(The following is quoted from the Kansas Preservation newsletter, Kansas State Historical Society, Nov.-Dec. 2006, Vol 28, No. 6, p. 29)

"The College Hill Park bathhouse was constructed as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project in 1937. It represents the Wichita parks department’s use of federal assistance during the Depression to continue park improvements and provide jobs for unemployed Wichitans. WPA workers carried out a substantial amount of construction and maintenance in the city’s park system, which had been delayed due to the Depression.

"The city acquired the undeveloped 22-acre College Hill Park just before the stock market crash of 1929. With severe budgetary restrictions facing all city departments during the 1930s, any development plans for a new section were put on hold. With the establishment of the WPA, the parks department expanded its development plans. 

"The city hired the renowned Kansas City landscape architectural firm of Hare & Hare to prepare plans for College Hill Park, and in 1935 hired local architect Edward Forsblom for the design of the bathhouse, which opened in June 1937. The building is also significant as a good example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style as applied to a park building during the Depression era."

National Register Nomination: http://www.kshs.org/resource/national_register/nominationsNRDB/Sedgwick_CollegeHillParkBathhouseNR.pdf