On October 7, 2023, the 100th Year Edition of the BLUE ACE BULLETIN was published commemorating 100 years of Wichita High School East. Thanks to Jake Jacobs, we have a copy of that paper and will present the articles from that publication to you. This is the sixth in the series. The original title is the title of this article. This article is particularly long and will be presented as 2 or 3 different postings on the website. It is notable that the history of East is mostly silent from 1931 through 1960. I guess we did not create enough interest to be recorded by history.
Wichita High School East traces its roots back to 1873, originally known as Wichita High School. Wichita High School East was the first public high school to be built in USD 259, Wichita’s Unified School District.
In 1919, a $900,000 bond issue passed and in 1920, Roosevelt Junior High was built at a cost of $300,879 near the canal on East Douglas on land purchased by the Board of Education from the McKnight Estate.
When Wichita entered the 1920’s, its leading newspaper predicted prosperity for the city. The Eagle wrote on November 2, 1919, “Wichita is now on the verge of a building boom that will make the historic boom of the 1880’s look like a tent-raising.” Local aviators Lloyd Stearman, Walter Beach, and Clyde Cessna caught the fancy of adventurous and indulgent investors. Spread in a 50-mile radius to the south and east of Wichita were the largest oil fields in Kansas, and two large refineries were built in Wichita. The Coleman Lamp Company became the largest industrial plant in the city.
A $1,000,000 bond issue passed in February 1921, which provided funds for construction of a new high school. After years of legal maneuvers, the school board acquired 68 acres for $150,400 east of the canal on East Douglas which was owned by J. Hudson and Eva McKnight. Mr. Lorenz Schmidt was selected as the architect.
The cornerstone was laid on November 8, 1922, and the building opened for use on October 8, 1923. The school board’s architect described its architectural style as modified “Collegiate Gothic.” The new school was known as the million dollar school. The building was composed of three distinct units: the main building, a gymnasium, and the shops. The auditorium had a 90-foot stage framed with a Tudor-style proscenium and a seating capacity of 2,200. A laundry, bell tower, ice plant, library, cafeteria and cloistered walks connected teh separate units. Total cost of The Wichita High School was $1,044,810.85.
Although it was finished and used in 1923, it remained Wichita High School until 1929 when North High was built and called Wichita North High School. At that time, our alma mater officially became Wichita High School East. The Wichita High School East student body voted to change their mascot from the “bulldogs” to the “Blue Aces.”
The estate from which the property was initially purchased provided
$25,000 at the time of Mr. McKnight’s death in 1925 for a fountain to be built in his memory on the high school grounds. A prominent sculpture group, A. Phimister Proctor of Connecticut, depicted a bearded trapper dressed in buckskin and holding a long rifle, standing beside and gazing into the water. An Indian with a bow and arrow knelt near the trapper, reaching forward with cupped hand to dip water from the pool. To the rear of the pool was placed a six-foot ledge of weathered limestone on a mound of grassy earth sloping toward the water’s edge. The sculpture was completed in 1931.
More history from this article follows in the next installment.
For more about the McKnight statue, click on the link to this article, published on our website — J. Hudson McKnight Memorial Fountain.
