Project Profiles – Friends University - Wichita, Kansas

Hunter Irrigation System Earns Praise from Friends in Campus Landscape Department

Don’t go looking for Central Perk here. Phoebe Buffay won’t be singing in the student lounge and there certainly won’t be any professors named Chandler Bing. No, the "Friends" in Friends University have nothing to do with the popular long-running sitcom on NBC, it actually takes it name from a religious sect better known to many Americans as the Quakers.

The official name of the Quakers are the Society of Friends and the institute of higher learning in Wichita, Kansas is the result of that religious organization’s efforts over a century ago in helping to keep alive a Christian school that had been unable to keep its doors open.

In any event, one thing the school has in common with the TV show is that, when you’re in the Wichita area, the campus is a "must see" – and not just on Thursday, but any other day you choose to stop by. The school’s impressive architecture and beautifully landscaped grounds provide the reason to add it to your "Things to Do in Wichita" list.

Giving the Campus a "Friend"-lier Appearance

When it was built in the late 1800s, the centerpiece of the campus, the Davis Administration Building (then known as University Hall), was the largest educational facility under one roof west of the Mississippi. The Romanesque building is best known for its 148-foot clock tower that dominates the view of the school. With its distinctive architecture, the Davis Administration Building has earned a cherished listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The University is in the process of completing a $7 million renovation of this historic building, as well as a series of landscaping improvements that have greatly enhanced the park-like appearance of the campus. One of the more notable new landscape features has been the creation of the Rose Window Plaza. The new plaza takes its name from one of the most beloved features in the Davis Building, the stained glass rose window in the third floor Alumni Auditorium. The distinctive design of the window has been replicated in brick and colorful cut stones on the grounds immediately past the front steps of the building.

The Rose Window Plaza was originally a weathered asphalt road that literally divided the campus. The road leading to the circular drive was always lined with cars that effectively made it impossible to walk across campus, while the area in front of the Davis building was essentially never used.

Grounds manager Mark Furry has used virtually every brand of sprinkler in his many years in the business and feels he knows a thing or two about what works and what doesn’t. When it comes to sprinklers, he’s the first to tell you that what works is Hunter.

For the Rose Window Plaza and the other areas immediately surrounding the Davis Building, Furry installed the Hunter I-20 Ultra. The head is an ideal choice for heavy traffic areas, which the new plaza was certain to become. The rotor’s extra-strong retraction spring guarantees that no heads will remain in their "up" position when off, eliminating any safety hazards and liability issues. And the rotor’s integral rubber cover stays in place, another means of keeping those who traverse the lush greenery safe.

Furry also chose the I-20 because of its wide selection of nozzles – 22 different choices, including standard, low angle, short radius and high flow – that allow the sprinkler to be custom fitted to all spacings between 18 and 47 feet.

He noted that an added bonus to choosing the I-20 was the product’s unique FloStop® control that allows stoppage of flow through an individual head while the remainder of the system is running. A feature like that can come in handy when servicing the grounds on a busy college campus where people are almost always present.

In all, more than 600 I-20 rotors were installed across the campus, augmented by more than five dozen I-25 and four dozen PGP® rotors. Approximately 100 four-inch PS spray heads and numerous PGV valves were also included in the campus-wide renovation and beautification project.

History of the School

Although Friends University was officially founded in 1898, its history goes back to the mid-1880s when the Christian Churches of Kansas began to construct a building west of Wichita that would hold more floor space under one roof than any other educational facility west of the Mississippi River. Garfield University opened its doors for classes in 1887. However, after graduating its first and only senior class, the school closed its doors due to financial difficulties. The school was reorganized and opened again in 1892, but closed for good 20 months later.

For five years, the building was a haven for owls, birds and bats until James M. Davis, a businessman from St. Louis, saw an advertisement in a St. Louis paper and purchased the building and surrounding lots. He immediately offered the entire holding to the Kansas Society of Friends on the condition that the group raise $50,000 for the permanent endowment of the college. The conditions were accepted, and Friends University officially opened its doors in September 1898. The enrollment for the first year was 102 students.

Friends University continued operating as a Quaker institution until the 1930s when governance of the school was vested in an independent Board of Trustees. Since then, the University has continued to operate in an amicable but independent relationship with the Society of Friends.

Throughout its history, Friends University has remained committed to its central core -- the arts and sciences. The school is one of only a handful of colleges and universities that offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts in ballet and the only one to offer a bachelor in zoo science program. The school has continued to grow and develop over the years and today is home to more than 3,000 students–and hundreds of Hunter sprinklers.