Winfield

Beverley Olson Buller

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781467113083
• eBook ISBN: 9781439650417
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Occupying land along the Walnut River that once belonged to the Osage Indians, Winfield grew from a small settlement in the early 1870s to a bustling center of culture by 1909, when it was called the "Little Athens of Kansas." Its colleges, picturesque limestone buildings, homes, churches, trolleys, and annual Winfield Chautauqua Assemblies were ideal subjects for the picture postcards popular at the time. These cards, which provided a window to the world of Winfield, now provide a view of its past. The trolley tracks are gone, and Chautauquas have given way to the Walnut Valley Festival, but much remains of the glory that was Winfield.

One

ON MAIN STREET

City planner E.C. Manning envisioned a wide-open main thoroughfare for the people of Winfield, so its main street was platted at 120 feet wide. This 1909 view taken from Eighth Avenue looking south shows there was room for customers in their wagons or on horseback as well as a track for mule-drawn trolleys running through the center of the street.

This view, postmarked 1908, catches a busy day in downtown Winfield from the middle of the 1000 block looking north. Note the milk cans in the back of the delivery wagon in the center of the image and the number of well-dressed ladies enjoying the walk between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues. By 1877, flagstones replaced many of the wooden sidewalks on Main Street, and the street was macadamized in 1888.

A slower day in Winfield appears in this view also postmarked 1908. The lack of crowds shows two of Winfield’s major banks, both built in 1886, to good advantage. The street railway ticket booth on the southeast side of Ninth Avenue by the First National Bank is clearly visible as is the barber pole in front of the Cowley County National Bank on the northeast corner.

A 1910 card shows the row of buildings anchored by the Winfield National Bank directly across from the First National Bank block, as well as an electric interurban car with its web of wires. Note the lightbulb hanging in the center of the intersection above the dray wagon. Obviously, there were no leash laws in early Winfield, but dog licenses were issued as early as 1878.

A close-up view of the west side of the 900 block of Main Street just south of the Winfield National Bank reveals a sign for the Missouri and Kansas Telephone office at 905 ½ Main Street, the Snyder-Nolte Hardware Store at 907 Main Street, and L.R. Mogle’s Jewelry and Music Store. Also on that block were R. Hudson and Co. Jewelry, J.S. Mann clothiers, Dautschmann’s meat market, Kyer’s Furniture, and Mitschler’s meat market.

A view of Main Street looking north from just south of Tenth Avenue shows a large advertisement for Mitschler’s meat market on its redbrick building on the corner of Tenth Avenue and Main Street, constructed on the site of the Spotswood grocery, one of Winfield’s earliest stores. Meat markets also dealt in pelts and hides and offered cold storage in 1910 when this card was mailed.

This postcard, hand colored in its original state, shows the juxtaposition of wagons and trolley track with a single automobile in front of the Winfield National Bank at the wide-open corner of Ninth Avenue and Main Street. Even then, Winfield was a literary town, evidenced by the Garver Brothers Corner Book Store at its original location on the intersection’s northwest corner, also the site of the old log store, Winfield’s first building.

In a photograph likely taken from the steps of the First National Bank, this card captures mule-drawn trolley car No. 8 loading passengers, as well as well-dressed citizens navigating the wooden sidewalks across Ninth Avenue and taking in the view from the balcony provided by the awning of the Columbian Parlors north of the Cowley County National Bank. Women with parasols stand on the steps of the Cowley Bank.

Gentlemen lounge in the doorway to the upstairs offices of the Cowley County National Bank, which included a lawyer and a dentist. The iron awning belongs to the Columbian Parlors, located at 818 Main Street in the Doug Bourdette Block, which offered confectioneries, baked items, a pool hall, and a dance floor. Bourdette also owned a restaurant at 913 Main Street that featured a lunch counter. Both establishments made deliveries.

This postcard, postmarked 1909, provides a view of the west side of Main Street across from the First National Bank building, with R. Hudson Jewelers and Dautschmann’s meat market in the center of the block. It also evidences the detail on the limestone bank, such as the Romanesque window and the Corinthian columns marking the front door, and provides a clear view of the street railway ticket booth and its operator.

This charming scene puts the Cowley County National Bank and other buildings north of it along with one of Winfield’s electric interurban cars on fine display. This postcard sent in 1914 clearly shows the State Bank’s original location as well as the front of the Columbian Parlors. The Free Press Printing Company, at 818 ½ Main Street, provided a newspaper six days a week as well as job printing.

This view of the side of Main Street looking east on Ninth Avenue shows a city thriving and looking ahead. Crowds on foot, in wagons and buggies, in mule-drawn trolley cars, and seated individuals provide evidence the intersection of Ninth Avenue and Main Street was the place to see and be seen. Note the electrical lines; Winfield first received electricity in June 1905.

Winfield appears much cleaner in this card sent in 1929. Main Street maintains its wide-open feel but angle-parked cars have replaced the wagons now lining its sides, and no evidence of interurban tracks remain in its center. A proud, remodeled, four-story State Bank appears at the intersection’s northwest corner, the First National Bank sports a new clock, and light poles dot the sidewalks.

Fa...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. On Main Street
• 2. Winfield at Work
• 3. Winfield’s Civic Side
• 4. Where Winfield Learned
• 5. Winfield at Worship
• 6. Winfield on the Move
• 7. Winfield at Leisure
• 8. Where Winfield Lived
• 9. Winfield’s Social and Medical Services
• 10. Along the Walnut
• Bibliography
• Index