The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-12-13
HAS WICHITA A RIvALa


Probably no city in America ever ex-
perienced such real estate craze with
so many good results as followed out of
the boom of 1887 for Wichita. Accord
ing to Bradstreet's report Wichita stood
third on the list in realty sales for the
first five months of that year. New
York hea ed the list with $129, 297. 1893.
Kansas City followed second with S43, :
CSC, 451; Wichita a close third with $34.-
1913, $50, and Chicago fourth with $685.
1890 During that period fortunes
were made in a day. and many shrewd
investor was made wealthy, but as
in all periods of excitement, there
were some who in overreaching, went
under. This, however, was no more
true of Wichita than it was of other
cities.
1t was an opportunity to make money
and but one of number of opportuni-
MES that must occur at stated periods
during the history of any great and
growing city. 1t was the first in the his
tory of Wichita. Following the excite
ment came desire on the part of those
who had suddenly grown rich to i'm
prove the city as standing monu-
come, and many magnificent blocks of
buildings and handsome private resi-
dences were built, streets were paved,
grand public buildings erected and all
that money would do was done, that the
people who lived here and those who
were to make it their future home could
enjoy the best of everything.
The boom was logical on one theory
alone, and that because of the generally
conceived fact that big city somewhere
in this great valley was inevitable, and
that Wichita, having no rival, there was
no other conclusion than that all her
property values must advance.
To the average investor it seemed as if
destiny had mapped out for this city a
brighter and bigger chance than was pos
sessed by any other in the state. And
that seeming was correct and is still
true, but there was and is still a logic
for it all. And Kansas has brighter
future than we give her credit for,
bigger destiny from her central location
in the union of states, grander than we
have counted on. In like ratio and
proportion has Wichita greater possibili-
ties than has yet been realized by her
own conservators or conceded by out
siders.
Following the real estate craze which
swept over the country from the Atlantic
to the Pacific coast, came stringency
in the money market which nearly Gull
minated in panic. Every state and
every city felt the effects and Wichita
could not make herself an exception.
Ruin and desolation has come to many a
business firm and to many man in
every city, and Wichita did not prove
an exception.
Wichita's boom, like Chicago's fire,
advertised her until Wichita became
household word throughout the country.
No city of her size in the United States
is so well known today as is Wichita.
While the craze proved calamity to
many, it cannot be- denied that 1t gave
the city better class of buildings, more
permanent Improvements, and estab-
lished her foremost in Kansas as the fu-
ture metropolis. And the faith of the
Wichita man fully equals that of the
Chicagoan. 1t is lasting, and the adj
vance that Wichita has made during the
last year is being recognized and in a
manner that is not only gratifying to us,
but an encouragement to do greater
things in the future. While Wichita |
suffers some from the multitude of mis-
which are made against
her, in the language of the classic ballad,
1--WE get there just the same"
And Wichita fights for Kansas as Chi
cage always fought for Illinois and for
exactly the same reason. The state of
Kansas can not be possibly developed to
anywhere near its possible ultimates |
without making great city of Wichita,
and Wichita in becoming a great city |
insures South Kansas, as a section, the |
greater importance and the most wealth. |
The principal city of Kansas can not re-
main in Missouri and come to the Ar
kansas valley, and come it will.