The College Hill Commoner by Barry Owens

4 Under way at

The Commoner Parkstone: First guide to holiday the basements, shopping in the old then townhomes, neighborhood and then tower. just beyond.

19 At pumpkin

patch the search was on for gourds great, small and ghoulish.

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER Vol. 1 No. 12

COLLEGE HILL

• CROWN HEIGHTS • UPTOWN • SLEEPY HOLLOW

NOVEMBER 2008

SEEING THE PARK FOR THE TREES THE TREES — SOME THRIVING, SOME NOT — OF COLLEGE HILL PARK PAGE 13

PHOTOS/ILLUSTRATION: THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER

LETTERS

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

THE CANOPY A LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

here are a couple of things you notice right away when you return to the American mainland from the sea or the big city—healthy grass and utility poles. You especially notice the poles. How could you not? There they are sprouting up through the sidewalk, cramming the corner, cluttering up the skyline that should belong to sunsets, treetops and architecture. For about a day you notice them. Next day, they are gone. They are still there, of course, but you choose not to see them. In a month’s time, they will even be missing from your photographs. We ignored the poles in this issue, except for one glancing mention about the new streetlights installed at Douglas and Oliver. We devoted a few words and photographs instead to the trees of College Hill Park, some of which have towered there longer than any streetlight in the neighborhood. It is hardly a field guide. It is more of an appreciation, really. We might have easily sketched our own backyard. The trees there are not as glorious as those in the park, but they are tall and the canopy is so full that a man from the satellite company once told us there was no way we could get television reception. We were okay with that. We far prefer old growth to new technology. If that means trees before television, then so be it. We were even a bit righteously smug about the whole thing—for about a 24 hours. Next day, we called the cable company. The man they sent out had no trouble finding the pole in our backyard. BARRY OWENS EDITOR

WRITE THE EDITOR: We welcome your letters. No subject is out of bounds, so long as it is local. Letters should be limited to 300 words, or fewer, and may be edited for clarity and length.

E-MAIL US: editor@collegehillcommoner.com WRITE US: 337 N. Holyoke, Wichita, KS, 67208 CALL US: 689-8474 THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 12 NOVEMBER 2008

PUBLISHER

JESSICA FREY OWENS

EDITOR

BARRY OWENS

CONTRIBUTORS

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Commoner photographer Katie Gordon and newborn son Joseph.

ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVE

IT’S A BOY!

DAVID DINELL, DANA LONERGAN

JESSICA FREY OWENS ANDREW SANDLIN

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER

Published monthly by The College Hill Commoner 337 N. Holyoke Wichita, K.S. 67208 316-689-8474 editor@collegehillcommoner.com www.collegehillcommoner.com

Congratulations from The College Hill Commoner to Katie Gordon and husband Michael for the birth of their son, Joseph Peter Gordon, born Sept. 25, 2008.

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

Parkstone Developer: ‘We’re Making Progress’ Basements in and more to come soon, including open roads at residential development. BY BARRY OWENS It was a muddy morning back in April when developer Mike Loveland grabbed a shovel and turned a bit of dry soil, imported for the occasion, during a ground breaking ceremony to mark the beginning of construction of the Parkstone residential development at Victor Place and Rutan. Most of the underground utilities had been put in, the paperwork and permits were in place, and as Loveland said that morning “everyone can start mobilizing now.” He expected construction crews to begin work within days, and a few of the brownstone-like townhouses complete and occupied by December. Instead, as the developer explained last month, the project lost its financing and the summer months were taken up with the task of finding a new lender. In the meantime, construction trailers parked on the

Basements for nine units were completed last month at the Parkstone development site. Developer Mike Loveland said floors, walls and plumbing will be going in this month.

BARRY OWENS

site sat mostly empty. “I know it is hard to see as you’re driving by, but we’re making real progress,” Loveland told residents during a meeting of the College Hill Neighborhood Association last month. Over the past several weeks, he explained, crews had finally arrived and basement foundations for nine units were completed. Floors, walls and plumbing would

be going in this month, he said. Roadwork on closed Rutan could begin as well. “It is about to get pretty wild there pretty quickly,” he said. On deck is the construction of about 40 townhouses, a 14-story residential tower, commercial and office space, a pocket park, landscaping and the installation of public art, which is likely to include fountains at each of the entrances to the devel-

opment. The first of the townhouses could be occupied by May, he said. Work on the residential tower, to rise on the lot between Hillside and Rutan, Victor Place and 1st Street, is set to begin next summer as well. The tower should take 18 months to complete, he said. Rutan and Victor Place have been closed to through traffic since the project began. Loveland said the streets will re-open as early as May and will then remain as open, public streets. Aside from new construction, Parkstone properties also purchased an apartment building at the corner of Douglas and Rutan, which it has plans to renovate. The former Labor Finders building at Victor Place and Hillside was purchased as well. “We did that because we didn’t want a payday loan place or something like that go in there,” he said. Instead, Loveland said, the hope is that a bookstore, coffee shop or other neighborhood type shop would move in. Loveland said he now is targeting summer 2013 for the project to be complete. “About four years,” he said. “I’m hoping it’s three. We’re trying to go as fast as we can.”

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

For Sale: Street-Side Seating Along the Avenue Douglas Design District seeks donors to purchase benches along Douglas Avenue. BY BARRY OWENS The Douglas Design District, a merchants association that aims to revitalize the avenue from Washington to Oliver streets, is set to install two-dozen new benches along the strip. One of them could have your name on it. The district has a grant to cover what amounts to 80-percent of the cost to purchase and install the benches ($1,500 a piece) and is seeking donors to sponsor the rest. For $300, donors, which could include individuals, families, organizations, churches, or businesses, can sponsor a bench. Sponsorship would include identification of the donor in the form of a plaque on the bench or an etched brick or stone in the nearby pavement (the District was still working out the details late last month.) The location of the benches or the timeline for installation has not

A bench outside Aspen Boutique near Douglas and Oliver, one of two dozen to be installed along the avenue. The Douglas Design District seeks donors to sponsor the benches.

PHOTOS: BARRY OWENS

yet been set. “They won’t all be at bus stops,” said district board member Monica Smits. “I don’t think we even have that many bus stops.” Most of the benches would be installed with an eye toward providing resting places for sidewalk pedestrians, said district board member Wendy Mayes. “We would like to see them put

somewhere nice, with a view,” she said. The district is working with the city’s planning department to develop a plan for streetscaping the avenue. Benches, more lighting, trees, pocket parks, perhaps even community gardens could be part of the plan, Smits said. Though not part of a Design District initiative, new light poles,

A dozen new lights were put in at Oliver and Douglas last month. While not a Douglas Design District project—the lights were purchased by area landowners—the upgrade is in keeping with the Design District’s plans.

of the old lamp post variety, were installed at the corner of Douglas and Oliver last month. “I think they really dress up the corner,” said Smits. For more information about sponsoring a bench, call the Douglas Design District, 425-7337, or email info@dddwichita.com

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

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At ‘Oktoberfest’ an Early Crowd that Stayed Late BY BARRY OWENS Last month at Blessed Sacrament there was the jolly sound of tuba and bass drum oom-pahing in the gym. Out in the courtyard on Quentin Street, Van Morrison crooned his famous “Sha-la-lalas” through the P.A. system. And on the hayrack ride, apple-cheeked children could be heard singing the opening lines of a familiar tune: “Dashing through the snow, in a one horse open sleigh …” David Gittrich, who hauled the hayrack ride by tractor, could explain that one. “I wanted the kids to sing something, and figured they only know two songs. They probably know Itsy-Bitsy Spider, too, but that didn’t seem appropriate for a hayrack ride.” It was the annual Oktoberfest at Blessed Sacrament and things got started early. Before lunch, following a 5k run through the neighborhood, there were more than 500 runners and revelers in the beer garden. “Who knew that runners liked to drink a lot of beer after a race?” said Oktoberfest organizer Jim Schoelwer. Close to 3,000 turned out this year for the festival, which features music, authentic German food, a dance and games for kids. “We’re getting closer to our goal of closing down Douglas,” Schoelwer said. By the end of the day thousands had passed through the beer garden and buffet line. As night fell, hun-

David Gittrich, who hauled the hayrack ride for much of the day during the festival, shares a word with his young passengers.

PHOTOS: BARRY OWENS

dreds still mingled in the gym, out on Quentin Street and across the way in the school’s playground. Schoelwer took stock: More than a dozen kegs of beer, 250 pounds of pork, 300 pounds of sausage, 150 pounds of potato salad and 6,000 kraut balls (“we didn’t want to run out.”) It was hard to say how many times Van Morrison sang the chorus of “Brown Eyed Girl,” but it was many. “Next year,” suggested Gittrich, “we might want to break the budget and buy a second CD.”

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Abe Oatman, 9, sporting a green Homburg, grabs a bite on the steps of Blessed Sacrament last month during the Oktoberfest. Meg Dionisi, left, and Ashlin Locke, right, wrestle with the cotton candy machine. “It’s not as fun as looks,” says Dionisi. “But it’s fun.”

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

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HOLIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE WHERE TO FIND GREAT HOLIDAY GIFTS & SUPPLIES IN COLLEGE HILL AND BEYOND. ARCHITECTURAL ARTIFACTS 5424 E. Central, 683-8900 Join us for Janet Fisher Art Show Opening, Friday, Nov 7, 6-9pm, featuring contemporary paintings, ceramics & jewelry. Show continues through Nov 29. ARTIFACTS features Amy Herd photography, local and regional artists, as well as architectural antiques, custom iron furnishings, unique gifts and custom framing. SALE on many items in the gallery! ASPEN BOUTIQUE 4724 E. Douglas, 682-6784 November Preholiday Customer Appreciation Sale, 15% OFF STOREWIDE, Wed 11/19 through Wed. 11/26. 3rd Thursday, 11/20, Special showing of DAVID AUBREY Jewelry and Turquoise jewelry from GWIN SOUTHWEST, this is a must see event for all jewelry lovers. BEST OF TIMES 6452 E. Central, 634-3805 bestoftimesgifts.com The card and gift shop that’s been making Wichitans smile since 1981 is now close to your College Hill home. Featuring Recycled Paper cards; Vera Bradley; Elf on the Shelf; the Phubby wrist cell-phone holder; Barefoot Contessa food products; Lolita wine, martini and beer glasses; Woodwicks candles; 2009 calendars and Webkinz. EIGHTH DAY BOOKS 2838 E. Douglas, 683-9446 eighthdaybooks.com Offering a rather extraordinary collection of classics in religion, history, the arts, and children’s literature. This holiday season give a gift of enduring worth. From award winning literature to philosophical classics, Eighth Day Books has the perfect gift. Not quite sure what’s on their

reading list? Gift certificates are available! Selling books worldwide, and in your neighborhood. Come enjoy a cup of coffee and browse your way through your Christmas list! EXTRAORDINAIRE SALON & BOUTIQUE 4715 E Douglas, 263-4600 salonextraordinaire.com Holiday Open House, Dec. 6, 10am5pm. Enjoy 10% off all store merchandise, and 25% off all holiday ornaments and hair products. Register to win manicures, pedicures and massage services to be given away throughout the day. Shop our boutique for hats, bags, purses, jewelry, scarves, T-shirts and wallets—all on sale. THE FLYING PIG BOUTIQUE 2320 E. Douglas, 871-6025 dani-creations.com Come celebrate our Grand Opening this month at the Flying Pig, where you will find a wonderfully eclectic assortment of USA-handmade pottery, decorative ceramics and art glass, natural handmade bath and body products, a Tiki smoothie bar, and more! Drop in for the 3rd Thursday Crawls for 25% off all handmade bath and body products! FOGGY BOTTOM 3234 E Douglas, 681-1960 fgybtm.com Foggy Bottom is a ladies boutique. Spacious display areas, large dressing rooms, and a friendly staff make Foggy Bottom the very best place to find prom, pageant, and evening wear. Cute unique casual clothes, jackets, purses, and jewelry fill the main floor. Save 25% off in stock gowns in November and December with this ad.

FRANK & MARGARET 4730 E Douglas, 201-6049 frankandmargarethome.com Discover covetable labels such as Jonathan Adler, Design House Stockholm, and Black & Blum, as well as more than 100 unusual gifts at $10 and under—or simply select a gift certificate for any amount. Ease the holiday frazzle with Champagne Saturdays between Thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as our superior gift-wrapping service. JULIANA DANIEL 3224 E. Douglas, 691-9966 Tis' the season and we are loaded with vintage Christmas itemsOrnaments, Santas, and interesting decorations. Entertaining? Check us out for compotes, trays and other silver & glass ware. This winter join us for lunch! We are going to open up the 2nd floor for dining. We won't be cooking (and you should be very thankful for that) but pack your lunchbox or order take out from Creative Catering & cafe and enjoy the geraniums and the view. Coffee will be provided or we'll have pop & bottled water for $1. 3rd Thursday we will be serving CHOCOLATE from 68pm, Nov. 20. In addition, bring in non-perishable food items and receive a 10% discount on your purchase (Consignment items not included) No food? You pay full price but we'll donate 10% of your purchase to KFB. SKIN ESSENTIALS AT CLIFTON SQUARE 3700 E. Douglas, No. 85, 250-0287 skinessentialswichita.com Get ready for those holiday parties and pictures with 50% off eyebrow sculpting! Discovering the best shape for your eyebrows can

dramatically enhance your entire appearance! Any brows can be made beautiful and more symmetrical. Learn how to achieve and maintain the look you want! Offer expires Nov. 30. THE SPICE MERCHANT 1308 E. Douglas, 263-4121 spicemerchant.com Explore our wonderful array of merchandise: Amish spools, aprons, chocolates, candles, canisters, coffee beans, coffee grinders, cookie jars, cookies, cooking accessories, dishes, essential oils, flavor syrups, gifts, gourmet and private label foods, greeting cards, herbs, lotions, mugs, pastas, salt & pepper grinders, sauces, soaps, soup mixes, spice jars, tea pots, tea towels, teas, trays, whimsie, wind chimes, wooden utensils. All of our coffee beans are fresh roasted in our store. Store hours are Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm; Sat, 9am-5pm. Open Sundays 12-5 from Thanksgiving to Christmas. SPRINGPARK GALLERY 3700 E. Douglas, No. 60, 295-7771 Offering fine art prints by artists past and present. We’re open 10am - 4pm on Thu- Sat, and until 8pm for the monthly Final Friday Art Crawl. Join us for our Holiday Open House for refreshments and printmaking demonstrations from 10am - 5:30pm on Saturday, December 6. TRADITIONS 3220 E. Douglas, 684-2177 Make your life easier—free gift wrapping, fabulous gifts, great holiday decorations. Join us for hors d’ oeuvres and seasonal drinks during our Holiday Open House weekend, Nov. 6-8. Kickoff party Nov. 4, 68pm.

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

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THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008 Far left: Race volunteers at a water station standby for thirsty runners. Left: Runners dash up the sledding hill in College Hill Park, the final leg of the 5k run. Below: The day also included a one-mile fun run. Below right: Runners crossed the line any way they could. Below center: Ross Mcfarland and father Robert.

Photos by DANA LONERGAN Text by BARRY OWENS

RUN FOR ROSS

HUNDREDS OF RUNNERS TAKE THEIR MARKS TO RACE THROUGH COLLEGE HILL t was the first ever organized run through College Hill—a 5k through the neighborhood and park—and judging by the turnout, it won’t be the last. More than 500 runners turned out for “Rosstoberfest,” a run to raise awareness and funds for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy research. College Hill residents Beverly and Robert McFarland launched the run this year to honor their son Ross, who was born in 1995 with the disease. “This is way more than we expected,” said Beverly McFarland, who was pleased with the large turnout for the run. “We were just hoping for 150.” Instead, hundreds dashed up the hill, the final stretch of the run, and onto Quentin Street where the ‘Oktoberfest” was just getting underway. Runners were invited to have a beer and a brat. “It’s a good run,” said College Hill resident Joe Cole, who said he ran the course earlier in the month just for practice. “You have a little hill in the beginning, and a little hill in the end,” he said.

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THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

Debra Smith, at left, and Jaden Whitecloud climb the park’s bent Mulberry.

All AROUND THE MULBERRY ... TREE

The Cottonwood trees of College Hill Park are likely a century old. Clearly scarred by storms, they look sturdy enough to stand a few centuries more. “They’re hanging in there,” says Craig Steward, the city’s expert on trees. Planted or native? Hard to know, he says. “I think after awhile you have to say that native is anything three centuries old. I think then you say ‘well, it’s here.’

PHOTOS: BARRY OWENS

The park boasts several Mulberry trees, most of them more than 100 (some maybe 200, Steward says) years old. But none of the Mulberry trees are as popular as the bent one in the north end of the park at the base of the sledding hill. It’s an easy climb for young and old, and its bent and twisted trunk gives it a fairytale aspect. (Steward suspects a lightning strike damaged one of the roots, causing it to lean so dramatically). In 2001 the tree was targeted by the city for removal and only spared when College Hill residents circulated a petition to save it. “They couldn’t understand why the tree was being removed, and I couldn’t either,” says Steward. “It doesn’t represent a hazard. Now, it does make it a little more difficult to mow, but too bad. “If you go into some of our neatest stories, like Mother Goose, how many times is an interesting tree the subject of that story? So, let us not throw away the Liberty Bell just because it has a crack in it. Or let us not remove the Arizona because it doesn’t float. If it is safe, let’s keep it. So I signed the petition, too.”

THE TREES SEEING THE PARK FOR BY BARRY OWENS

CATCH IT IF YOU CAN

he trees in College Hill Park were probably at their seasonal peak last month. A few of them just seemed to be barely holding onto their leaves. There looked to be more red leaves at the feet of the Maples than there were in their arms. It won't be long, and most of the trees in the park will look roughly the same—bare silhouettes against the winter sky. Last month, The Commoner asked Craig Steward, the city’s resident expert on trees (formerly the city arborist who is now in engineering), to tour the park and point out a few of his favorites. Along the way, he filled us in on a bit of the history and the likely future of some of the trees.

OUT OF PLACE

BRIEF BEAUTY “I like the Maples,” says Steward. “I think that College Hill has benefited as a neighborhood from the colorful trees. They don’t live as long. But, eh,” he added with a shrug, “you plant again.”

“This is something I never did quite understand in a park setting,” Steward says of the Bradford Pear trees. “What the city was trying to do was diversify the species. But I still think I wouldn’t choose ornamental trees in a park setting. They require more maintenance and they don’t live as long. I think the beauty of a park is in its shade trees, its hardwood trees, its majestic trees. Go somewhere else and plant ornamentals.”

UNLIKELY SURVIVORS A remarkable number of American Elm trees still stand in the park, several of which can be found near the tennis courts. The species was decimated by Dutch Elm disease, which swept through the city’s trees in the 1960s. “It used to be that Wichita had parks full of American Elms,” Steward says. “They were just devastated by the disease. Why some of them have survived is quite interesting. It is hard to really understand how they could have maintained. They have all kinds of scarring, but they’re still here with a tremendous presence.” Though other similar species of tree have been introduced in the city, Steward calls the American Elm irreplaceable. “We’ve lost a fabulous tree,” he says. “I would have to say that the American Elm was the hallmark of this city. It had a huge presence in the park.”

High in the Cottonwood on the southwest edge of the park, just beyond the merry-go-round, coffee cans hang from lines on the limbs. They are targets, of sorts, Steward explains. Workers and trainees in the city’s forestry department must demonstrate the ability to climb (with harness and line) high enough to reach the cans to qualify for certification.

ENDANGERED SPECIES The Scotch and Austrian Pine trees of the park are likely not to last. Pine Wilt and other fungus is widespread in the state. “It’s killing trees that are 10 years old, or a 100 years old,” says Steward. “It’s a terrible thing. The city has been trying to do what it can do. When winter comes, green is the only color you have. That’s it. So you really want some presence of conifer.”

ARTS

Different Drummer

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

College Hill resident Jerry Scholl settling in as head of WSU percussion department.

BY BARRY OWENS It is not as easy as it looks to bang a drum. Whole schools are given over to the technique, such as the one that College Hill resident Jerry Scholl runs as head of the percussion department at Wichita State University. Consider the humble maraca. Scholl grabbed a pair off his office shelf the other day. Sure, anyone can shake them, but Scholl was rattling off runs of perfectly clean thirty-second notes, swinging triplets, and the sort of sharp staccato hits that would seem impossible to get out of a shell filled with ever rolling beans. He shrugged like it was nothing, explaining that he has seen masters of the technique perform entire solo pieces with the simple instrument. Last year, he said, his students performed a group piece written for maraca. “All eight of them together, going bop-BOP-bop-BOP-BOP-bop-BOP,” he said, imitating the syncopation. “That was a great experience. This month the percussion ensemble will perform on Nov. 24, 7:30-9pm, at Miller Concert Hall at W.S.U. in a concert billed as “From Zen to Zimbabwe.” As the title suggests, it will feature rhythms and techniques culled from around the drumming world on instruments that range from the traditional (snare, bass drum and timpani) to the not so traditional (Chinese singing bowls, elephant bells, two-by-fours and sections of steel pipe). Part of the fun of seeing a percussion ensemble, Scholl said, is seeing “instruments you’ve never seen before.” Just as interesting, he said, is to see how it is that those instruments are played. “This is not just a drum circle where they get together and hit drums,” Scholl said of his students. “These guys learn the actual technique that is being taught to children who live in Ghana.” Scholl, 46, studied percussion at Boston University and at New England Conservatory of Music. He is the princi-

Percussion professor Jerry Scholl plays timpani during rehearsal last month at Wichita State University. Below: He confers with conductor Mark Laycock.

PHOTOS: DAVID DINELL

pal percussionist with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and has held principal positions with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra (Canada), and the Tulsa Philharmonic. Also a jazz drummer, Scholl has performed with the Count Basie Orchestra, Frank Sinatra Jr., Michael Feinstein, Marvin Hamlish and others, including national touring Broadway musicals. He and his wife, Dominique Corbeil, a violinist with the Wichita Symphony, moved to College Hill from Riverside three years ago. The Scholl family, including 6-year-old son Olivier, live on South Terrace. Scholl took over as head of the

W.S.U. percussion department last year following the retirement of J.C. Combs, another College Hill resident (“He lives two blocks away”) whose percussion ensembles at the university over the years were legendary. Combs and his students played everything from pinball machines to professional

wrestlers. At his final ensemble in 2006, Combs hauled out homemade instruments (based on inventions by composer and hobo Harry Partch) called the boo, the spoils of war, and the chromelodeon. “He put this school on the map,” Scholl said. “Right now, as I’m building my own program, I am somewhat the curator of what he has brought here.” One evening last month as Scholl was rehearsing a solo timpani piece with the student symphony, Combs sat in the concert hall following along with his own copy of the sheet music. Afterward, he and Scholl huddled together and Combs offered his notes. “One of the things you listen for is clarity of articulation and intonation, and he is right on the button,” Combs said. “It’s a first class performance.” Combs, who worked with Scholl for three years at the school before retiring, also praised his successor’s performance as head of the department. “Oh, he is doing a wonderful job,” he said. “I’ve been to the ensemble concerts and the level of playing is excellent. It seems like a natural continuation of what it was.” Scholl credits his students. “This is all about the students. I get to reap a lot of the benefits of how they perform, but everything I do here is geared to give the students, hopefully, inspiration and guidance,” he said. Which is not to say he won’t perform a little something during the ensemble. “Actually, I can’t remember right now what my part is,” he said. “I have some practicing to do myself.” The W.S.U. percussion ensemble performs Nov. 24, 7:30pm, at Miller Concert Hall in the Duerksen Fine Arts Center. For tickets, contact the Fine Arts Box Office at 316-978-3233. General admission is $6 with discounts available.

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Tickets go on sale this month for the Blessed Sacrament Holiday Home Tour, a fundraiser for the church’s Altar Society. The tour, set for Dec. 6, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., features neighborhood homes lavishly decorated for the holidays by parishioners (Sorry. No children under 14 allowed on the tour). College Hill homes on the tour this year include the O’Malley residence at 137 N. Belmont and the Herzig residence at 204 N. Belmont. Tickets for the tour are $12, go on sale Nov. 17, and are available at the Blessed Sacrament Parish Office, 124 N. Roosevelt, Watermark Books, 4701 E Douglas, and at Maxine’s, 5400 E. Central. Tickets are also available on the day of the tour. For more information, call the parish office, 682-4557.

The Project Beauty Holiday House Tour is set for Dec. 2, 1-4pm. The tour includes stops at Wichita State University president Donald Beggs residence, and the home of Jay and Helen Galloway, owners of ‘The First Place.” No children under 12 are allowed on the tour. Project Beauty is a non-profit organization that sponsors project to help beautify the city. Tickets are $10. Call 267-2737, 684-3802 or 942-3654.

Alternative Market Opens A unique holiday shopping market opens this month at Grace Presbyterian Church, 5002 E. Douglas. Billed as Alternative Christmas Market, the market offers a chance to connect people who want to help with people who need help. The market offers gift cards and sponsorships for charitable projects and missions locally, nationally and internationally. Shoppers can donate to a project in someone’s name and receive a gift card and tree ornament to present to them at Christmas. The market features more than 40 booths. Local charities include Dress for Success, Kansas Soldier, Heartspring and Roots & Wings. International projects include the purchase of wheelchairs for the needy in Ecuador, hospitals beds in North Korea, new water wells for the nomadic people of Sudan, among others. The market is Nov.15, 9am-4pm at the church, 5002 E. Douglas. For more information, call Paul or Eliese Holt, 650-1357, or visit the market’s Web site: members.cox.net/altgiftmkt

Art a la Carte Enjoy an evening of jazz, art, wine and hors d’oeuvres at Art a la Carte at 7 p.m., Nov. 15 at St. James Episcopal Church, 3750 E. Douglas. Music includes the Nouveau Quintette’s gypsy swing jazz in the style of Django Reinhardt and the Jazz trio featuring Lisa Hittle from Friends University. A silent and live auction will feature pieces from Bonita Fitts and Rob Compton, and donated art from local artists and other patrons. All proceeds will benefit the St. James After School Program. The St. James After School Program is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives and education of at-risk youth in the USD 259 school district through music, art education and tutoring. Tickets are $50 and on sale at Guild Hall, St. James Church, 3750 E. Douglas. Free childcare will be provided. Please call 316-683-5686 to make a reservation. For more information, call Theresa Johnson, 260-4254.

‘Nights of Broadway’ The Wichita East High Performing Arts Department presents, “Nights of Broadway” Nov. 20-22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Roosevelt Auditorium. For tickets, call 973-7281. Tickets are $10 for adult reserved seating, $8 for student reserved seating. General seating is $8 adults, $6 students. For more information, www.eastperformingarts.com.

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HISTORY

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

Chester I. Long

Long Story

Nicholas Steffen BARRY OWENS

The home behind the gate at 3601 E. 2nd Street is on the National Register of Historic Places. Chester I. Long, a U.S. Senator, put the place on the map. Nicholas Steffen, a successful dairy man, was its previous owner.

The white house at 2nd and Rutan has had its share of owners both famous and tragic BY BARRY OWENS

hat grand, old white house on the corner of Second and Rutan streets was once far more humble looking than today—no columns or porch, presumably no wrought iron gate and certainly not a plaque out front proclaiming its place on the National Register of Historic Places. It was a simple farmhouse, built by Hardy Solomon in 1887. Later owner Chester I. Long, a prominent Kansas attorney who ascended to the presidency of the American Bar

Association and the U.S. Senate, put the place on the map (and the registry). That he had famous friends, president William Howard Taft among them, probably helped. The home was placed on the national registry in 1978. The columns and porch were added two years before. Long (1860-1934) was born in Pennsylvania and later moved with his family to Paola, Kan. He taught school as a young man before studying law in Topeka. In 1885, he opened his first practice in Medicine Lodge, at the time both Indian Territory and cattle country, as the Wichita Eagle explained in a biography of Long in 1925.

“Huge herds of Texas longhorns came up… and after being fed out, were shipped on to the Kansas City market. All this brought business to the young lawyer.” Long also made a name for himself in political circles. He served in the Kansas Senate from 1889-93. The Republican made an unsuccessful bid for the United States Congress in 1892, but was elected to the office three years later. In 1903 he was elected to the U.S. Senate and served six years. He moved to Wichita, and College Hill, in 1911. It has been long told in the neighborhood that Taft, a friend and political ally, once got stuck in the bathtub while staying as a guest at the Long residence. It is fun to think so and not entirely unlikely as Taft was a large man. As early as thirdgrade, American school children learn that Taft once got stuck in the White House bathtub. But stuck in the tub in a white house in Wichita? Perhaps, but no press accounts could be turned up to verify the tale. A far more tragic tale, how-

ever, does turn up. Long purchased the home from the widow of Nicholas Steffen, a prominent and popular Wichita businessman. Steffen, an ice and ice cream maker whose name for years was on the Steffen’s Dairy Foods building on nearby Central, had purchased the home only two years before and had sank thousands of dollars into its renovation. But on the night of June 8, 1910, Steffen stepped out into the night and never returned. He and another man were struck and killed by a train while crossing the Santa Fe line tracks on Douglas. The accident shocked the city and the incident was written up by one unnamed author thusly: “A devoted wife was made a widow, four children were made orphans, and the community was robbed of a good man—all in the twinkling of an eye. Such will be the sad results so long as locomotives are permitted to cross the busy paths of pedestrians, without due and timely warning, and thereby become death-dealing monsters of the rail.”

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

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A lil’ bit country

Photos by BARRY OWENS and JESSICA FREY OWENS

They were passing out hats, streamers and heaping bowls of chili last month at the Harvest Hoedown, an evening of western dance and song at College Hill Elementary School. “If anyone wants to take home one of the hay bales after this over, you are welcome to,’ it was announced over the P.A. as things got under way. “We don’t want to have to take them back where they came from.”

THE COLLEGE HILL COMMONER ❚ NOVEMBER 2008

Jamison Bond loads up.

Elizabeth Timsah adjust the signage.

KIDS

Evie Hinz chooses a favorite.

PLUMP PICKINS’ Kirk Alderson hauls home a huge pumpkin.

A pumpkin patch sprouted up last month on the lawn of East Heights United Methodist Church, as it does every year at this time. Sales from the patch go to fund the church’s youth group projects and other charities. The field was full of pumpkins—great, small, a few of them pink—that brought out the usual crowd of young hunters in search of the perfectly ghoulish gourd. “The ugly pumpkins are the best,” says Christian Bond, below. At left, Jamison Bond digs deep into a carton in search of just the right mini-sized pumpkin.

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