Wichita Women Making History

Written by Julie Underwood Burton

March is a time to reflect on the contributions of women as we celebrate Women’s History Month. The purpose of this celebration is to highlight progress and contributions women have made in many fields, including science, politics, literature, sports, education and civil rights — and Wichita has an impressive list of women to be celebrated. 

In Film

Hattie McDaniel was born in Wichita in 1985 to formerly enslaved parents and became known as a pioneering actress and was also a sing-songwriter and comedian. For her role as Mammy in the classic movie “Gone With the Wind,” she won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress and was the first African American woman to win an Academy Award. 

Kirstie Alley graduated from Wichita Southeast High School and spent several years at Kansas State University before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her career in interior design and later in acting. She got her start in “Star Trek II” and appeared in other movies and sitcoms, but was most known for her Oscar and Golden Globe award-winning role as Rebecca Howe in the late-80’s sitcom “Cheers.”

In Sports

Lynette Woodard was a four-time Kodak All-America basketball player at the University of Kansas. She led the U.S. Women’s Basketball Team to a gold medal in the Olympics and became the first woman to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. She played professionally overseas and for two seasons in the WNBA. Woodard was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004 and her alma mater’s court at North High School was named in her honor in 2021. 

In the Arts

Maude Gowen Schollenberger was a long-time supporter and president of the Wichita Art Association (known today as Mark Arts) from the 1930s through the 1960s. Olive Ann Beech, Gladys Wiedemann and Mary Robinson Koch were philanthropists who were influential to the organization beginning in the 1960s. 

Louise Caldwell Murdock was Wichita’s first interior decorator and brought her cultural flair from New York to Wichita. She designed and built the Caldwell Murdock building on Douglas and was also known for providing the seed money used to start the Wichita Art Museum’s collection in 1915. 

Olive Ann Garvey was a philanthropist and businesswoman who co-founded Music Theatre of Wichita. She also helped create the Riordan Clinic, formerly known as the Center for the Improvement of Human Functioning. Both she and Olive Ann Beech were the first women members of Wichita’s Chamber of Commerce. 

In Aviation

Mary Chance VanScyoc fell in love with flying in 1935 when she first flew in an airplane with Clyde Cessna. She attended Wichita State University as the first woman aviation student, graduated in 1941 and in 1944 she became the country’s first recognized female civilian air traffic controller. 

Connie Palacioz moved to Wichita upon graduation from high school to take a job at Boeing at the age of 18. She helped build military aircraft during World War II and became known as Wichita’s “Connie the Riveter.” She turned 101 this past January and still volunteers at the Friends of Doc Hangar. 

In and Around Town

Catherine McCarty was one of the city’s first women entrepreneurs and the only woman to sign Wichita’s founding charter in 1870. She bought land and opened a laundry service. She was also the mother of the famous outlaw, Billy the Kid. 

Carrie Nation was not a native Wichitan but was a famous prohibitionist on a crusade against alcohol and quite known in Wichita after she destroyed the downtown Eaton Hotel’s bar with a hatchet in 1900. 

Doris Kerr Larkins led an effort to protect Wichita’s Calvary Baptist church and gauge community support to establish a black historical museum within that church. She also helped launch the First National Black Historical Society in 1973. 

Helen Galloway, a long-time entrepreneur, opened The First Place over 50 years ago, a beautiful retail store that has offered generations of shoppers hand-picked collections of fine jewelry, gifts and clothing. Helen is also the founder of the Women of Wichita Charitable Foundation, Inc.

Hats off to these and many other fine women who helped shape our Wichita culture and community!