Web posted
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Local politicians with state pull helped widen U.S. Highway 77
By DAVE SEATON
Staff Writer
US Highway 77 between Winfield and Arkansas City became a four-lane road in 1972, thanks to the joint efforts of Democratic Gov. Robert Docking, of Arkansas City, and Republican Speaker of the House Duane "Pete" McGill, of Winfield.
Some said the project was a bone thrown to the two cities. The Kansas Turnpike was scheduled to bypass them on its way to Oklahoma.
A World War II Army Air Force training base, Strother Field, was located along US-77 between the two cities.
After the war the field became a civilian airport and industrial park. For sixty years it has been owned by the two cities. The field is jointly governed by the Strother Field Commission.
Early on new businesses at the field were related to aviation.
Among them were the Fairchild Engine Airplane Co. and Smyer Flying Service, later Current Aircraft. General Electric located an aircraft engine maintenance plant at the field in 1951.
Other major employers included Western Manufacturing, Montgomery Elevator and its successors; Gordon-Piatt, a burner manufacturer, now closed, and Greif Brothers, a manufacturer of barrels and shipping containers. More than one plastic moulding company followed, including K-Square, now Western Industries. Winfield Consumer Products, a manufacturer of vehicle liners, came to the field in 1994.
Long-time field manger Fred Tupper kept things progressing on a low budget through most of the 1970s and 1980s.
Tupper won grants from the Federal Aviation Administration and obtained military surplus equipment. Wheat ground owned by the field was (and is) leased to local farmers. Cowley County Developmental Services, now Twin Rivers Developmental Services, a provider of services for the developmentally disabled, including supportive employment, has long been a presence at the field.
Other names associated with the field are those of former field manager Donna Avery of Arkansas City and tireless booster Charlie Loomis, long deceased, who also lived in Arkansas City. The current manager is Shawn McGrew.
In recent years the field has diversified. The Budweiser distributor, Ark Valley Distributing, came along, followed by KSOK Radio, the Cowley County Mental Health Center, a trucking terminal (now closed) and, across US-77, the Cowley County Humane Society.
The closure of several major employers in the 1990s brought the state's workforce development center to the field. Cowley College offered classes in, among other subjects, retraining for the aircraft industry. The workforce center is still there.
Restaurants have come and gone. The Landing Strip operates at the field today.
The airport terminal and B-4 Flying Service continue to uphold the field's aviation tradition, along with GE, whose customers use the runways. Cowley First, the countywide economic development partnership, has offices in the terminal building.
In 2004, Burford Theaters closed its downtown movie theaters in Winfield and Arkansas City and opened Cowley County Cinema 8, a multiplex theater on Avery Ave at 222nd Road, a mile south of the field, on the west side of US-77. Earlier the South Central Kansas Medical Center at Arkansas City announced plans for a new hospital at 242nd Road, four miles south of the field. The hospital site is also west of US-77.
This activity, some 1,600 jobs at the field itself and increasing traffic have led to speculation that the US-77 corridor in Cowley County is going to boom, some say soon.
Rumors have circulated about new restaurants and big box retailers there.
Prospects of serving a countywide market of 36,000 intrigue realtors, landowners, investors, bankers and government officials. Possibilities for retail, residential and other development are spelled out in the study. Its report, released in November 2007, spells out many of these possibilities.
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