| Sedgwick County
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Colwich and Andale lie a few miles
apart in northwestern Sedgwick County. They are much alike, although
their individual residents will from time to time dispute their similarities.
Both communities have fostered admirable work ethics in succeeding
generations who work in local agriculture, in local businesses, or
in nearby Wichita. Life in both communities is family-oriented and
value-based. Housing is a nice blend of new and old.
Garden Plain was named for the richness
of its soil and for its native orchards. Progressive, clean and picturesque,
Garden Plain takes civic pride to new plateaus. Ninety-nine of every
100 students in Garden Plain complete their high-school education,
a graduation rate that virtually repeats itself at the college and
vocational-technical levels. The city is, for all practical purposes,
crime-free. No surprise: new home construction is booming. |
Goddard is yet another town whose favorable
proximity to Wichita and whose outstanding school system have led to sudden
growth. Goddard’s school district covers 60-plus square miles, and more
than 2,000 children arrive by bus in Goddard every school day. It is one
of the fastest growing school districts in the state. Much of the housing
here is new, and many of the community’s families are young. Its industrial
park is home to almost 20 businesses, including the second-largest striping
and decal manufacturer in the nation and the third-largest producer of trash/recycling
carts. Haysville is over a 100 years old and in the process of rebuilding
after parts of the community were destroyed by a tornado in May 1999. The
disaster brought the community together to rebuild and improve on an already
fine area. The Haysville school system manages one of the best pupil / teacher
ratios in the state, with just 16 students per teacher. The Haysville PTA
has won national recognition and the Haysville Public Library lends more
than 25,000 volumes. The functional industrial park, also damaged by the
tornado, is coming back to life more strongly than before. Housing in the
damaged area is also showing a remarkable comeback with varied options,
including specialized housing for the elderly.
Mention Maize around the Wichita metro area,
and one other word automatically comes to mind among the locals…”schools.”
Long recognized for the quality of its public education, Maize has grown
as rapidly as any suburb, primarily because of the advantages it offers
young families. Now with a primary school, three elementary schools, an
intermediate school and a high school, the community continues its growth
east and west along the recently completed State Fair Expressway (K-96 Highway),
bringing Wichita and Hutchinson closer than ever before. North of Wichita,
the towns of Kechi and Bel Aire have doubled their size in the past decade.
Bel Aire has added nearly 100 new homes per year for the last five years,
yet has supported its small-town orientation by focusing activities around
youth programs at the Bel Aire Recreation Center or around one of the community’s
neighborhood parks. Kechi maintains a village atmosphere for its 500 citizens
with a community playhouse, occasional street dances and its designation
as the antique capital of Kansas with a business district that features
more than 20 antique, crafts and collectable stores. All this, and downtown
Wichita is only about 10 minutes away.
A community lying alongside I-135 north of
Wichita, Park City means entertainment. With its own convention and tourism
board, the town promotes itself as the focus of some of South Central Kansas’
most popular attractions.
The Kansas Coliseum - home to sporting, musical
and merchandising events of every sort - lies at Park City’s far northern
edge. Even closer, Wichita Greyhound Park incorporates fine dining and lounge-based
good times in a climate-controlled grandstand, and features year-round pari-mutual
wagering. 81 Speedway roars at Park City’s western edge where sprint and
modified cars race on a 3/8-mile oval dirt track.
Echo Hills Golf Course and 50 acres of ball
diamonds and soccer fields, water-based fun and tennis courts, picnic areas
and walking trails support the claim of the city’s name. Antique malls and
the hospitality industry constitute much of Park City’s business community.
Valley Center has also invested its pride
as a community in its schools. They’re recognized throughout the area for
academic and extracurricular excellence. Housing in Valley Center is a balanced
mix of new developments and old, tree-shaded neighborhoods. The community
has become an incubator of sorts for young businesses, and many Valley Center
companies have experienced remarkable jumps in sales in recent years - with
corresponding jumps in employment.
Mulvane is historic and quaint to this day.
Still quiet, still mindful of its past, the community achieves almost total
employment. Everyone works in Mulvane, and the community has prospered in
the process: new schools, new businesses, and a quality of life founded
on the old at peace with the new.
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Derby, to the south of Wichita, has
almost doubled its size in the past 20 years. But Derby has planned
well, and the growth has come without compromise of traditional values:
safe streets, community pride involving the high school’s sports teams
and local merchants serving hometown customers. Much about Derby is
new. There’s a new city hall, a new high school, a new library with
40,000 volumes on its shelves, a new community center (swimming pool,
gymnasiums, racquetball courts and running tracks) and a fairly new
industrial park. There is one computer for every five students in
the Derby school system. Average ACT scores in the senior class are
consistently higher than for other college-bound seniors, both nationally
and statewide. |
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