Editing Wichita Falls, Texas (section)

==History==
{{see also|Timeline of Wichita Falls, Texas}}
[[File:Old map-Wichita Falls-1890.jpg|thumb|left|Map of Wichita Falls in 1890]]
[[File:Kemp-Kell Building, 1910.JPG|thumb|left|upright|Kemp-Kell Building, ''circa'' 1910, now known as the Holt Hotel, was one of the first five-story office buildings in the city.]] 

From the early 18th century to the mid 19th century, the Wichita Falls area was inhabited by the [[Wichita people|Wichita]] and the [[Comanche]] people. The Spanish called the lands controlled by the Comanche as [[Comancheria]]. The Wichita were forced onto a reservation in Oklahoma after 1859. The last battle with the Comanche in this area occurred in 1872 and the Comanche were finally defeated in 1874.<ref name="Elam">{{cite web |last1=Elam |first1=Earl H. |title=Wichita Indians |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/wichita-indians |website=Texas Almanac |publisher=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref><ref name="Lipscomb">{{cite web |last1=LIpscomb |first1=Carol A. |title=Comanche Indians |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/comanche-indians |website=Texas Almanac |publisher=Texas State Historical Association |access-date=1 March 2025}}</ref>    

[[Anglo-Americans|Anglo American]] presence in the area began in the 1860s.<ref name="Henrickson, Jr.">{{cite web |last1=Hendrickson, Jr. |first1=Kenneth E. |title=Wichita Fall, TX |url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/wichita-falls-tx |website=Texas Almanac |publisher=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref> The future city was platted and named Wichita Falls on September 27, 1876, as the Wichita River runs through the area and a waterfall was in the river's course in 1876. The first permanent resident arrived in 1879. In 1886, a flood destroyed the original [[waterfall]] on the [[Wichita River]] for which the city was named.<ref name=TSHA>{{cite web |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rnw06 |title=Wichita River |work=Handbook of Texas Online |access-date=April 12, 2013 |publisher=Texas State Historical Association }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://purl.fdlp.gov/GPO/gpo16678 |title=Assessment of Channel Changes, Models of Historical Floods and Effects of Backwater on Flood Stage, and Flood Mitigation Alternatives for the Wichita River at Wichita Falls, Texas |work=[[United States Geological Survey]] Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5175 |first1=Karl E. |last1=Winters |first2=Stanley |last2=Baldys III |year=2011 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wichita Falls - Time Line |url=https://www.wichitafallstx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/19742/Wichita-Falls-Time-Line-1872-1993?bidId= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231101155345/https://www.wichitafallstx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/19742/Wichita-Falls-Time-Line-1872-1993?bidId= |archive-date=2023-11-01 |access-date=2023-11-01 |website=wichitafallstx.gov}}</ref> The city built an [[artificial waterfall]] in 1987 beside the river in Lucy Park. The recreated falls are {{convert|54|ft|m|abbr=on}} high.

On the day the city was named in 1876, a sale of town lots was held at what is now the corner of Seventh and Ohio Streets – the birthplace of the city.<ref name=WFTRN20051129>{{cite news|title=Full circle: residences, businesses returning to spot where Wichita Falls began |first=Richard |last=Carter |newspaper=[[Times Record News|Wichita Falls Times Record News]] |issn=0895-6138|page=A1 |location=Wichita Falls, Texas|date=November 29, 2005|quote=They say business and people have been moving westward in Wichita Falls ever since the city was born on Sept. 27, 1872. The birthplace of the city-the corner of Seventh and Ohio Streets, where the original town lot sale was held – is once again blossoming with renovated apartment buildings, new businesses and increased traffic.|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WFTB&p_theme=wftb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_text_search-0=residences,%20AND%20businesses%20AND%20returning%20AND%20to%20AND%20spot%20AND%20where%20AND%20Wichita%20AND%20Falls%20AND%20began&s_dispstring=residences,%20businesses%20returning%20to%20spot%20where%20Wichita%20Falls%20began%20AND%20date(11/1/2005%20to%2012/1/2005)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=11/1/2005%20to%2012/1/2005)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no|access-date=October 9, 2010 }}</ref> The [[Fort Worth and Denver Railway|Fort Worth & Denver City Railway]] arrived in September 1882, the same year the city became the county seat of [[Wichita County, Texas|Wichita County]].<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://wichita-falls-texas.com/history/|title=Wichita Falls History |work=WichitaFallsTexas.com|access-date=October 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100905112801/http://wichita-falls-texas.com/history/|archive-date=September 5, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> The city grew westwards from the original FW&DC train depot which was located at the northwest corner of Seventh Street and the FW&DC.<ref name=WFTRN20051129/> This area is now referred to as the [[National Register of Historic Places listings in Wichita County, Texas|Depot Square Historic District]],<ref name=ARN19980820>{{cite news|title=Cowboys Mosey On, But Littlest Skyscraper Remains |first=Bill |last=Whitaker |newspaper=[[Abilene Reporter-News]]|issn=0199-3267|publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company]] |location=Abilene, Texas |date=August 20, 1998|quote=But when the building was done, investors discovered the skyscraper was only 30&nbsp;feet tall, 18&nbsp;feet deep and 10&nbsp;feet wide. And of the reportedly $200,000 sunk into the skyscraper's construction – well, that was plainly gone with the wind.|url=http://www.texnews.com/1998/brazos/bill0820.html|access-date=October 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614100718/http://www.texnews.com/1998/brazos/bill0820.html|archive-date=June 14, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=Stowers2008>{{cite journal |title=Legend of the World's Littlest Skyscraper |first=Carlton |last=Stowers |journal=Texas Co-op Power |volume=65|issue=1|page=25|publisher=Texas Electric Cooperatives |location=Austin, Texas|date=July 2008|url=http://www.texascooppower.com/content/tcp0807.pdf|access-date=October 9, 2010}}</ref> which has been declared a [[Recorded Texas Historic Landmark|Texas Historic Landmark]].<ref name=WFTRN19990319>{{cite news|title=Historic District Could Expand|author=Le Templar|newspaper=Wichita Falls Times Record News|issn=0895-6138|page=A1 |location=Wichita Falls, Texas|date=March 19, 1999|quote=The Wichita Falls Landmark Commission wants to more than double the size of the downtown historic district in an effort to slow the loss of buildings that proclaim the city's heritage. Commission members voted unanimously Thursday for expanding the district to include a total of 77 buildings on Indiana and Ohio streets.|url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=WFTB&p_theme=wftb&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_text_search-0=Historic%20AND%20District%20AND%20Could%20AND%20Expand&s_dispstring=Historic%20District%20Could%20Expand%20AND%20date(3/1/1999%20to%204/1/1999)&p_field_date-0=YMD_date&p_params_date-0=date:B,E&p_text_date-0=3/1/1999%20to%204/1/1999)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no|access-date=October 9, 2010 }}</ref>

The early history of Wichita Falls well into the 20th century also rests on the work of two entrepreneurs, Joseph A. Kemp<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fke14|title=Brian Hart, "Joseph Alexander Kemp"|publisher=[[Texas State Historical Association]] |access-date=April 15, 2013}}</ref> and his brother-in-law, Frank Kell. Kemp and Kell were pioneers in food processing and retailing, flour milling, railroads, cattle, banking, and oil.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fke07|title=Kell, Frank|encyclopedia=[[The Handbook of Texas]]|access-date=April 16, 2013}}</ref>

The city is home to the [[Newby-McMahon Building]] (otherwise known as the "[[world's littlest skyscraper]]"), constructed downtown in 1919 and featured in [[Robert Ripley]]'s ''[[Ripley's Believe It or Not!]]''.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}}

Downtown Wichita Falls was the city's main shopping area for many years. Those shops lost ground to the creation of new shopping centers throughout the city beginning with Parker Square in 1953 and other similar developments during the 1960s and 1970s, culminating with the opening of [[Sikes Senter]] Mall in 1974. The city has been seeking funding to rebuild and restore the downtown area since 2010.<ref name="autogenerated1" />

Wichita Falls was once home to offices of several oil companies and related industries, along with oil refineries operated by the [[Continental Oil Company]] (now [[ConocoPhillips]]) until 1952 and Panhandle Oil Company (founded in Wichita Falls, sold to [[Petrofina|American Petrofina]] in 1965).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.totalpetrochemicalsrefiningusa.com/who_we_are/history.asp|title=Who We Are}}</ref> Both firms continued to use a portion of their former refineries as gasoline/oil terminal facilities for many years.

===1964 tornado===
{{Main|1964 Wichita Falls tornado}}
A powerful F5-rated [[tornado]] hit the northern and northwestern portions of Wichita Falls, along with [[Sheppard Air Force Base]] during the afternoon of April 3, 1964 (later referred to as "Black Friday"). As the first violent tornado on record to hit the Wichita Falls area,<ref>{{cite web |title=Wichita Falls, TX Tornadoes (1900-Present) |url=http://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-city-tx-wichita_falls |work=National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma|access-date=March 23, 2017}}</ref> it left seven dead and more than 100 injured. Additionally, the tornado caused roughly $15 million in property damage with about 225 homes destroyed and another 250 damaged.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://texasarchive.org/2012_00678|title=Wichita Falls Tornado (1964)|website=Texas Archive of the Moving Image|access-date=December 1, 2019}}</ref> It was rated F5, the highest rating on the [[Fujita scale]], but it is overshadowed by the 1979 tornado.<ref>{{cite book|last=Grazulis|first=Thomas P.|title=Significant tornadoes, 1680-1991: A Chronology an Analysis of Events|year=1993|publisher=Environmental Films|location=St. Johnsbury, Vermont |isbn=1-879362-03-1|page=1050}}</ref>

===1979 tornado===
{{Main|1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak#Wichita Falls, Texas}}

An F4 tornado struck the heavily populated southern sections of Wichita Falls in the late afternoon on Tuesday, April 10, 1979 (known as "Terrible Tuesday"). It was part of an outbreak that produced 30 tornadoes around the region. Despite having nearly an hour's advance warning that [[severe weather]] was imminent, 42 people were killed (including 25 in vehicles) and 1,800 were injured because it arrived just as many people were driving home from work.<ref>{{cite web|title=Synopsis and Discussion of the 10 April 1979 Tornado Outbreak|publisher=National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma|date=January 19, 2010|url=http://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19790410-burgess|access-date=March 14, 2011}}</ref> It left 20,000 people homeless and caused $400 million in damage, a U.S. record not topped by an individual tornado until the F5 [[1999 Bridge Creek–Moore tornado|Moore–Oklahoma City tornado]] of May 3, 1999.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Great Plains Tornado Outbreak of May 3-4, 1999 |work=National Weather Service |location=Norman, Oklahoma |date=November 20, 2009 |url=http://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19990503|access-date=December 4, 2009}}</ref>