The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-02-22

Twenty-Five Years Ago-How it Accom-
plished Its Victories and the Tribula-
lions That Beset its Pathway Until To-
day it is the Peer of Any City of the
Commonwealth.
Hon W. z. Stanley of this city made
& not speech yesterday at the meeting
OF the pioneers of this county. He de-
parted from the usual stereotyped ad-
dress SO often heard at meetings OF this
kind, and gave his attention to some
matters OF great interest and concern 10
the Wichita and Sedgwick county OF
today. He spoke with his usual en-
thus-asrn and had MS audience IN har-
rnony with him from the beginning to
the end. He spoke as follows:
When the committee waited upon me-
several days ago, asking me 70 tax 10
the old settlers. told them l would try
and d. 81, if | was in the city. And
when they called again. day or two
ago, asking me whether 1 would De
here told them I thought l would, ana
asked them what they expected me 10
say. One Of the committee responded,
Say a good word for Wichita
I presume that to anyone who has
lived in a city a.s I have lived in Wichl-
IA, for q quarter of a century, there are
many pleasant and many sad recOllec-
f-ons; and a retrospect is not always at
tended entirely with pleasant memo
lies
And yet, when I look back upon the
past and TevieWthe twenty-five years
that I have lived IN Wichita-when l
have contemplated its growth from q
Il . a~-- -
Toe state-when remember that I have
seea each OF its splendid public and pri-
,ate buildings rise from their founda-
1.cns-when 1 think Of The earnest bu-
siness support I have received, and the
cordial cooperation ! have had in all
my enterprises, and the friendships al
most sacred which viii always be plea
SAINT to remember and which can never
! forgotten, I have concluded to 2c-
cept the suggestion of my friend and EY
and say a good word for Wichita.
When I contrast Wichita as il is with
Wichita as Il was when 1 first knew it,
It's developments seems scarcely less
tran q marvel. The frame school house
which then served for all school pur-
poses, has given place 10 a score Of coll
leges, academies and school buildings,
with N Odern appliances suitable for the
education IF thousands OF pupils. The
one little church in the Second ward,
50 long removed that I fail TO Temembec
iJs exact whereabouts, has been sue
Caeded by a score and a half of others
ST all denominations, and some of them
of style and architecture that would
grace any City in the Union; the old
mud roads have given way to paved
streets and shady thoroughfares; the
low, sGUatty, one-story frame business
f.e- s2relg Inv
ering buildings of brick, stone and gran
sbe, Of which any city might well be
proud The LITTLE weekly paper published
in a Gingy insignificant room on North
Main street. has become the strongest
al1d best edited daily in the state; and
the jobb;ng interests pE our city have
grown with the city's grGRtR, uhtl {be
pbiquItOus travelling r71, eEer Ee3aF
to do what I have besR eqInmts@isHea
to 5o--speak q good &oEa For Wichita
Is through all the land sounding hex
praise and selling her goods.
Since the old settlers cams, many
others have followed, and many pf these
new corners have Shouldered the burd-
ems and given unstinted service the to
the city of their adoption. But I think
that to the old settleCs-the men and Wo
men who first saw here a place for a
great commercial center, who by their
faith IL the future inspired all that
came aflerwarrd with a like faith who
by heroic and untiring effort, self-sac-
Tifice and struggle laid the foundations
of the city and the spirit and genius Of
It's institutions broad and deep-belOngs
the credit &C the achievement of the ear
II years and of the most that followed.
10 these men and women of Wichita
and the surrounding country belongs
the credit Of the splen lid work of found
Ing and building the cfty, for it has been
assisted by no outside influence and
favored with no outside friends.
The very Institutions and influences
that ought to have rejoiced in its
growth and given ready cOuntenance
10 it's Development, have done all they
could to clog the wheels of its develop
Inent and retard its progress.
Wnen the early pioneer entered this
valley. h gazed on a country as fer
tile and productive as the valley of the
ancient Nile-where vegetation was
warmed into life by a sun as warm and
genial as ever kissed the vineclad hills
Of italy. IN MS mind he saw the herds
loving upon the rolling meadows and
the opening harvest covering all Of the
Icnlands. and said to himself, Here is
the place 10 found a city" and here a
c+ty w5s founded, and here came to-
ge,hzr people with faith in each other,
Ia il the future and faith in the cnun
t-y in which they had settled 10 make
ihej~ homes.
The zeal and enterprise Of this people
WAS marked by the building of one Of
tn most splendid cities IN the state.
The hand If industry had lined its long
streets with trees until they became
be8lCtful shady aVenUeS-the admira-
ton Of the traveller. The public build
inES wora mequallad I'm The state. Its
system "a public schools was Unsurpass-
ed TIE five thousand school children
o. The city conSregated in more than a
score OF magnificent school buildings,
where a corps of one hundred teachers
OF the highest standing, taught them
inc lessons calculated - prepare them
for the business obligations Of life. and
TO deVeiope the highest type o. man
hood and womanh1od.
More than thirty church ediices ac-
commCGated the congregations that
from tine to time met in religious SER
wee. and in one Of them assembled ev-
ely S.bhath The largest religious con-
K agl-i1~ IN the state. Academies and
colleges sprung up IL meet the demand
fer q higher education, and hospitals
AMI chudreR's homes were established
u15er he most careful supervision 10
alleviate thu sufferings and provide for
he m-stort'lneS Of the desJitutee-
BUSINESS blocks that would have been