Wichita Eagle: State

Kansans led land rush into Indian Territory

Beccy Tanner — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:07 CDT

On this date – 124 years ago – at high noon, the world exploded into Indian Territory, now Oklahoma.

An estimated 50,000 white people rushed to claim land for 9,000 homesteads.

Many of them were Kansans, or at least had ties to Kansas.

Sacred springs now covered by Glen Elder Reservoir

Beccy Tanner The Wichita Eagle — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 22:14 CDT

Early Indian tribes believed some places were more sacred than others and were the spots where humans and the supernatural mingled.

In Kansas, that place was Waconda, the Great Spirit Springs. The word was originally taken from the Kansa word “Wakonda.” It was anglicized to “Waconda.”

Located in Mitchell County near Glen Elder, it was a place where Native American tribes believed God created a fountain of mystic medicine and the spirit of the sun.

Emily Morgan played crucial role during Alaska diphtheria epidemic

Beccy Tanner — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:55 CDT

It has been nearly nine decades since Emily Morgan, a Kansas native, drew the attention of the world and was nicknamed the “Angel of the Yukon.”

In the winter of 1925, a diphtheria epidemic was on the verge of breaking out in Nome, Alaska. An Arctic ice pack cut the town of 1,400 residents off from civilization.

The only communication was telephone, telegraph and dog sleds.

Kansas tree experiment now a well-established arboretum

Beccy Tanner — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 23:50 CST

More than a century ago, an Indiana schoolteacher came to Kansas to conduct a scientific experiment that would eventually involve the U.S. government.

His laboratory was a small acreage in Galesburg Township in Kingman County.

In 1887, John W. Riggs would create what is now one of the oldest and least-known arboretums west of the Mississippi. It was designed to showcase which trees could be grown in Kansas.

Boston Corbett moved to Kansas after John Wilkes Booth shooting

Beccy Tanner — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 08:35 CST

He was the man who mortally wounded President Abraham Lincoln’s assassin – and was perhaps one of the most colorful and certifiably insane figures to emerge in Kansas history.

Thomas “Boston” Corbett’s life was indeed complicated.

With recent popularity of the movie, “Lincoln” and its nomination for 12 Oscars, it seems fitting to look at the story of murder and mystery and how it eventually included Kansas connections.

In 1970s, farmers traveled to D.C. to demonstrate

Beccy Tanner The Wichita Eagle — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 00:05 CST

It’s been 34 years since the nation’s news was filled with reports of feisty farmers.

During the first week of February 1979, there were farmers from Kansas and elsewhere driving their tractors to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness and demonstrate the fact that they could no longer make a living on the family farm.

“It let people know there were big problems out there,” said Peggy Arnesman, a farmer from Kinsley who, in the 1970s and 1980s was the Kansas state president of WIFE – Women Involved in Farm Economics. She also served on the national steering committee that made policies for WIFE and weekly flew to Washington, D.C., to lobby.

Kansan helped J.C. Penney expand

Beccy Tanner — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 07:08 CST

Earl Corder Sams was a Kansan who believed in looking for employees who shared the same Midwestern values that helped shape him.

And, he especially enjoyed bringing quality department stores to small and midsize towns that dotted his home state.

For more than four decades, Sams led the J.C. Penney Company and turned it from a small chain of mercantile stores into a national retailer with more than 1,600 hundred stores, of which 80 were located in Kansas. For much of the first half of the 20th century, those stores shaped the downtowns of small Kansas towns and helped anchor and define their business communities.

Wichita’s Chance connection to Wikipedia

Beccy Tanner — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:07 CDT

Anytime you use Wikipedia, think Wichita.

The internet website has a remote, almost Kevin Bacon-like connection to Doo-dah.

According to Wikipedia, back in 1994, when Ward Cunningham in Portland, Ore., was developing the information seeking website, he was looking for a name.

Robert ‘Aitch’ Aitchison loved books and art

Beccy Tanner — Sun, 16 Sep 2012 21:33 CDT

He was known simply as “Aitch.”

Wichita artist and bibliophile Robert Aitchison helped preserve the history of Kansas and the world. He also nurtured some of the most talented artists Wichita has produced, co-founding the Wichita Art Association.

He designed the original Phillips 66 shield logo and a series of maps sponsored by the Mentholatum Co.For more than four decades, Aitchison worked at McCormick-Armstrong Co., a Wichita printing firm. His interests encompassed cartography, history, fine painting, collecting and business. His artistry included oil, woodcuts and etching.

Pet Kansas badger once roamed White House

Beccy Tanner — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 17:19 CDT

Randall, the narrator of the viral Honey Badger video on the Internet, announced earlier this summer he thinks a Honey Badger ought to run for president and form a Honey Badger political party.

But even if successful, it wouldn’t be the first time a badger — let alone a Kansas-born badger — lived in the White House.

President Theodore Roosevelt left Washington for a railroad tour of the American West in the spring of 1903. He traveled 14,000 miles in eight weeks, visiting 25 states, 150 towns and making more than 200 speeches.

Madge Blake stood out in small roles

Beccy Tanner — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 23:37 CDT

In her day, Madge Blake had a recognizable face and voice.

She was Grandpa McCoy’s love interest on “The Real McCoys” and Aunt Harriet Cooper on “Batman.” She was chosen to play Aunt Bee on “The Andy Griffith Show,” but stepped aside because she was already in another contract with the “Leave It to Beaver” show, where she played Margaret Mondello.

She was born Madge Cummings on May 31, 1899, in Kinsley.

Solomon Butler was first black Kansan to compete in Olympics, in 1920

Beccy Tanner — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 18:29 CDT

Solomon Butler, who spent part of his childhood in Wichita, was the first African-American from Kansas to compete in the Olympics.

Butler was among 29 long jumpers competing from 11 nations in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. He placed seventh.

Born in 1895 in Kingfisher, Okla., Butler was a natural athlete. He excelled in football and track. When he was 9 years old, his family moved first to Wichita, and then, four years later to Hutchinson, according to Paul Waggoner, author of the 2005 article, “Solomon Butler, Hutchinson’s greatest-but-forgotten athlete.”

19th-century Wichita was riddled with vice

Beccy Tanner — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 08:50 CDT

By Old West standards, the age of the gunfighter was from 1865 to 1900.

Through much of that time, Wichita flourished as one of the first cowtowns in the West.

In 1872, Wichita had signs posted at all four main entrances into town.

Creator of ‘Geech’ comic strip grew up in Wichita

Beccy Tanner — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:10 CDT

Jerry Bittle, creator of the nationally-syndicated comic strips “Geech” and “Shirley and Son,” capitalized on a life that was as laid-back as possible.

“The best job I ever had was as a lifeguard,” Bittle wrote in the foreword of his book, “Sorry We’re Open,” published in 1993 by The Wichita Eagle and Beacon Publishing Co. “The second best job I ever had was as a cartoonist. There are similarities. Each can sleep until noon, both have relaxed dress codes, and neither one requires any math or heavy lifting.”

The truth was he was a doodler.

When war ended, Wichita erupted in celebration

Beccy Tanner The Wichita Eagle — Sun, 22 Jul 2012 22:58 CDT

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words.

In Jim Aronis’ case, the picture he was in captured one of Wichita’s most historic moments in the 20th century.

When word came that the war was finally over, five friends, teenagers from North High School, grabbed their band instruments and headed downtown to celebrate.

Catholic Charities of Kansas launches $1.4 million program to promote marriage

Simina Mistreanu — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 19:41 CDT

Catholic Charities of Kansas has launched a statewide campaign to promote the values and benefits of marriage.

The program, “Love Letters from Kansas,” includes workshops aimed at married couples (“Within Our Reach”) and at single persons (“Within My Reach”). The organization also offers assistance with accessing community services, parenting classes and career development training.

“Kansas has a slightly higher divorce rate” than the national average, said Cynthia Colbert, executive director with Catholic Charities in Wichita. “Not only that, research shows that children raised by parents in healthy marriages are more likely to have stronger outcomes when they’re adults.

Topeka airport once bore name of elite pilot Daniel Forbes Jr.

Beccy Tanner — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 06:43 CDT

Sometimes name recognition is everything.

So it is in Topeka where last week local officials renamed the airport and its adjoining industrial park.

The new name is the Topeka Regional Airport & Business Center, nicknamed the Topeka Regional.

Osborne County man was ‘Babe Ruth of horseshoes’

Beccy Tanner — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 06:29 CDT

In the world of horseshoe pitching, there were few better than Ted Allen.

Nicknamed the “Babe Ruth of horseshoes,” Allen claimed the world championship 10 times in his 31 attempts. .

He was born Joseph Theodore Allen on a farm near Natoma in Osborne County on March 29, 1908, into a family with nine siblings. They often played horseshoes.

Wichita pilot Chuck Fisher, ‘Mr. B-52,’ saved plane from crash

Beccy Tanner — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 06:47 CDT

They called him “Mr. B-52.”

An experimental test pilot for 27 years at Boeing, Wichita’s Chuck Fisher became a media sensation in 1964 when he was piloting a B-52 bomber about 500 feet over mountainous terrain in southeastern Colorado. The bomber suddenly hit wind turbulence. He climbed the plane to 14,300 feet when turbulence again hit the plane, this time tearing the tail fin off.

Fisher quickly ordered his three fellow crewman — Richard Curry, Leo Coers and Jim Pittman — to prepare to abandon the plane as it went through a dangerous bank and dive. For five hours, Fisher kept the plane aloft before landing safely at Blytheville Air Force Base in Arkansas.

Old Cowtown Museum seeks photographs of vintage Kansas baseball teams

Beccy Tanner — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 21:54 CDT

“The baseball mania has reached us. What with the Indian scare, the drought, the chinch bugs and the grasshopper, truly we are badly afflicted; but as a supplement to this grand drama of misery our callow youths have inaugurated the “National Game” in the midst of us. What shall we do to circumvent their match-inations? Answer Eldorado Club, ditto Sedgwick Club-ergo Senegambian Club, or any club-footed grangers”

—Wichita City Eagle, Sept. 2, 1874

After nearly a century and a half, it is still all about the crowd and the crack of a bat hitting the ball.