Here are some facts you might not know about Lincoln Heights Village, which became Wichita’s first shopping center when it opened in 1949.
It was named for Abraham Lincoln, whom realtor and developer Walter Morris greatly admired.
Morris bought the property at Douglas and Oliver in 1926 from a wealthy St. Louis financier, Harry F. Knight, who financed Charles Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight the next year. (So maybe some of Morris’ $110,000 fueled “The Spirit of St. Louis.”)
It was part of an 80-acre parcel then located east of the city limits.
Morris and his son, William, spent 25 years working on plans for the shopping center by visiting other centers across the country. The two also developed the nearly Sleepy Hollow, Park Hollow, Crown Heights and Lincoln Heights residential neighborhoods.
J.C. Nichols, builder of Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza, visited and offered suggestions about the mix of tenants that would offer complementary services. When it opened, “The Village” contained a drug store, florist, grocery, shoe store cleaners, barber and beauty shops, dentist and doctor’s office and more. Morris liked that customers could attend to their shopping and medical needs in one trip.
The center’s most recognizable feature is its 50-foot tower. But plate glass window fronts, a roof structure that allowed for flexible store sizing and paved front-door parking were all considered local innovations at the time.
The Village is still filled with a variety of locally owned businesses, including Watermark Books & Café, Extraordinaire Salon & Boutique, Oliver’s Lounge, Livingston’s Cafe, Village Barber & Style Shop, The Vault Collection, Sanneman Insurance Agency, Alliance Hearing, Inc., and Vigilias, LLC
Walter Morris died in 1951 at age 91. William Morris carried on the business until his death in 1963; and his three daughters, Eloise McMurtry, Carolyn Beckett and Mary Boyd, now all deceased, continued in the family real estate business with their families, who own and operate the property and the company today. Founded in 1888, Walter Morris & Son is the oldest real estate company in Wichita.
