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Sedgwick County Courthouse; Wichita, KS
A 1914 photo of the six-story Sedgwick County Courthouse, built by W.H. Sternberg (1832-1906) in 1888. Architect was W.R. McPherson. This building still stands today at 510 N. Main in Wichita, KS (northeast corner of Central Avenue & Main St). Budget concerns of the day forced County Commissioners to make construction cuts such as switching the limestone from Bedford limestone (Bedford Indiana) to a local source (Grouse Creek limestone). This saved about $10,000 - $15,000 in construction costs. All in all the structure was completed at a cost of almost $200,000. This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The county jail was also included in this courthouse project and it, too, still stands today. The jail is an orange-ish brick building to the north of the Courthouse. In this photo the jail is just bearly visible as the white section between the store (on the far left) and the courthouse (see note in photo above).
The central clock tower was rendered structurally unstable in a wind storm in the 1950s and it was removed down to about where the balconies are (see note in photo above). The massive half-ton bell in the tower that rang for years now sits across the street in the front courtyard of the new Sedgwick County Courthouse. When the tower was taken down, the 4-sided clock here was NOT installed in the central tower of the old City Hall building as has been frequently rumored. When the tower was taken down the 4-sided clock and it's synchronizing mechanisms were stored on the top floor of this building until about the mid-1970s. At that time there was a large restoration initiative on this building. Since then, the clock's location remains unknown...
Large, impressive-looking edifices like this were important to early promoters of Wichita for inspiring a mentality of Wichita as a mecca of trade for the southwestern part of the country. Promoters crowed about the huge dollar amounts going into public improvements - such as buildings like this (although this was a County building vs. a City building). The belief was that advertising a city in this manner was an effective way to grow the town - and indeed it did work to some degree! Advertising booklets, post cards and other memorabilia frequently displayed images of this very building as an icon of the area's wealth and influence and W.H. Sternberg was the leading force behind this monumental design & building trend. One of those post cards even shows this building at night with all the lights burning inside - an unusual post card image to be done at night - similar to a New York City skyline image at night. In a single year (July 1, 1886 - June 30, 1887) over 2,600 finished buildings were erected in Wichita! But the effort to grow early Wichita didn't stop with printed media. Booster trains were rented annually by the City and traveled throughout smaller towns in the area promoting Wichita. Times were "hot" and based on Wichita's growth it was widely believed that Wichita would end up being the largest and most dominant city in the entire southwestern U.S. A popular slogan of the day was "Watch Wichita Win". This slogan appeared throughout the City - most prominently on a large arch over Douglas Avenue, but also on lapel pins of supporters.
Unfortunately this photo cuts off about half to two-thirds of the columned rotunda at the top of the dome. This rotunda was itself topped with a fairly tall flag pole - which is completely cut off in the photo. Exact height to the top of the flag pole is not known, but estimated to be around 140 - 150 feet.
Any thoughts, comments, ideas or additional photos or information is welcome and appreciated!
This photo courtesy of the Wichita Public Library, (www.wichita.lib.ks.us).
Sedgwick County Courthouse; Wichita, KS
A 1914 photo of the six-story Sedgwick County Courthouse, built by W.H. Sternberg (1832-1906) in 1888. Architect was W.R. McPherson. This building still stands today at 510 N. Main in Wichita, KS (northeast corner of Central Avenue & Main St). Budget concerns of the day forced County Commissioners to make construction cuts such as switching the limestone from Bedford limestone (Bedford Indiana) to a local source (Grouse Creek limestone). This saved about $10,000 - $15,000 in construction costs. All in all the structure was completed at a cost of almost $200,000. This building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The county jail was also included in this courthouse project and it, too, still stands today. The jail is an orange-ish brick building to the north of the Courthouse. In this photo the jail is just bearly visible as the white section between the store (on the far left) and the courthouse (see note in photo above).
The central clock tower was rendered structurally unstable in a wind storm in the 1950s and it was removed down to about where the balconies are (see note in photo above). The massive half-ton bell in the tower that rang for years now sits across the street in the front courtyard of the new Sedgwick County Courthouse. When the tower was taken down, the 4-sided clock here was NOT installed in the central tower of the old City Hall building as has been frequently rumored. When the tower was taken down the 4-sided clock and it's synchronizing mechanisms were stored on the top floor of this building until about the mid-1970s. At that time there was a large restoration initiative on this building. Since then, the clock's location remains unknown...
Large, impressive-looking edifices like this were important to early promoters of Wichita for inspiring a mentality of Wichita as a mecca of trade for the southwestern part of the country. Promoters crowed about the huge dollar amounts going into public improvements - such as buildings like this (although this was a County building vs. a City building). The belief was that advertising a city in this manner was an effective way to grow the town - and indeed it did work to some degree! Advertising booklets, post cards and other memorabilia frequently displayed images of this very building as an icon of the area's wealth and influence and W.H. Sternberg was the leading force behind this monumental design & building trend. One of those post cards even shows this building at night with all the lights burning inside - an unusual post card image to be done at night - similar to a New York City skyline image at night. In a single year (July 1, 1886 - June 30, 1887) over 2,600 finished buildings were erected in Wichita! But the effort to grow early Wichita didn't stop with printed media. Booster trains were rented annually by the City and traveled throughout smaller towns in the area promoting Wichita. Times were "hot" and based on Wichita's growth it was widely believed that Wichita would end up being the largest and most dominant city in the entire southwestern U.S. A popular slogan of the day was "Watch Wichita Win". This slogan appeared throughout the City - most prominently on a large arch over Douglas Avenue, but also on lapel pins of supporters.
Unfortunately this photo cuts off about half to two-thirds of the columned rotunda at the top of the dome. This rotunda was itself topped with a fairly tall flag pole - which is completely cut off in the photo. Exact height to the top of the flag pole is not known, but estimated to be around 140 - 150 feet.
Any thoughts, comments, ideas or additional photos or information is welcome and appreciated!
This photo courtesy of the Wichita Public Library, (www.wichita.lib.ks.us).