Private owners moved it twice, then moved it again to Cowtown in 1952.
Early Wichita history The first permanent settlement in Wichita was a collection of grass houses inhabited by the Wichita tribe in 1864. Pioneer trader
Jesse Chisholm established a trading post at the site in the 1860s (whom the
Chisholm Trail was named). Wichita was founded in 1868 by businessmen then incorporated as a city in 1870. The Chisholm Trail ran along the east side of Wichita from 1867 to 1871. In 1872 the Wichita and Southwestern Railroad completed a branch line from Wichita to the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway at
Newton. As a result, Wichita became a railhead for cattle drives from
Texas, from which it has derived its nickname "
Cowtown." Wichita's neighboring town on the opposite (west) bank of the Arkansas River,
Delano, a village of saloons and brothels, had a particular reputation for lawlessness, largely accommodating the rough, visiting cattlemen. The Wichita/Delano community gained a wild reputation, however, the east (Wichita) side of the river was kept more civil, thanks to numerous well-known lawmen who passed through, employed to help keep the rowdy cowboys in line. Among those was
Wyatt Earp. After railroads were extended west and south, Wichita lost the railhead for cattle drives along with the rowdy cowboys that came with it. In 1880, Delano was annexed by Wichita, then a land boom involving speculation occurred in the late 1880s, and by 1890 the population of Wichita had exploded to nearly 24,000. ==Film set==