the Latin department, entitles her to special and honorable mention.
The music department, with Miss Jessie Clark for many years its efficient director, and the art department, under the acceptable supervision of Miss Ann Mason, were established in order as the schools grew many years ago, and each of said departments ranks in the foremost of their respective kinds.
Manual training and domestic science departments were duly installed in the old Webster building, October 1, 1903, with Clar- ence J. Smith and Miss Olivia M. Staatz, respectively, as instruct- ors. These departments have grown steadily and are now recog, nized as of great value to the young men and women entering them, as they specifically equip them for self-maintenance.
A commercial department was also added to the high school curriculum in 1907, and is steadily affording the best of instruc- tion to pupils in it, and is only one of the various departments which compose the curriculum of a modern high school.
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PROPERTY.
There are now, including the new high school, nineteen build- ings, which, with grounds and equipment, are estimated of the value of from $700,000 to $750,000, and every year the board is adding rooms to these, yet the schools remain continuously crowded.
Thus have the public schools of Wichita, in forty years, grown from a first enrollment of twenty-five, with one teacher, to an enrollment of some 8,000, with nearly 200 teachers, and from one small two-room building of frame to nineteen splendidly con- structed and equipped brick and stone structures, and now rank, as a well organized system of public instruction, among the very best in this land of superior public schools.
GRADE SCHOOLS.
The public school system of Wichita is the largest business enterprise in the city, and is growing so rapidly that the Board of Education is kept busy advertising for bids for new school houses. The total valuation of the schools of Wichita is close to $2,000,000. There are nineteen school buildings, which are sup- plied with 190 teachers. The school enrollment on the first day of this year was more than 7,000, and it is expected by the end of the year to amount to almost 9,000. The phenomenal growth in the number of students in the Wichita schools has been one of the most remarkable things in the progress of Wichita. The increase in pupils from 1909 to 1910 was more than the combined growth of the schools of Kansas City and St. Louis. The schools of Wich- ita offer every branchi that can be taught in the public schools. Every convenience that can be given the pupil is given to the stu- dents in the Wichita schools. The board always has been willing ·to put in new departments as the time demanded them. The schools are managed on a very democratic basis and the pupil's advancement is in proportion to his ability to work and learn.
The primary object of the Wichita schools is not to make the pupil a shining light of erudition, one who can master every phase of arithmetic and decipher involved sentences like a Harvey. Its object is to give him tools with which he can hew out the most successful life. It doesn't try to make a success of him; it gives him the means of making a success of himself. Wichita has made
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investments the increased values of which seemed almost unbeliev- able, but its greatest investment has been in its school system. The first school building put up in Wichita was a small one-room frame building which stood at the corner of North Emporia avenue and Third street, the site of the $250,000 high school building now being erected. It was built in 1871. So anxious were the students to go to school that school was held on the day following the com- pletion of the building. The hub of school life in Wichita is the high school. A complete four-year course of study is offered at this institution, which is fully accredited at all of the state uni- versities. After completing the eight years of work in the gram- mar schools, the student is admitted into the high school. At present the handsome new high school building is under construc- tion, and will be finished next summer. When completed, this will be one of the finest high school buildings in the state. All work in the public schools is superintended by R. F. Knight, who is one of the well-known educational men of Kansas. The management of the schools is in the hands of the Board of Education, the mem- bers of which are: E. B. Messerve, president; C. H. Andrews, J. F. McCoy, Robert Campbell, C. R. Howard, W. H. Kelchner, H. W. Collier, H. M. Grafton, E. Stanley, W. R. Nessly, L. B. Price, H. F. Miltner. C. S. Caldwell is clerk.
ENROLLMENT IN THE WARD SCHOOLS.
In the public schools of Wichita there were enrolled the first week in October, 1910, nearly 8,000 pupils. The enrollment in the several schools is as follows: Carleton, 390; College Hill, 304; Emerson, 442; Fairmount, 96; Franklin, 604; Harry, 396; Ingalls, 580; Irving, 654; Kellogg, 618; Lincoln, 577; Linwood, 249; McCormick, 267; Martinson, 204; Park, 295; Riverside, 87; Waco, 474; Woodland, 105; Washington, 480; high school, 800. Total enrollment is 7,822.
WICHITA HIGH SCHOOL.
Wichita high school was organized thirty-two years ago. A comparison of the high school then with that of today would indi- cate clearly the rapid growth of the city. Then there was one teacher, one room, eight pupils, four branches of study taught and a three years' course offered. Today there are thirty teachers, 800 pupils, twenty-five studies taught, a four years' course, and
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100 graduates per year. The growth of the American high school has been phenomenal, and the growth of the Wichita high school has been typical. From the first graduating class of Wichita high school, four in number, are numbered some of our leading citizens of today. Since that time, the number has increased from year to year, so that among her alumni are found leading lawyers, doc- tors, merchants, bankers, business and professional men. From the one-room high school is traced the successive periods of growth of two rooms, four rooms, eight rooms and twelve rooms. This last state has been inadequate for over five years, and the only way the large high school population could be housed was by dividing the school into two sections, taking half in the forenoon and half in the afternoon, thus converting the twelve-room build- ing into a twenty-four-room building. Probably it is safe to say that no city in the United States has had a harder problem of handling her high school population for the last five years than has this city. Yet this has been done, and the school has held her own with the other large high schools of the country. During the last three years fully accredited relationships have been estab- lished with the leading women's colleges of the country-Welles- ley, Smith and Vassar-while the boys of the high school enter the leading colleges of the Middle West without examination or condition.
The present crowded condition, however, is soon to be relieved, when a magnificent $200,000 high school building will shortly be ready for occupancy. In this fifty-room building will be installed an equipment equal to that in the best high schools. A faculty of forty or more trained teachers will offer instruction to more than a thousand pupils. All departments will be expanded. Manual training will include woodwork, metal work, forge and machine shops. Domestic science will offer the girls cooking, sewing and household economics. The commercial department will be equipped so as to offer in modern office and business practice. The academic department will be correspondingly increased and im- proved so that the Wichita high school will be surpassed by none in the Southwest .- I. M. Allen, Principal High School.
RAZING OF WEBSTER SCHOOL BUILDING.
Razing of the old Webster school building at Emporia avenue and Third street, to make way for the new $125,000 high school
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building, brings to a host of citizens memories of their early years. The material in the building was taken out under supervision of A. Wilday, a pioneer contractor and builder, who, in the interest of the school board, saved it for use in constructing a warehouse for school supplies. Mr. Wilday is to many buildings in Wichita somewhat like the old family doctor. He came to this city in 1873, and has been associated with many other contractors in building countless structures. Like an old family doctor of build- ings, he has officiated at their beginning, has repaired them in their illnesses, and still administers at their final passing from the world. Of present public school structures, the Webster, or, as it was known in former days, "the old Fourth Ward," is among the oldest. It was built in 1880, at the same time as the Emerson school. The Carleton school had been put up in 1879.
This trio was sufficient for the school population until 1885, when the Park and Lincoln schools met the demands of boom days, followed by the Franklin in 1886 and the Irving in 1887. Two years later were built the Washington, McCormick and Kel- logg, College Hill in 1890, Fairmount (public) in 1895. Lately have come the mere youngsters of school structures-the River- side, Martinson and Linwood. The first public school was held in a Presbyterian church at the site now known as Wichita and Third streets, and there Miss Jessie Hunter (now Mrs. James H. Black) was the first teacher. That was in 1871, when twenty-five pupils attended. The site which is now being erased for the new high school was first used for a school that same year, when a two-room frame building was put up in November and December. That predecessor of the old Webster school was destroyed by fire De- cember 21, 1879. Then began the history of the building whichi is now passing away. The "Eagle" reported on May 6, 1880: "About $8,000 of the $15,000 voted last spring are still held by the board waiting for the plans of the new buildings. E. T. Carr, the state architect, who was employed by the board, was here last week looking at the ground for the foundation, the classes of building material, and so forth."
The contract was awarded to H. F. Butler on June 21, 1880, at the lowest bid of $16,600, to put up a six-room brick and a four-room brick, these structures being the beginnings of the Emerson and the Webster schools. With its additions, the Web- ster school cost $11,000. By the contract terms, the building was to be completed September 21, 1880. At that time when the
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building became endeared to the first instalment of its alumni, Wichita was the fifth city in Kansas, with a population of 5,482. The total assessed value of all real estate in the city was $314,- 581, and the total taxable personal property was $341,064. In that year the editor of the Caldwell "Commercial" made this comment, after visiting Wichita: "The majority of the people have the same old faith in the future of the place, and are man- fully working to make the place one of the big cities of the West." When the Webster school was built, M. W. Levy, now of New York City, was president of the Board of Education, and on the board H. C. Mann and D. W. Smith represented the Fourth Ward. Prof. L. G. A. Copley was superintendent of schools.
CHAPTER XXX.
COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITY.
FRIENDS UNIVERSITY.
By
PRESIDENT EDMUND STANLEY.
Friends University occupies a commanding view as one looks westward along University avenue, the most beautiful boulevard in the city of Wichita. The graceful elms and stately maples, with now and then an ash or sycamore, with boughs almost over- lapping above the smoothi asphalt pavement, the cement walks and broad parking-all help to make the approach to the uni- versity an attractive thoroughfare for the residents as well as the visitors in the city. Few educational institutions are so favorably situated, and none have buildings more imposing in structure or more beautiful in architecture. The history of the main building, the plan of its construction and the difficulties encountered in the progress of the work have been so graph- ically described by Mr. R. J. Kirk, in an issue of the "Kansas Magazine," that, by permission, it is here reproduced :
Almost like a romance reads the history of Friends University (then Garfield University), Wichita's boom educational institu- tion. Conceived during the time of the wildest building activity, it was to be the crowning feature of them all. And it was. No- where in the world was there a school building containing as much floor space under one roof. It was Wichita's pride, and the enthusiastic citizens pointed to the massive pile of stone and mortar and poured into the ear of the astonished Easterner the work of Kansas in the educational line, as well as in other indus- tries. The gigantic university building, costing more than a quarter million dollars, grew, blossomed and then faded away in its infancy. The story of the university on the western outskirts of Wichita is the story of many other institutions and industries
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founded and fondled during those momentous times. Many of them died, were buried and then forgotten. Others lived, died and then arose from the ashes of abandonment to serve even a greater purpose than originally planned. In this latter class belongs the chronicles of the foundation now occupied by Friends University.
The promoters of Wichita early determined that that city should be the gateway to all the Southwest. Many of them looked at the proposition from a cold-blooded business standpoint only. But while Wichita was building railroads, factories and office blocks, some asked why it should not be equally practicable to make the "Peerless Princess of the Plains" the educational as well as the commercial center. In 1886, while the memory of the late lamented James A. Garfield was yet fresh in the minds of all Americans, W. B. Hendryx conceived the dedication of a great university in the West, even as great as the universities in the East, to the memory of the departed president.
Mr. Hendryx at that time was pastor of the Central Christian Church in Wichita. He was the leading spirit in building the structure, and was later made its first president. Mr. Hendryx was formerly pastor in President Garfield's church, at Mentor, Ohio, and, being a personal friend of the executive, was a great admirer of his virtues. At the Rev. Hendryx's suggestion, the university was given its name. It was originally intended that the school should belong to the Christian denomination, and the Wichita church was one of the backers in the enterprise, but the principal support came from the citizens, irrespective of church affiliation. After lying idle, forsaken and forlorn, a home for pigeons and wayfaring tramps, from 1892 until 1898, the building came into the hands of the Friends church, and since that time has gone under its present name.
Elaborateness was the watchword with the founders of Gar- field University. Cost was not considered when the plans were drawn, and the sole aim was to make the best possible building that money could erect, and to place in it the highest perfection of the architect's and craftsman's skill. As a result of this policy, the building is a model of the stonemason's art and, architectur- ally, it remains today the peer of any building in Kansas. In the basement alone $27,000 were spent, and the foundation was laid in such a manner that it will endure for centuries. The highest quality of brick was placed in the upperstructure, and
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the trimmings, finely carved and sculptured, were brought from the famous quarries at Bedford, Ind. The work on the building progressed rapidly, and by the time the boom bubble was punc- tured the north wing of the building was completed and ready for occupancy. The remainder of the building, however, was unfinished, and the greater portion of it stood without a roof for several months. With the exception of the north wing, the build- ing was nothing but a shell until the occupancy of the Friends in 1898. Since that time much of the other portions have been completed.
The property soon after passed into the hands of Mr. Edgar Harding, a capitalist of Boston, who had advanced money to the amount of nearly one hundred thousand dollars for the prose- cution of the work in the construction of the buildings. The school disbanded in 1892 and the buildings remained closed and without occupants for the following six years. In 1898 a full- page advertisement appeared in a St. Louis paper, describing the university property, and announcing that it was for sale.
James M. Davis, a wealthy investor of St. Louis, saw this advertisement, and, as he was contemplating some work of this kind in connection with the Friends in Kansas, he became inter- ested at once. This was the beginning of the history of Friends University. Mr. Davis came to Wichita and made a careful inspection of the property. The building, though vacant and dust covered within, presented many attractions to the keen eye of a practical business man. The massive walls of the founda- tion, the high grade material used in the construction, the beauti- ful designs of architecture, and the large and commodious halls and lecture rooms appealed to him forcefully, and he set about at once a movement for the reopening of the property for the original purposes contemplated in its construction.
Mr. James Allison, of Wichita, was at the time custodian of the property, and as a citizen he had long been interested in the property and its purposes. He at once took up the matter of the sale of the property, having the assurance that if Mr. Davis pur- chased it the building would very soon be reopened for college purposes, and the work of finishing the great structure would be pushed as rapidly as the needs of the institution should demand. The citizens of Wichita offered to give to the institution 300 additional city lots in the territory adjacent to the university if the purchase was made and the property again occupied for col-
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lege purposes. The transfer of the property was consummated in March, 1898. It consisted of the university building and campus, the two dormitories and nearly 300 city lots of the original prop- erty. Mr. Davis soon after made an offer of the property to Kansas Friends on condition that they raise a fund of $50,000 for the beginning of a permanent endowment of the institution. This offer was accepted by the permanent board of the church and later ratified by the annual meeting of the Friends, including the congregations of Kansas and Oklahoma. In the September following the college was opened, with fifty pupils. The pro- posed endowment was speedily raised and the title to the prop- erty was transferred to the church in 1903, one year earlier than the contract stipulated. Since its organization the university has had a steady growth and its equipment has been as steadily enlarged. Four hundred students have enrolled for work during the past year, $12,000 have been expanded for the enlargement of its facilities, and much of the unoccupied room in the building has been finished and brought into use.
The great building is fast approaching completion, the campus is being set to trees and grass, walks and drives constructed, and one can now get a glimpse of the founders' ideal, as no doubt he saw the scene as he made plans for a future great university.
The university has at the present time a faculty of about twenty professors, assistant professors and instructors, most of whom are specialists in their departments of work. It is building up an excellent library, equipping laboratories, has the nucleus of a fine museum, has increased its endowment to $135,000, and is planning to materially increase this amount in the near future. In a word, the past history of the institution, the work that has been accomplished, the patronage it is receiving and the confi- dence it has inspired through careful and businesslike manage- ment and thorough and practical work, give promise of a success- ful future and a place of high rank for Friends University among the educational institutions of the growing and prosperous .
Middle West.
The Friends University has a most promising field for opera- tion. Its support is drawn largely from the two states, Kansas and Oklahoma, but there are students in attendance from many other states. It is the policy of the board to make the institution strongly and positively Christian in its instruction and social life, but to guard against anything of a sectarian bias. Emphasis is
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put upon those things that tend to build character and develop real Christian manhood and womanhood, leaving in the back- ground the shades of differences that have so long maintained the barriers among the churches of Christendom. Its door are open to young men and young women alike, and honors and pre- ferment are equally accessible to all who enter for the work of its classes. A number of different churches are represented in its faculty, and among its students are found young men and young women of almost every church fellowship of our country. Its Biblical and Theological Department, which is the most com- plete in its organization and most comprehensive in its instruc- tion in the state, is patronized by young people from many differ- ent churches studying side by side and striving for that prepara- tion that is needful for the work of world-evangelization of the twentieth century. Such was the purpose of the founders of the institution, and such is the policy of the management, as shown by the inner working and spirit of the university.
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