Market St nr Old Sedgwick Co. Courthouse -- Wichita KS
N 37° 41.648 W 097° 20.220
14S E 646616 N 4173180
A half-dozen hand-forged iron hitching rings line the original stone curb blocks along Market Street on the east side of the 1888 Sedgwick County Courthouse, waiting for the horses who stopped coming here almost a century ago.
Waymark Code: WMH1F4
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 05/06/2013
Views: 4
The 1888 Italian Renaissance-inspired former Sedgwick County Courthouse stands proudly at the corner of 5th and Main in downtown Wchita. This courthouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
One of the most subtle cool features of this courthouse lies at your feet along Market Street, where half-adozen hand-forged hitching rings still wait to tie up the horses who stood patiently here in the late 1880s while their owners went inside to conduct business.
Blasterz found one of these 125-year-old hitching rings broken in the street, and took it home as a souvenir :) We doubt that anybody else in town (except the street paving crew) has even noticed these rings.
This beautiful stone courthouse was built in 1888. It originally had a 6-story clock tower that had to be removed in the 1950s after it was damaged by high winds. The historic 1914 black and white postcard photo credit belongs to the Wichita KS Historical Commission. The 1890s-vintage color postcard photo credit belongs to cardcow.com.
Today, this courthouse houses various county offices. It was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Here is a link to the nomination form: (
visit link)