Vol 39 • No. 12
River Castle
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‘BBQ’ Campbell left mark on city
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By Jack Kellogg Few buildings in Wichita provoke more curiosity than Campbell Castle, the 17-bedroom, feudal-style mansion overlooking the Little Arkansas River at 11th Street and North River Boulevard. As it turns out, builder Burton Harvey Campbell – also known as Col. “Barbecue” Campbell - was as fascinating as his home, a respected businessman and civic leader who may have owed some of his success to financial chicanery as well as cattle. Campbell was born in western New York State in 1829 and moved to New York City by 1850, starting a family there with his first wife. By the end of the Civil War he was helping the government with the business end of Reconstruction, buying properties and settling claims for war losses. It was during this period that he earned the honorary title of “colonel.” In 1867, four years after his first wife’s death, Campbell married again.
Courtesy Photo
Cattleman "Barbecue" Campbell reportedly modeled his home on a Scottish castle, filling it with costly imports from Europe.
He moved to northern Illinois in 1870 and started breeding Durham cattle, Norman horses and Cotswold sheep. Campbell held a dispersal sale in 1879 and moved to Hutchinson, but only stayed a year before relocating to Wichita. Settling his family at the corner of Elm and Topeka, Campbell established ranching operations south
of Caldwell in the Cherokee Strip, a disputed stretch of land along the Kansas-Oklahoma border. One of Campbell’s cattle brands was a “BQ” with a bar over it, which became the source of his nickname. Evicted by the federal government, Campbell managed to keep ranching there by leasing See Castle, page 8
Stroke can't stop love of music By Amy Houston When Lisa Shorter walked into a keyboard class for adult beginners last year, it took all her courage and patience. After all, she was the only student who’d be forced to play using only one hand. One year later, she isn’t comfortable playing a song in front of her classmates. She does it anyway. “I’m going to try, try, try,” Shorter, 58, said. It’s an attitude that has served her well throughout life. The youngest of seven children, Shorter grew up in Wichita, attended Kapaun Mount Carmel High School and studied at Wichita State University. By age 26, she was married and working as a receptionist in CaliforSee Player, page 9
Questions about services?
Photo By Amy Houston
"You get the groove and I can rock it" Lisa Shorter says.
Central Plains Area Agency on Aging or call your county Department on Aging: 1-855-200-2372
November 2018
Wichita takes pass on centers
By Joe Stumpe A new library for $32 million. Up to $81 million for a minor league ballpark. Twenty-five thousand dollars to help outfit a U.S. Navy warship called the USS Wichita, which is patrolling the high seas. The city of Wichita is investing in the future, but none of that largesse is going to senior centers. Nearly alone among incorporated areas of Sedgwick County, Wichita budgets no money for the five senior centers – Downtown, Linwood, La Familia, Northeast and Orchard Park – located within it. On the contrary, the city is charging the Linwood Senior Center $20,784 in rent this year and Orchard Park $13,776. “Wichita seems to be caught up in other stuff, like the library and baseball field and stuff like that,” said Jim Burgess, a member of the Sedgwick County Advisory Council on Aging. “They don’t seem one bit interested in the senior area, as far as I can tell.” Burgess says he “doesn’t have a dog in the hunt” since the city where he lives, Derby, budgets money for its senior center - $212,444 this year. Wichita Mayor Jeff Longwell and City Council members whose districts include the centers did not respond to requests for comment. Megan Lovely, who is Wichita’s communications and special events manager, referred questions about senior center funding to Sedgwick County officials, writing in an email: “The County oversees health and human services, including senior services, so this would be in their purview.” Senior center funding has been in the news since August, when the Sedgwick County Commission See Centers, page 6
Butler County: (316) 775-0500 or 1-800- 279-3655 Harvey County: (316) 284-6880 or 1-800-279-3655