![]() Goodland Explorations
Learn more about Goodland by following the links below:
America's First Patented HelicopterAddress:
1717 Cherry
About this Exploration: ![]() On Thanksgiving Day 1909, a crowd gathered to watch a demonstration of Purvis and his partner Charles A. Wilson's "gyrocopter." Although weighted down with rocks to prevent flight, the machine lifted off the ground before settling back down. It had been hitched to a six-horsepower gasoline engine.
Purvis announced that $10 shares in their company, Goodland Aviation, were available "at Lawyer Calvert's office." Investors put $30,000 into the company, a princely sum at a time when the average yearly wage was between $200 and $400.
The partners built a workshop and hangar at what is now the intersection of Highway 24 and Cattletrail. Their engines were underpowered. Purvis traveled to St. Louis to buy a larger one, but he did not have enough funds to buy it. Investors had become skeptical and refused to invest anything more. Even if Purvis could have brought home the engine, Purvis and Wilson had not solved the problems of providing enough lift or controlling the torque.
In March 1911, Goodland Aviation Company disbanded and sold its assets. Ironically, the United States Patent Office granted them Patent No. 1,028,781 in 1912. By then it was too late for the gyrocopter. Both men had already left Goodland, never to return and never to meet again.
The High Plains Museum
![]() The replica sits on a stand in a well at the museum. Pushing a button on a counter above the well will start the motor and the blades will turn. Visitors cannot access the well without special permission.
High Plains Museum was chosen No. 2 in the 2008 Eight Wonders of Sherman County contest.
Open May-September, Monday, Wednesday-Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; June-August, Monday, Wednesday-Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday 1-5 p.m. Mountain Time. Admission is by donation.
One of Goodland's Arts in the Park paintings, Ad Astra Per Aspera, is just north of the museum on Cherry Street in Steever Park.
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![]() Donna Price
925 Main
Goodland, KS 67735 Phone: 785.890.3515 Fax: 785.890.6980 ![]() |