Delano, Wichita, Kansas

Delano
Neighborhood
The Delano Clock Tower in Delano's business district along Douglas Avenue (2012)
Coordinates: 37°40′58″N 97°21′35″W / 37.68278°N 97.35972°W / 37.68278; -97.35972Coordinates: 37°40′58″N 97°21′35″W / 37.68278°N 97.35972°W / 37.68278; -97.35972
Country	United States
State	Kansas
County	Sedgwick
City	Wichita
Platted	18?? (Elgin) 1871 (Delano) 1880 (West Wichita)
Elevation	1,299 ft (396 m)
Demonym(s)	Delanonians
ZIP code	67203, 67213
Area code	316

Delano is a neighborhood in Wichita, Kansas, United States. A mixed commercial and residential area on the west bank of the Arkansas River, it is home to Friends University, Lawrence–Dumont Stadium, and Exploration Place, the Sedgwick County science museum.

Thanks to the availability of inexpensive land under the Homestead Act of 1862, settlers purchased land across the Arkansas River from Wichita, Kansas. These settlers named their new community Elgin. In 1870, Elgin became a cattle shipment point on the Chisholm Trail and began to grow. In March 1871, local residents renamed the town Delano after Columbus Delano, Secretary of the Interior under President Ulysses S. Grant. Hotels, saloons, and other new businesses opened over the next two years along with a post office and a toll bridge across the river to Wichita. Unlike Wichita, Delano had no law enforcement. As a result, it became an area center of drinking, gambling, and prostitution for cowboys working in the cattle trade. Gunfights occurred as well, including a fatal and locally famous incident between two saloon keepers in 1873. In the late 1870s, the cattle trade relocated west to Dodge City, and Delano’s period as a rowdy cowtown ended.

Wichita annexed Delano in 1880, and it became locally known as West Wichita. An economic boom a few years later triggered residential development. Streets in the neighborhood were named after prominent settlers. New businesses opened as well, including a watch factory. Garfield University, later repurposed as Friends University, opened in Delano in 1887. By the end of the decade, however, the city had entered an economic recession, and many locals went bankrupt.