In institutions for higher education Wichita is unusually well equipped, having several co-educational colleges and it is also the seat of Mt. Carmel Academy, a high grade school for young ladies. In addition to the usual academic courses, departments of music, art and elocution are maintained. Students are drawn from Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. The academy was opened in 1887 by five Sisters of Charity. Additions were built in 1900 and again in 1906. The buildings are heated with hot water and every room is so situated as to receive sunshine.
Friends’ University and Fairmount College, Wichita
It was in 1898 that the Friends’ church of Kansas established Friends’ University in Wichita and now Friends’ academies throughout the Southwest send young men and women to the university. The main building, shown in the lower corner, was the gift of James M. Davis, a St. Louis manufacturer.
Fairmount College is a Congregational institution that has reached a firm foundation after years of struggle. Opened as an academy in 1892 it has progressed steadily until it has an enrollment exceeding 300 pupils. In addition to the main building, shown here, Fairmount has a library of 35,000 volumes, a gymnasium and a men’s dormitory.
St. John’s School for boys, a Catholic institution, is located in Wichita.
Fairmount College · Friends’ University
Four Churches, Wichita
The illustrations show four of the more impressive church structures of Wichita. In the upper left corner is the First Presbyterian; opposite, the Roman Catholic Cathedral. In the lower left corner is St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church, and opposite the First Baptist Church. Wichita has been the seat of the Catholic diocese of Wichita for more than a quarter century. The Cathedral was dedicated in 1912.