Wichita’s Forgotten Pioneer: Peter Getto

For a man whose name was once said to be “inseparably linked with the early history of Wichita,” we don’t hear much about Peter Getto anymore. The German immigrant had his hand in multiple industries in early day Wichita and the Getto name could once be seen all over town.

Peter was more involved in early Wichita than what is mentioned in this brief timeline of his life. The Wichita Eagle, May 20, 1993

While some people today assume that Peter must not have been as business savvy as other pioneers, in Wichita’s early days Peter was considered as important as William Greiffenstein (at least by Victor Murdock). Peter was labeled as a “big citizen, big in capacity, big in vision, alertly alive to the adventure before [him].” Like other pioneers who built Wichita out of the bare prairie, Peter put everything he had into the founding of Wichita.

Peter, his wife Theresa, and their daughters Sophia, Josephine, Theresa, and Rose in front of their home. Image courtesy of the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

Peter was born in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, in 1841. He came to America in 1861 and first settled in Ohio where he worked as a carpenter. He came to Wichita around 1870—1871 and worked as a carpenter for Henry Schweiter before entering into a grocery partnership with Albert Hess.

The Weekly Eagle, April 16, 1872

Peter is also credited by at least one writer with running Wichita’s “first exclusive tobacco store … if we ignore the real estate offices operated in conjunction with the store.”

The Wichita Eagle, September 24, 1922

There was also the Getto Block, a large building on the southwest corner of Second Avenue and Main Street, which was called “magnificent” when it was built in 1887 and was at that time considered one of the finest buildings in Wichita.

The Wichita Eagle, May 20, 1993

Later in 1923, the Getto Block was the site of what was dubbed by some as “the Getto fire,” one of the worst fires in Wichita’s history. Nine people died; a Wichita Eagle photographer said there were ten, the last one never recovered.

The Wichita Eagle, February 6, 1923

Peter was also partners with Samuel McClung in the Getto-McClung Boot & Shoe Company. Samuel came to Wichita from Kentucky in 1888 to expand his shoe business, and he chose Peter to do it with. Getto-McClung shipped Wichita-made shoes to consumers all over the country. Peter left the partnership in 1893, and Samuel died in 1900.

The Getto-McClung Boot & Shoe Company was located at 135-137 N Market. The Wichita Eagle, March 28, 1890

Peter is probably most known for the mineral and soda water bottling business he started in 1878 when he bought out George Harris and his bottling equipment. Peter erected a small wood frame building on the corner of his residential lot on 2nd and Water to run his bottling operation. Getto’s bottling works became known as Wichita Bottling Works.

The Getto family home at 255 N Wichita, which Peter made “a heaven on earth.” Image courtesy of the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

In 1882, Peter’s wood frame bottling building was razed and replaced with a larger brick building constructed by Christian Kimmerle with stone from Augusta. Then, in 1886 the entire operation was moved from Peter’s homestead to it’s final location at First and Waco.

The Wichita Beacon, November 20, 1902

In addition to all of his business ventures, Peter served on Wichita’s city council, was one of the directors of State National Bank, a director of the Valley Center Motor and Land Company, chairman of the Wichita Fire Committee, investor in Wichita’s street car line, treasurer of the Wichita Board of Trade, and other important roles in early Wichita. Even though he’s been mostly forgotten, Peter is truly “inseparably linked with the early history of Wichita.”

Another view of the Getto family home at 255 N Wichita. Image courtesy of the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum.

You will have a hard time finding the Getto name around Wichita today. There are no buildings standing that bear the Getto name. A Scotch pine planted by Peter and gifted to Wichita once stood in Riverside Park and a bronze plaque declared it the “Getto pine,” but that’s gone. Wichita once had a Getto Avenue, located in Getto’s Addition, adjacent to the 29th and Grove contamination site, but it was renamed to New York Avenue.

Getto’s Addition Plat

Peter died suddenly in 1902 after suffering an apparent heart attack in front of two of his friends. According to one news report, the trio sat down to chat when Peter complained of a pain in his chest. He reached for medicine in his pocket, and before the medicine reached his lips, he was dead. He was 60 years old.

The Wichita Beacon, March 11, 1902

Peter was described as an honest man who never spoke an unkind word about anyone, a friend to the weak and oppressed, and a man who put his family above anything else in life. He left a wife and four daughters behind to grieve him. Peter was buried at Highland Cemetery, and his gravestone was carved by Wichita Marble Company (Park & Marsh). According to documents in his will, the gravestone was once topped with a cross.

Peter’s gravestone has been repaired more than once, and is due for another repair, which will be done by the Friends of the Wichita Pioneers in the future.

Toppled gravestone of Peter Getto featured in Buried Wichita: A Midwestern Death Trip.

The marble column topped with a wreath was separated sometime after 2008, as a photo taken by Judy Mayfield that year shows the gravestone intact.

Peter shares a family plot with his wife and two of his daughters, Josephine and Rose, who never married. His other daughters, Sophia McDonald and Teresa Jones, are buried at Calvary Cemetery.