Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-07-25
WINNING WICHITA.
Outstripping All Other Cities of
Kansas.
More Business Houses, More Homes
Built this Year in Wichita than in
Any Half Dozen Towns.
A Boom that VIII be Boom and Not Craze
And Which VIII Convince Skeptics and
Rivals Alike that Destiny Decreed the
Greatness of Wichita.

street between + 1fsI ana second, q majority
of which are modern in all respects, thu
fronts being costly and attractive, and o.
some, imposing Within the limits Of thi'
single block more fine buildings are il
course Of construction and more money i
being invested than on or along all the bust
ness streets Of any other town or city in tht
state of Kansas But these are not all:
On the same street between First stree
and Douglas avenue there are four three
story business houses also in course of con
struction, either of which will rank for de
sign and attraciiveness with the costlies
fronts of the best buildings of any city
west of st. Louis. But these are not al
even on Main street:
North of second and south of Central
avenues on the same street there are three
story business houses going up which in
appearance and design and cost are above
the average of the best business houses OF
Kansas and Missouri towns
Then again on South Main street between
William and English streets two four story
and two three story pressed brick and iron
fronts are under contract to be built Thus
it will be seen that Wichita is building, on
a single business street, twenty-four fine
business houses, many Of which would
prove no discredit TO the streets of amy city
in the country, and the aggregate cost Of
which twenty-four buildings will be not
less than two hundred thousand dollars, as
shown by the estimates Of competent con
tractor.
Douglas avenue, WicLitas principal bus
mess thoroughfare, heretofore, but which
in the future must look to her laurels,
while probably, in tie number Of buildings
being erected falls short of Main street, vet
in the amount Of money expended will not
be behind. There are on Douglas avenue
east of the river and west of the City mills,
twelve business rooms under contract and
in course of construction, including the
Carey Palace Hotel and the BittingBrothers
clothing and furnishing house, the value Of
all of which buildings when completed will
add nearly one quarter of Il million to the
grand total Of capital being expended this
summer il rendering Wichita the brightest
and most attractive city in the west
The Carey Palace Hotel, five stories high,
including basement, and the Biting Broth
ees Keystone Clothing house, fifty feet
front by 40 deep, four stories high and
surmounted by clock tower, will be I'M
approached by any buildings of their re-
spectiye characters yet erected in any city
in the state, and which in all particulars
will be up to the measure of the coming
greatness of the commercial center and
metropolis of Kansas
But Wichita has other business streets
along which other fine buildings are being
erected. Chicago avenue, on the west side,
is showing up some permanent brick bust
ness edifices which will some day be but an
extension of West Douglas avenue Yet
probably third in importance is Market
street Here on the corner of Market and
English is going up wholesale business
house, which for capacity will be equalled
by few jobbing houses in the west The
wholesale house of Richards, Root Il Co.,
the foundation which is nearly in, is 100x
140 feet, four stories high with basement,
all of massive design, and every floor of
great strength, which will cost a fortune
Just one block north of the above is the
site of the government building, work on
which has been delayed, but which will
soon 90 on now. Market street can safely
be put down for $3.50, 900 more
The foregoing enumerated business houses
and public buildings, either going up or
contracted to 90 up before January /. 1887,
number thirty nine, the aggregated cost of
which will not be far from five hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.
Add to these splendid business houses
and to their cost of fully half million of
dollars. the number and cost of the dozens
of really fine and expensive residences go
ing up in almost every part of the city,
and the hundreds of less pretentions yet
comfortable homes whose foundations, un-
sided studdings, and new roofs are to be
seen on every hand, and the measure of
Wichta's growth and prosperity can hardly
be estimated by our own people, much less
comprehended or understood by the people
of other cities and towns in the state.
From the LIST day of July, according to a
very careful count made by our cotempoary,
the Daily Beacon. five hundred and twelve
houses had been erected in the city of
Wichita at an actual cost of 81 1856, 900 A
parallel to such a growth canuot be cited in
or by any city. small or great, east or
west
Taking all these Improvements together |
and add TO them, the magnificent business |
being done by all the lines represented on
our streets, and to these, the life, activity |
and faith of her people. and 10 these again, |
the fact that three more great trunk lines |
are headed for this city and the lines which +
we already have are pushing out into new
but available territory. and. in the absence
of some unfavorable calamity. Wichita Will I
experience and enjoy such boom-not a
wild real estate craze. but such genuine
boom in 1887 as will not only eclipse the
story of all that we have been enumerating
for this season. but which will convince
skeptics and rivals alike that destiny has
indeed decreed that the city planted at the
confluence of the Little and Great Arkansas
valleys shall be one of the proudest and
greatest of this great country.