Eureka Elementary

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Eureka Elementary School

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Eureka, as a county school, began near the tum of the century in a one-room rural building located
about one-half of a mile south of what is now U.S. Highway 54 (Kellogg). In 1913 this building
was replaced with a two-room school located about 50 feet north of the present structure at 573 South
West. This frame building served until the 30s when a front part was erected. It consisted of two
rooms on each of the three-floor levels with rest rooms and offices. The two basement rooms could be
opened into a single playroom or auditorium.

In 1940 an L-shaped concrete school building was erected by PWA labor at Second andAnna (now Dodge/ Edison Elementary School) to house the growing population in the "Hoover Orchard" area. This building became known as Eureka No. 2 and the original was designated Eureka No. 1. Together these schools comprised Eureka School District No. 124

By 1954 there were approximately 1,000 pupils and 50 employees in the combined Eureka Schools. Each building had a principal, and the superintendent was charged with hiring, purchasing, and dealing with the three-man Board of Education. At Eureka No. 1 a sixroom addition was completed in 1943 at a cost of $32,000 and a later addition in 1950 consisted of four classrooms, gym, kitchen, rest rooms, and offices to complete the building as it is at present. This last addition cost $142,000. The original site containing only 2.61 acres had been increased to 6.61 acres.

Since the City of Wichita was extending its boundaries and Eureka District lacked the wealth to finance a growing school population, Eureka became a part of the Wichita school district in 1954. Eureka No. 1
retained its name and No. 2 became Dodge Elementary School. In 1955 Mayberry Junior High School was built and took the seventh and eighth grades from Eureka Elementary School which left space for kindergarten, special education, library, and audiovisual rooms.

The Annual Report of 1966-67 stated that the Eureka attendance area was rapidly developing into a commercial and industrialized center, and for the first time pupils were being transported to the school by bus which was made necessary by the annexation of parts of the Oatville School District. During 1966-67 the school participated in the Title II program which made several hundred additional books available in the library, and there were also three rooms for educable mentally handicapped pupils and a half-time teacher for remedial reading. During this year Eureka was one of only two schools in the city that was free of vandalism.

Due to declining enrollment the Eureka School was closed at the end of the 1970-71 school year. The building was leased on November 15, 1971 to the West Side Involvement Corporation to be used as a City Community Center for all age groups and later sold and razed to make way for commercial use.

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