Aggie's Park Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Flatland Reviewer: This cache page has been archived due to the lack of a timely resolution. If the owner would like to have it reinstated, please contact me through my profile within 90 days.

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Hidden : 4/5/2008
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Location: Aggie's Park (aka Victorian Park) at 17th & Park Place in Historic Midtown
Terrain: Handicap accessible
Difficulty: Relatively easy
Size: Nano



Victorian Park was founded in 1978 at a time of revitalization of the Historic Midtown area. Most of the larger houses in this area were built in the late Victorian era 1880s-1900s. Our family has affectionately referred to the park as Aggie's park because it was the favorite of an elderly family friend in the late 1970s.



The fountain was originally placed in 1910 at William & St. Francis by the National Humane Alliance as a drinking trough for horses in the heart of the city. Thousands of horses drank from it until the vets determined "glanders" was being passed from diseased horses who drank from the fountain to healthy ones. Soon after the fountain lost its purpose, it also lost its central spot due to the "advent of traffic congestion" in the late 1910s Wichita. The fountain obstructing the view at the intersection was deemed "dangerous" for the growing number of motorists.

In the early 1920s, the fountain was discovered neglected in the back of an abandoned animal cage in the park. It was restored and moved in 1922 by the Head of the Park Board, LW Clapp, to Central Riverside Park to serve as a bird bath. After 50 years in Riverside, the fountain was no longer in use and was moved to the "Park Place Common" in 1975 because the fountain fit with the late 19th/early 20th century character of the neighborhood.

The current state of the fountain belies its grander past. The granite fountain not only boasted the bronze plaque from the Humane Society, which is still present, but the fresh water came out of bronze lions' heads on the other three sides. These lions' heads were intact in the mid- to late-1980s but have sadly since been vandalized. The fountain has been non-functional for several years now. I hope sitting on the benches and enjoying the park will motivate cachers to ask the Park Dept to restore the fountain.



Sources:
Wichita Beacon, April 9, 1922.
Wichita Beacon, December 12, 1975.
Personal accounts from residents in neighborhood since 1970s.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Fvg qbja naq erynk!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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