The George Washington Bicentennial Memorial Bridge is significant to the history and heritage of both Wichita State University and the city of Wichita. The bridge's roots are deep in the founding of the university as Fairmount College because it was constructed out of the stones of Fairmount Hall, the first campus building. Designed by Clayton Staples, a major figure in the arts in Kansas, it was erected to be the university's contribution to the great Washington Bicentennial Celebration of 1932.
Fairmount Hall
After securing land for the college in January 1887, the first order of business for the Fairmount Board of Trustees was to construct a building. The Chicago firm of Patton and Fisher was selected for the project with Normand Patton as the architect. The plan submitted was for a three-story building with a tower, designed in the Richardsonian Romanesque style popular at the time. The exterior was finished in Kansas red brick and Carthage stone from Missouri.
Fairmount College's main building did not have an official name. After the Municipal University of Wichita was formed in 1926, the Fairmount Board requested that the building be christened Fairmount Hall. This was done on June 6, 1929.
The Bridge
The science building — now McKinley Hall — was occupied in 1929. That summer the old science labs in Fairmount were being remodeled for other purposes. Apparently, rags used by workmen ignited during the night (although there was talk of arson), and Fairmount Hall burned on Sept. 3, 1929. The central stairway, whose wood floors had been oil-mopped for 40 years, acted as a chimney, and little was left of the structure. It was hoped that the entrance, with its steps and Romanesque arch, could be saved. But only some of the stones could be salvaged for a memorial.
As a diversion from the gloom of the Depression, people began preparing for the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth. The city of Wichita decided to construct a grand boulevard from downtown to the new airport.
As its own contribution to the celebration, the university decided to use the stones from Fairmount Hall to build a bridge — the George Washington Bicentennial Memorial Bridge — over the intermittent stream that led into a small lake at the northwest corner of campus.
Designed by Clayton Henri Staples (1892-1978), wu art director from 1930-50, the bridge was to have been financed by gifts from the classes of 1931 and 1932. But sufficient funds could not be raised, and other donors had to be found. The bridge, consequently, became a gift of the citizens of Wichita.
The bridge was not completed in time for the bicentennial celebration, and was never dedicated. When Levitt Arena was constructed in the 1950s, the campus lake was filled for parking and stream flow was diverted to a storm drain. Today only a few passers-by notice this half-buried bridge or recognize it as a symbol of some of the struggles our university has faced.
A single, smooth stone in the bridge's east inner-face still waits for a bronze plaque.
—Dr. George Platt
Editor's Note: In response to a plan to raze the bridge, a university committee has been formed to review the situation. For further information, contact Dr. Platt at (316) 978-6537.
