🌾 History of Wichita State

August 9, 2023 | Sign Up | Support Us

TOGETHER WITH

Good morning, Wichita!

We have officially crossed over the 8:30pm sunset threshold. Don't expect to see that again until May. It's all downhill from here.

In today's Wichita Life Update

The History of Wichita State
Fairmount College, Wichita University
Wheatshockers

Let's get to it!

- Landon Huslig

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History of Wichita State University

Wichita State is one of the “big 3” state universities in the state of Kansas, but what is the story behind it?

In honor of school kicking off this month, we wanted to dig in and find out.

Fairmount College

Whenever I hear the word “Fairmount” when talking about WSU, it takes me back to my dorm days, before the Fairmount dorms were destroyed at the corner of Oliver and 21st.

Wichita State University wasn’t always WSU.

Back in 1886, it was originally envisioned as a “Young Ladies College / Wichita Ladies College”, but in 1887, the name was changed to Fairmount College when they were given a piece of land next to the ‘Fairmount Neighborhood’.

Fairmount College officially opened in 1895 for men and women and was attached to the Congregational Church.

The idea was to provide an affordable alternative to other universities.

It continued to grow through the early 20th century with buildings such as Fiske Hall (1906) and Carnegie library (1910) being constructed.

Going Public — Carnegie Morrison Library began constructed in 1907 and was officially opened in 1910. It was destroyed by a fire in 1964, but some pillars still remain on campus.

Municipal University of Wichita (WU)

In the early 1920’s, the school was on the financial struggle bus and was ultimately given to the city of Wichita in 1926 (on the second try).

Fairmount College became the Municipal University of Wichita (or better known as Wichita University aka WU). This would be the first municipal university west of the Mississippi.

Wichita State University (WSU)

WSU circa 1968 - Sedgwick County Historical Museum

In the 1950’s, WU wanted to explore joining the State of Kansas Regents Systems with the Jayhawks and Wildcats.

Wichita State University was officially established on July 1, 1964 when it entered the state system of higher education.

Wheatshockers

The Pride of Wichita State, Whatever It May Actually Be - The New York Times

Go Shocks. Go Shockers. Go Wheatshockers.

Where did the iconic mascot name come from?

In 1906, many of the football players (and other students) were good ole country boys who worked on the farm and shocked wheat during the harvest in additional to playing with the pig skin, thus they were dubbed the Wheatshockers. This was an unofficial name created by football manager R.J. Kirk, but it was so popular that it was eventually shortened to Shockers and adopted by the university. Pep club members were also known as the Wheaties.

As mentioned above, WSU was once WU and that is why our wheat-headed friend is known as WuShock or Wu to this day. Wu has gone through several transformations.

Lamp of Learning

The first president of Fairmount College, Nathan J. Morrison, wanted to make sure the "Lamp of Learning” was featured in the official seal.

The original lamp was lost and legend has it that if you rub the lamp, a genie would grant your 3 wishes (okay, maybe I’m mixing this up with Aladdin, but the original lamp WAS lost). This lamp was a feature all the way from Fairmount to WSU.

Fun Facts:

The World's first Pizza Hut was founded on June 15, 1958 by the Carney Brothers.
National Champions in baseball in 1989 (runner-up in 1982, 1991, 1993)
National Champions in bowling in 2005, 2007, and 2009 for women, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010 for men
Paul Wight aka professional wrestler ‘The Big Show’ played basketball at WSU

Paul Wight – Online World of Wrestling — The Big Show also had his own show called The Big Show show

What did we miss? Go luck to all the students starting school soon!

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