The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-09-07


manager. OF Chicago. was n the citS
and arranged fer their sale YESTERDAY
F. - Wetzel arrived and az once pre-
pared advertisements for the sale OF ths
buildings and the land n The build ngs
four IN number. there are 2.75G9oo soft
brick. burned on College HMI: -. 90 feet
&c GO 70 43.0n0 feet OF heavy building ma
| teriaI s,s75 Daines OF window glass ski
inches. Mr- WetzeI said yesterday % a
reporter for the Eagle that the building
ard the machinery IN them. the naachir-
cry having been sold long ago, cost 500
90. During the years the shops were
+ operated, he says. they suffered an an
nual loss OF sSo000. There are seventy
five acres OF land; il IS good land. The
company VIII sell the whole OF part. as
II stands or as It is wrecked, and cheap
The salvage is looked upon locally as a
good Investment. Il is 10 be sold irnme-
diately.
The Burton Car Works enterprise was
ore OF the magnifcentiy valorous at
I tempts which Wichita made to keep VI
her long stride. In bonds $1,000 was
voted and months OF effort and agitation
devoted 10 the proposition The Stock
Yards company was New England cor
Germ, with headquarters in Boston. After
I long effort the shops were built. about
them little city five miles from the
corner OF Main and Douglas. The city
limits were extended about the suburb.
q steam street car line led TO them. Bur
ton had its stores. its churches its Sc
cret society lodges. its social circle and
T
was Captain Wider, an Eaglishnan and
e royal good fellow. tradition has IT.
Burton never grew beyond its original
dirninsiOas, but its people, in their day.
had a lively little community Cars were
turned out and the work and life OF the
community exploited in the Eagle daily.
which had a Burton department. Whea
The hard times came the owners OF the
property discovered that when excessive
rates were paid on material and fuel IN
there was not much margin Of profit in
turning out cars. The force dwindled.
the day came when the shops closed tenn
porarily. the day also came when the
little community gave up hope OF their
opening again. The exodus from Burton
began les people scattered to the ends
OF the earth And in after years the pe0-
pie OF the community became as phau-
tasns. Captain Wider a dream that had
passed Today David Crevson. the at
torney, is the only man IN the city TO
whom the memory OF Burton is IS a
reality.
windows disappeared from the houses.
chimneys toppled. the sunsowers and the
iron weed smothered out the once busy
thorovghfares. the shops themselves went
to rack and rutl. and the rains OF success
sive seasons &sshed the tops Of the
smol1estacks clean All the railroads run
near it and the condemning finger OF the
traveller who knew bout Wichita" point
ed moral over the ruins.
Then the houses began 10 disappear.
any Of them were torn down in sections
and sent to Oklahoma. some were moved
70 Wichita. some fell Of their own decay.
one large residence. the kind that Is cali
ed paIatial in the society columns for a
long tine kept guard over the site with
the brick shops. Finally IL was moved TO
the city and the shops alone remained
in a field OF obliterated streets and the
patches. patches OF thistIes, your true
friend of assertion
For some mysterious reason il after
years the shops resisted revivifcation-
Railroad men looked at them, considered
them al length. inquired the price and
shook their heads. Ringing Brothers saw
them. fancied they would make adruira-
bic winter quarters and asked the price.
Il was such that the Ringlings shook
their heads.
About three years &C there was fiut-
ter Of life in the old buildings a passing
farmer heard hammer within doors ard
brought the news 10 town An investi-
eating committee OF local explorers Wis
tied the old place and found evidences Of
activity In a few days there was 10
gainsayiug that the SHOPS were being re-
paired. Wild rumors sprans I'D rapidly.
some railroad has surely purchased them.
Something was 10 be done. else Why this
expensive renovation.
But. the repairs concluded the doors
slid shut again with a bang. the windows
closed. the men departed and the repair
ed buildings dropped into the old sleep.
Later the rurnor got out which offered
the only explanation foT this reckless use
% money. The rsInor was that the con-
pa-v which had owned these buildings
had gone into the trust. had made Ger
tain expectations about their extern
sive plant IN Wichita. had TUNED il IN On
the trust for q zoodly wsd q stock in
The trust. and 10 make safe had consider
81 the repairing necessary
This IL brief is the history u TIE u
ton car works. With the exception e the
watch works It IS the only blossom q
the boom which Wichita did not after
wrad utilize and realize upon
As Il stands today. ard With the Iu--
pose Of the company 70 sell T. Z Is a bar
gain for winter quarters for circus for
q big manufacture, for car shops Eut
tire NEST sauguine believe Il i bcT11d TIE
ralvauic power q rumor. ard, at last and
finally. doomed
sirs. Shields hss a nice little boy p
Years cid who wants hone This lad