Winfield, Kansas

===20th century===
====Industry====
The Winfield-[[Arkansas City, Kansas|Arkansas City]] area has a wide range of industrial employers—most of which emerged and developed in the 20th century. Many are based at, and around, Strother Field—a municipal airport that the two cities share.<ref name="industries"/>

=====Consumer goods=====
In 1916, Gott Manufacturing was established in Winfield to produce metal water coolers. Over the next 70 years, the enterprise grew into a major supplier of insulated water jugs and urns.<ref name="rubbermaid">Roy, Bill, [http://www.bizjournals.com/wichita/news/2011/12/22/newell-rubbermaid-to-bring-200-jobs-to.html "Newell Rubbermaid to bring 200 jobs to Kansas,"] December 22, 2011, ''Wichita Business Journal,'' retrieved April 5, 2017"</ref><ref name="rubbermaid_commerce">[http://www.kansascommerce.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=535 "Rubbermaid celebrates its renewed investment in Winfield, Kan.,"] May 3, 2012, Kansas Dept. of Commerce</ref>

In 1986, Gott was acquired by [[Rubbermaid]], a globally dominant manufacturer of [[rubber]] storage containers, and converted to producing Rubbermaid-branded products, manufacturing insulated water coolers, ice chests, outdoor-living and outdoor-storage products. Subsequent expansion of its facilities have continued into the present day.<ref name="rubbermaid" /><ref name="rubbermaid_commerce" />

A [[Crayola]] crayon-manufacturing plant was located in Winfield from 1952 to 1997.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.crayola.com/canwehelp/contact/faq_view.cfm?id=256 | title=Crayola.com Can We Help | access-date=December 11, 2011 }}</ref>

=====Aviation industry=====
======Strother Field======
In 1942, as America entered [[World War II]], Winfield, along with neighboring [[Arkansas City, Kansas|Arkansas City]], began development of a shared municipal airport. However, the entry of the U.S. into the war led to military acquisition and completion of the airfield, which became [[Strother Field]]. During the war, the airfield was used for military pilot training.<ref name="neumann_1975"/><ref name="field_history"/>

In 1953, the airport reverted to shared control of Winfield and Arkansas City, and became a major industrial center for both communities, which it remains to the present.<ref name="neumann_1975" /><ref name="industries" /><ref name="field_history" />

======GE Aviation======
In 1951, at Strother Field, [[GE Aviation]]—an aircraft-engine division of [[General Electric]]—began producing [[General Electric J47]] jet engines for U.S. military aircraft (notably the [[Boeing B-47 Stratojet]] intercontinental bomber, built primarily in Wichita, and also built by [[Douglas Aircraft]] at [[Tulsa, Oklahoma|Tulsa]] in neighboring Oklahoma).<ref name="aerofiles">[http://www.aerofiles.com/_boe.html "Boeing numeric, and A to BX,"] ''AEROFILES.com'' retrieved April 7, 2017</ref> Approximately 3,000 of those engines were produced at Strother by 1955.<ref name="neumann_1975" />

With the end of the Korean War, the GE factory switched to overhauling jet engine parts and accessories. In 1962, GE began overhauling and repairing entire military jet engines (particularly [[General Electric J73|J73]] and [[General Electric J85|J85]]), and related parts and accessories—ultimately processing over 6,000 jet engines between 1962 and 1975.<ref name="neumann_1975" />

With the advent of [[business jets]] in the mid-1960s—led by Wichita's [[Learjet]] (using [[General Electric CJ-610]] engines, also used on other business aircraft)—the Strother Field GE facility switched to servicing GE's business jet engines, ultimately processing over 6,000 by 1975, as the factory grew to 125,000 square feet. During those years, several hundred business jets, from around the world, flew into Strother Field to be serviced directly at the GE facility.<ref name="neumann_1975" />

Subsequently, GE's Strother facility overhauled [[General Electric J33|J33]] military engines, and [[General Electric CF6]] engines for "jumbo" jetliners.<ref name="neumann_1975" />

In 1985, GE acquired much of the abandoned Cessna facility for use in its engine-overhaul enterprise.<ref name="cessna">"152, 172RG, 185 PRODUCTION SUSPENDED, STROTHER FIELD SOLD: Cessna Facility at Strother Field sold to General Electric," July, 1985 ''Cessna Owner'' Magazine, p.142, as summarized in [http://cessna.org/documents/magazine_index.pdf "Cessna Pilots Association Magazine Article Index, August 1984-December 2011,"] retrieved April 7, 2017</ref>

======Cessna======
In 1967, [[Cessna Aircraft Company]], the world's highest-volume producer of aircraft (mostly light aircraft, at the time) addressed booming demand for their smallest, most-popular aircraft, by opening a Cessna factory at Strother Field. Initially, the factory produced the [[Cessna 150]], at that time the world's most popular two-seat light aircraft (the world's dominant pilot-training aircraft for several decades).<ref name="legend">Rodengen, Jeffrey L., book: ''The Legend of Cessna,'' 2007, Write Stuff Enterprises, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, p.135.</ref><ref name="mass">
[https://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1975/1975%20-%200078.PDF "U. S. Mass-Produced Aeroplane,"] January 9, 1975, ''Flight International,'' as photo-reproduced at ''FlightGlobal.com,'' (PDF) retrieved April 7, 2017</ref>

In 1975, Cessna also began to move the assembly of the world's most popular light aircraft, the [[Cessna 172]], from its Wichita factory to Strother Field.<ref name="legend" />

Several thousand of both aircraft models were produced at Strother Field (making it a globally major aircraft factory complex, in total unit production). The factory employed several hundred to a few thousand workers until the 1980s Recession and other factors crashed the market for light aircraft, and Cessna, following layoffs of 700 workers at Strother Field, eventually shut down the Strother Field factory in the early 1980s.<ref name="cessna_shut">Associated Press, [https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/17/business/cessna-will-shut-plant-6-weeks.html "Cessna Will Shut Plant 6 Weeks"], March 17, 1982, ''New York Times,'' retrieved April 7, 2017</ref>

====Institutions====
The [[Winfield State Hospital and Training Center]], established in the community in the prior century to house and confine the [[mental illness|mentally ill]] and [[developmentally disabled]], remained as a dominant local employer throughout the 20th century, housing and confining those with mental problems from throughout the state of Kansas—housing up to 1,492 "patients" at its maximum in 1952.<ref name="wsh_ctnewsonline" /><ref name="council_calls" />

Towards the end of the century the (now designated "Winfield State Hospital and Training Center") housed [[developmentally disabled]] people. Changing social and political attitudes, and [[SCOTUS]] decisions, and conservative political economics (developmentally disabled persons supported in the community cost the state $25,000 annually, versus $130,000 for confinement in the Winfield facility), led to the gradual closing of most of the facility—over heated protests from residents' families and local community leaders. In 1998, the [[Kansas Legislature]] officially voted to close it. At that time, it was the oldest and largest of the three Kansas state hospitals for [[developmentally disabled]] persons. When the closure of the facility was announced in 1997, the patient population had declined to only 250 residents.<ref name="council_calls" /><ref name="disability" /><ref name="wsh_ctnewsonline" />

The facility was gradually taken over by the [[Kansas Department of Corrections]], and repurposed as the [[Winfield Correctional Facility]], expanded to contain up to 556 prisoners.<ref name="corrections"/>