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Chapter 1 - From ‘Frontier’ to ‘Deluge’
"The numerous fires of the past year must convince you of the necessity of prompt action."
Mayor William Greiffenstein, 1878
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Catherine McCarty, mother of Billy the Kid, was the one woman who signed the petition incorporating the village of Wichita in 1870.
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Wichita developed as a small cattlemen's town in 1868, located at the confluence of the Big and Little Arkansas rivers. A petition signed by 153 men and one woman incorporated the village in the state of Kansas on July 21, 1870. It was a small community with citizens "who generally lived in sod and log houses and obtained their water from shallow wells, cisterns, or springs," according to Robert Hess in History of the Development of Water Supply for Wichita, Kansas.
Before the advent of public water systems, people hauled water from cisterns, wells, springs, rivers, and lakes. These sanitation conditions were not adequate for large urban populations. |
In 1871, the town became a third class city, expanding to second class in 1872 with a population of 1,547. The city grew rapidly, spurred by the extension of the Santa Fe railroad, becoming a central location for business expansion in Kansas and the newly developing west. By 1886, it was a first class city with 23,000 people.
With growth, new problems developed. When Wichita was in its infancy, one of the most profound problems was the lack of fire protection. Fire fighting was provided by good neighbors who would rush to the aid of those in need with buckets of water. Soon, however, the hazards to the growing community, with its numerous residential and business buildings, prompted action to combat the risks. On February 14, 1871, a group of citizens agreed to serve without pay as a volunteer fire department. But efforts to obtain equipment failed over the next year.
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E.B. Allen, first mayor of Wichita, 1871-1872.
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After passing two ordinances by October 24, 1871, to provide for fire protection, the City Council authorized its Finance Committee to investigate suitable fire apparatus for Wichita. Upon the committee's recommendation, the council voted on November 15 to have the city attorney prepare a proposition for a special election on issuing a $3,000 bond to pay for a hook-and-ladder fire fighting outfit, buckets, a fire house and the putting down of pumps, as well as other equipment necessary for extinguishing fires. On November 23, the council raised the bond to $5,000 and called for providing a Rand fire engine and cisterns for the buildings. An election was scheduled for December 27 to vote on bonds with a 10% semi-annual interest rate, payable over a 15-year period.
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