Word: wichitas
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...Wichita has known more than its historic share of booms. Back in the 1870s the town was a major overnight hitching post for cowhands who were taking their Texas longhorns north over the dusty Chisholm Trail. Signs posted outside the self-proclaimed "cow capital" declared: "Anything goes in Wichita. Leave your revolvers at police headquarters." Thirsty cowpunchers, ranchers, Indian scouts and gamblers filled the barrooms and dance halls, earning Wichita a reputation as "the noisiest town on the American continent...
Carry Nation. After a brief decline, Wichita boomed again in the late 1880s, this time as a grain market and milling center. During harvest, carts and wagons loaded with wheat lined its streets in columns ten blocks long. Sober homesteaders built schools and churches instead of taverns, and Carry Nation carried her cause into the local saloons. The discovery of large oil reserves in 1915 produced another upswing and catapulted Wichita into the 20th century, attracting men like Walter Beech, Clyde Cessna and Lloyd Stearman, who turned the city into the "air capital of America...
...years since, Wichita and aviation have had a reputation of running on a steep boom-and-bust cycle. Explains Beech Aircraft's Bill Robinson: "When the rest of the economy coughed, general aviation got the first cold...
When the last bust cycle hit in 1969-70, the people of Wichita decided to do something about it. The city and county governments and the Chamber of Commerce joined with community leaders to recruit diverse businesses to take the burden of employment-and stability-off the aircraft industry. During the '60s about one in four employed Wichitans worked for either Beech Aircraft, Cessna, Boeing or Gates Learjet...
Bicycle Paths. Wichita used income from the sale of industrial bonds to draw such national firms as Metropolitan Life, National Cash Register and J.I. Case Co. Early next year Western Electric will open a new plant on the western outskirts. In the past year every one of the city's meat-packing plants has either completed or begun major expansion programs. A giant retail shopping center and hotel-convention hall will open this spring on the east side of town...