North Riverside Park Comfort Station
North Riverside Park

Constructed 1934

Nominated for the Kansas & National Registers of Historic Places 2006
 

 

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

"Acquired in 1897, the 30-acre North Riverside Park had experienced some development before the onset of the Great Depression, its most notable feature being the Park Villa shelter house. The Park Villa shelter encouraged families to visit, but the park lacked restroom facilities.

"Lewis William Clapp, president of the Board of Park Commission, designed the comfort station, which was constructed as a Civil Works Administration project in 1934. It represented the first new construction in a city park to be federally funded by New Deal workers.

"The comfort station is an excellent example of the Art Deco style as applied to a utilitarian park building. It is significant for its high artistic values evidenced on a small scale, and as a type of construction–Carthalite–that originated in Wichita. Carthalite was a local trade name for a mixture of concrete mortar mixed with crushed glass and pigmentation."

03/12/2007