The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-09-04
THE STORY OF MICHITA.

now taking place. Wichita had her real
estate boom in 1887. It was a boom Of an
ticipation. Really very little towards the
Improvement % the town then took place.
In 1883 the town began a terrible st-usgi
70 keep the boom. L was thea and not
during the boom that the big buildings
went up that the colleges we're completed
and the street railways were extended.
II was then and not during The boom thar
the packing house projects were cousum-
mated, that paving was Put in, and an
immense real estate pool formed 70 keep
Things going All the great industries
which the town had planned were work
ing out. not during the boom. but after
L. L was probably that terrific struggle.
never eGualled by a municipality or earth,
that saved Wichita- n 1859 three thou
sand Wichita people left the city for Ok
lahoma- Still the town kept pounding
away. and IL IS a fact that real estate
prices we're in 1891 and 1892 still at a fig
ure where thousands could have closed
out at prices above their original pUr-
chase price. A singular change in popu-
latiOu was apparent at the same time all
during these years. People were con-
stantly going away giving up in disgust
Others coming in almost as rapidly and
hopefully taking their places. For this
reason for seven years Of Wichita's life Il
was impossible for man 10 remain away
from the city for year and come back
and recognize any large number Of faces
On the street. Many, a great many OF the
men prominent in political and CONNER
cial life in Wichita today came here af-
ter the boom, and to them it is but
fairy tale. which repetition makes them
believe.
IN 1888 and 1884 things were undoubtedly
at their worst. The terrible struggle to
keep the boom was apparently over and
against the struggIers. For five years the
men who had faith in the town, and that
meant every man in II. had held stub
bornly 70 their real estate figures. Many
a man. hundreds OF them. who had come
out Of the boom rich. lost all their money
re-investing it Al figures in real estate
they thought "rock-bottom." Property
continued to 60 down and swamp them.
Apparently there vas no sucn thing as
"rOck-bottom." no place where there was
not TO be az inevitable further reduction
Then came the vacant mouse period in
Wichita. On the outskirts Of the city
there were very many vacant houses.
taetT windows broken out, sunfowers high
about them. looking death, decay and des-
olaJion in such a dread way that men
who loved Wichita avoided the localities
Some Of these houses were taken down
and shipped 20 Oklahoma. but not 50
very many. and never the number that
outside papers reported.
At this period real estate had no price.
II could not be sold. No man wanted il.
There was no demand Whatever. there
soon were no offerings. The men who
had cOu8 out OF the boom whole and We're
re-invesrng al ''rock-b0ttom prices" had
been wiped out or had quit investing. \
Wichita phrase had been coined. Il was
Buy on an ascending market sell on
descending market always" This was a
surrender 70 the belief that there was no
such a thing as rock bottom"
To all this there was a curious excep-
ton Wichita real estate is owned all
over the United States. These foreign
holders held on to their Wichita land ike
grim death For the most part rich
and able 20 Go 50 they determined TO stay
by the town to a knock down and drag
out. During the hardest times instances
arose where a man living in Ohio or In
diana refused 20 sell a lot for less -Ran
the purchase price He had paid $4,000.
Local real estate men would write him
and offer him $500 for the lot He would
write back sharply and shortly and say
that he would take $4,000 for it and not
a cent less. He wanted the interest on
his money. The town laughed al aim
then.
The conflict with hard times at this
point could only be shown by detail. and
everybody is willing 70 forget IT, The coli
lapse Of banks. one Of which has since
paid out loo cents on the dollar. the failure
OF some Of the oldest merchants in the
town who had mixed real estate with
business. the fact that even in the courts
hundreds Of security for cost bonds were
so much waste paper, and mere auto
graphs Of men who had been worth. when
suits were filed thousands and thousands
Of dollars. the crunch and humiliation %
men who had bought real estate, paid
haIf down. given a mortgage and then
were bounded by judgment for the
other half when the land itself would not
bring o1e-fourth the first payment. was a
sorrowfuI thing which memory shuns.
But even chen that enduring faith in
the town. the one overwhelming charac- .
tertstic Of the Princess Of the Plains.
never died within the town Men said:
We must wait" They waited. No one
sincerely believed that the town would
not make a great city. They knew il
would
WAY Faith cannot be explained. But .
faces can De Wichita spracg 70 a large .
town IN very few years. II had The
greatest boom il the history II the
country. L was nor wind. Other places.
in1umerabls places. We're blowing just as
Justify a. Wichita. They didn't boom
But Wj-hra's location ordained lis
boom. ocda.ns today that * shall become
a zrea- city.
Faith never died in me men II Wichita
because they knew thar Wichita had cha .
location. because they knew tlat during
those years Of fiat Iack-va,ue distress tho .
purely mercantile establishments of
Wichita. unmixsd with real estate mort
cages. were forging heavily. pon5srousiy. F
,--esistabIy ahead And IN cais connection +
* IS q notable face cha1 tae Wichita .
Daily EaEta mas never since the boom had f.
as small q circulation as It had durcs
the boom
Men knew thu location was here Thsy
knew THAI winning was matter % V3t--
ing Their only curiosity was u Sow
how ;hs revival would come How would
Il Gomez 7, has been -ne -o7.c e. endless
and argument IN W.c1--a
There vas a dream -na- T. v5us come .
Suddenly witt a tremendous snao-aack +.
10 Old prices and lie Ma-y sz-ew5 --e1
thought ehey saw * aprroscnlru II 1874 .
\ prohibition TOW. according TO many
warded il Al. Ths. Is probably spsc2.a-