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In 1986, the hotel was purchased and operated as the Wichita Radisson until 1971 when the building was repurposed as a retirement&nbsp;home. The building is currently used as a commercial office building.&nbsp;&nbsp;

The Lassen Hotel was the largest hotel in the state when it opened in 1918.

1937 photo of the cigar and newsstand, photo credit: Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum 

The Lassen Hotel was built in 1918 by Henry Lassen, a flour miller and real estate investor. The Lassen was the largest hotel in Kansas at the time of its completion and the first high-rise hotel in Wichita. Famous guests to the hotel include Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindbergh, Will Rogers, Knute Rockne, Jack Dempsey, and William Jennings Bryan. The Lassen is significant for its architecture and its association with the economic development of the city between World War I and the Great Depression. The architecture is a combination of Renaissance Revival and Late 19th and Early 20th Century Revivals. For decades the hotel was the city's premier hotel and convention center and during the 1930s was the home of the city's oldest radio station, KFH, which stood for "Kansas' Finest Hotel". It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Lassen Hotel

This tour starts at several downtown museums and includes stops at historic downtown buildings, civil rights landmarks, and several museums as it winds its way towards Wichita's Old Cowtown Museum.

Highlights and History of Central Wichita Tour

The Museum of World History is a three-story building containing over 300 collectors' items, three complete fossil dinosaurs, and several different exhibits displaying artifacts&nbsp;from around the world.Upon opening, the museum only contained collections from the founder, Dr. Jon Kardatzke. As the attraction from visitors became more frequent and in larger numbers, the collections displayed in the museum began to grow. The people who shared the love of history with Kardatzke enjoyed sharing their collections with others and in 2003, the museum became so full that&nbsp;it had to relocate to where it is now.&nbsp; Each floor of the museum has its own exhibit. The first floor is where the dinosaurs are located, sea creatures, ancient mummies from Egypt, and civilizations throughout the world. The second floor is more gallery type settings. Signatures from all of the American presidents, leaders throughout Europe, Weapons from various wars—including the Civil War, both world wars, and the Vietnam War—are also on display. The third floor contains artifacts from the old West times, such as Native Americans, to artifacts used by famous sports team players.&nbsp;

The Museum of World Treasures is a natural and cultural history museum founded in 2001 by Dr. Jon and Lorna Karadatzke. The museum features exhibits displaying a wide variety of natural and human artifacts from around the world. Exhibits cover topics such as the Cenozoic era (the period after the dinosaurs), Asian art and artifacts, World War II, European royal history, the American West, ancient history, and pre-hispanic art. The museum also features Ivan, a 38-foot long T-Rex skeleton (and other dinosaur specimens). If alive he would have weighed over 10,000 pounds. Ivan, who was found in the Hell Creek deposit in South Dakota—where many other dinosaur fossils have been found—is the only T-Rex found with a complete set of vertebrae. Next to Ivan is another interesting artifact: a portion of the Berlin Wall (it is too heavy and too tall to be in the World War II exhibit). 

Museum of World Treasures 

The Great Plains Transportation Museum is an all volunteer museum with the mission to preserve & convey the unique history of railroading in the Great Plains through acquisition, restoration, research, exhibition, and education. It features thirteen rolling stock including engines and cars on display outside; visitors are allow to climb inside many of these. Inside, several kinds of artifacts are on display including railroad prints, signs, lanterns, and tools.

Great Plains Transportation Museum

Walters and his cousin Carol Parks-Hahn decided to organize the sit-in to protest the segregation of lunch counters in Wichita. They were inspired by a successful sit-in that occurred in California. The two were tired of the humiliating treatment African Americans received at the local lunch counters, where they were served food in paper bags for carryout and were not allowed to sit at the counter.&nbsp;

For over a month young people would enter the drug store every day and sit at the counters reading newspapers. If they ordered something, they were refused service, but they were non-violent and were not arrested. In the end, the protest was too costly for the owner and he allowed the participants to be served. Local newspapers, fearing losing advertisers, gave little attention to the sit-in and as a result, it did not receive nationwide attention and remained largely unknown for years. The local chapter of the NAACP did not give it full support either (the national organization did not condone sit-ins yet; that would, of course, change a year or so later). Nonetheless, it served as an inspiration for many future sit-ins throughout the country and is today recognized for its historical significance.&nbsp;Walters finally received an award from the NAACP in 2006 to honor his role in organizing the protest. He continued to work as an activist and eventually became a teacher, author, and television commentator. He passed away in 2010.

The Dockum Drug Store Sit-in protest began on July 19, 1958, and lasted for a month. It was was one of the first organized sit-ins in the country. A group of young people led by Ron Walters, who was the president of the Wichita NAACP Youth Council at the time, decided to start the protest. The sit-in was ultimately successful after the owner finally relented because he was losing a lot of money. Other businesses in Wichita soon followed suit, leading to desegregation throughout the city. The sit-in inspired others in Oklahoma City and Greensboro, North Carolina, which took place soon after.  

Dockum Drug Store Sit-in

On July 19, 1958,
tired of the injustice caused by segregation, a group of African American
youths started a sit-in protest at Dockum’s Drugstore in Wichita, Kansas. A
sit-in (or sit-down) is a form of direct action that involves one or more
people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or
economic change. After three weeks of protest, the management relented,
choosing to begin serving both black and white customers alike.While not quite as
famous as other sit-ins that came later, the Dockum’s protest remains a pivotal
moment in desegregation in the state of Kansas. In 1998, this sculpture was
first unveiled to the public, in memoriam of the original protest. 

The sculpture depicts
a man spinning his young boy on the chair, the waitress, and another customer
waiting for her meal. It is part of the "Streetscape" installation,
which is spread out over a four-block area. It features various sculptures
depicting children playing, as well as adults. Two children riding scooters are
located near the counter.

"Streetscape"
was&nbsp;commissioned as part of a downtown revitalization project. The open
seats are open for local workers in the area to sit on during their lunch
break.&nbsp;

This bronze sculpture, created by artist Georgia Gerber, memorializes the months-long sit-in of African American college students in the former Dockum's Drugstore, which took place in July-August 1954. Ultimately, the sit-in was successful; the owner allowed the participants to eat at the counter and soon the city began to desegregate.

The Soda Fountain

The museum traces its roots to the Sedgwick County Pioneer Society which was established in 1909. It became a museum in 1938 called the Wichita Public Museum. It adopted the current name in 1947. When the city began discussing the construction of a new city hall in the 1960s, concerned citizens helped save the Lassen from demolition. In 1979, the museum moved in.&nbsp;

This local history museum is located in the old City Hall which was built in 1892. The building is one of the state's oldest and most impressive courthouses. Designed in the Renaissance Revival style by Willis Proudfoot and George Bird, it features an ornate stone decorative exterior and was given the nickname, the “Palace of the Plains”. As such, the building is significant for its architecture and the fact that it represents the city's development during the late 19th century. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. 

The museum offers four stories of exhibits that showcase life in Wichita over the centuries, from Native American culture, to early settlers and railroads, to the birth of the aviation industry, and to more recent history. A wide variety of exhibits explore this history, such as the recreated early car garage featuring a 1916 Jones automobile, a typical 19th-cottage, and an early 20th century drug store. The museum also houses an internationally-acclaimed collection of silver-plated service ware.       

Sedgwick County Historical Museum

The theater is also significant in that it represents the transition from the vaudeville era to the film era. The architect, John Eberson, designed the building in such a way that the transition could take place. For many years, traveling vaudeville acts were one of the country's main sources of entertainment. The onset of the film industry in the 1920s soon overtook vaudeville acts in popularity. Mirroring this trend, in just seven years the theater began to only offer films.&nbsp;

The Orpheum opened in 1922 and is historically significant as one of the first "atmospheric" theaters built in the country (in atmospheric theaters the auditorium ceiling is curved and decorated in such a way that it gives the illusion of an open evening sky). The interior was designed to mirror a Spanish courtyard. The theater's history followed the decline of urban downtowns as places of entertainment, losing business to suburban theaters that had less overhead and maintenance costs. Volunteers saved the theater from the wrecking ball in 1983 and began the process of restoring the historic theater. Today, the theater once again hosts some of the leading national acts and is one of the premiere attractions in central Kansas. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.  

Wichita Orpheum

The Goddess of Liberty statue originally faced north. In 1913, citizens voted and&nbsp;decided to turn the woman around so that it was clear that she had not turned her back on the South. This also allowed the statue to face Central Avenue, although some citizens comically noted that it was a shame that Liberty was no longer facing the courthouse as the politicians in that building needed someone keeping an eye on them. Sadly, the statue became structurally unsound. Equally tragic, the center of the monument was once a small museum filled with Civil War relics. Records indicated that these relics were moved to the city's Carnegie Library in 1915, but no record of these items exists.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Built between 1912 and 1913, this monument pays tribute to Union soldiers and sailors who fought in the Civil War. The monument features Vermont granite with four bronze statues representing the four branches of the military-artillery, cavalry, infantry, and the navy. On the west side of the monument are the names of major battles as well as a medallion of the Woman's Relief Corps. The monument's base bears the inscription "The Union is Perpetual" and "Let us Have Peace," quotes from Abraham Lincoln and General Ulysses Grant, respectively. At the top of the monument is a 14-foot statue of the Goddess of Liberty. 

Sedgwick County Memorial Hall and Soldiers and Sailors Monument

When Calvary Baptist Church built a new facility in&nbsp;1972, Doris Kerr Larkins and others fought to protect this historic building from urban renewal’s wrecking ball. Larkins and many others launched the First National Black Historical Society in 1973. By 1993, the building joined the National Register of Historic Places and in 1997, became the Kansas African American Museum.&nbsp;The museum currently offers an exhibit entitled&nbsp;FREEDOM SUMMER: An American Experience. In 1964 the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, organized its Freedom Summer campaign. Its main objective was to try to end the political disenfranchisement of African Americans in the Deep South. Volunteers from the three organizations decided to concentrate its efforts in Mississippi where, in 1962, only 6.7% of African Americans were registered voters, the lowest percentage in the country.

The student volunteers, mostly from white affluent or middle-class families, were recruited from northern universities in the spring. When they arrived in Mississippi, they learned first-hand the hostility, intimidation and violence perpetrated on African Americans and asked: “Is this America?”

CORE, SNCC and the NAACP also established 30 Freedom Schools in towns throughout Mississippi. Volunteers taught in the schools and the curriculum included black history and civil rights movement philosophy. The student volunteers were warned about the risk of violence but came anyway. During the 10 week period, 80 volunteers were beaten, leaving four people critically wounded, three volunteers were killed and more than 1,000 were arrested. Also, if you’re a Kansan and veteran of Freedom Summer, please contact the museum as they would&nbsp;like to document your story.

Located in the former home of Cavalry Baptist Church, the Kansas African American Museum opened in 1993. The church was built in 1917 and was one of the leading institutions in Wichita’s black community. The museum tells the history of that community; its schools, business, churches, and leaders. It also preserves and shares the cultural history of a community that was home to the first African American to win an Academy Award Martin Luther King Jr.’s lawyer. The museum also tells the story of business leaders, authors and artists, athletes, and many others.

Kansas African American Museum

Lieutenant Commander Earle Caffrey Schneider was scheduled to sail the newly commissioned submarine Dorado from New London, Connecticut to Panama on October 6, 1943.  After all the trials and testing were finished USS Dorado left Connecticut and headed for the Panama Canal where she was expected to arrive October 14, 1943. When the submarine missed her arrival date, the air searches began but they only found scattered oil slicks and debris. The USS Dorado (SS 248) is believed to have been destroyed by a US Navy PBM-3 flying boat based at Guantanamo Bay on October 12, 1943. While patrolling the area the aircraft dropped three depth charges and a bomb on what seemed to by a surface U-boat.  The aircraft circled around to observe the results of the attack but could not see anything except white water and bubbles. On October 24, 1943, the Navy announced the loss of USS Dorado (SS 248).The Veterans Memorial Park is located on the east bank of the Arkansas River and is open to the public 24 hours every day. While visiting the park be sure to take the winding peaceful path to see all of the Memorials and reflect on the history behind each of them.

The Dorado SS (248) memorial is located within Wichita's Veterans Memorial Park honors the submariners of Dorado SS (248) who were lost during World War II. The monument was dedicated by the US Submarine Veterans of World War II, Kansas Chapter in October 1996. The front of the monument includes a complete crew list and the words “In Honor of One of 52 Submarines on Eternal Patrol” appear at the base of the monument.  Although submarines only represented 2% of the US Naval Forces, they destroyed 50% of Japanese shipping and more than 30% of their warships.

Dorado SS Memorial

Created as part of a $20-million riverfront restoration project and dedicated in 1974, The Keeper of the Plains has become the symbol of the city of Wichita. This 45-foot steel sculpture by Kiowa-Comanche artist Blackbear Bosin stands at the junction of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers. The sculpture stands on a 30-foot tall platform  adjacent to the Mid-America All-Indian Center. The Plaza includes elements that represent the four elements that make up life: earth, air, fire and water.
Visitors to the city should consider watching the nightly lighting of the "Ring of Fire" around this platform, which burns nightly at 7p.m. from November to March and 9 p.m. from March to November. 


Surrounding the base of the statue are multiple displays which describe the local tribes that used to inhabit this area, as well as several fire pits which sometimes light up to illuminate the statue at night. The fire pits, which are known as the Rings of Fire, are lit mannually for public safety and run in 15 minute increments. They are generally lit once a night around 9 pm during the summer and sunset during the winter.

The Keeper of the Plains

Exploration Place opened in 2000 and is located in a beautiful modern building on the Arkansas River. The museum features a theater and planetarium, as well as a dozen major permanent exhibits and rotating interactive exhibits that keep the museum a dynamic learning environment. 

Permanent exhibits include AgMagination, an interactive set of displays and simulations that teach about the history and future of Kansas agriculture. There is also a seven-foot-tall model of the human mouth, appropriately labeled "Big Mouth," that tests good oral health knowledge. There is also an exhibit called Bridging Art and Science which features local artists whose work incorporates some aspects of scientific thought. 

Among the most popular displays, Exploring Flight and Design, includes flight simulators and a giant "wind wall" made of thousands of tiny reflective discs that show air currents generated by a real airplane propeller and two wind generators mounted on a tower. Also popular is "Kansas in Miniature" - a small-scale recreation of early-1950s Kansas buildings, landmarks and more. There are also numerous temporary and traveling exhibits.

Exploration Place

As its name suggests, the Mid-America All-Indian Center is a museum dedicated to preserving and celebrating the culture and history of Native Americans, as well as the role they play in society today. The museum features a collection of 3,000 artifacts; these are rotated in new exhibits throughout the year. The museum also features activities and attractions outside, including a tipi, travois (a drag sled for horses and dogs), a wildlife learning center, and a medicinal garden. Events held at the museum include powwows and community nights. Educational programs are also offered including arts and craft classes. The museum was founded in 1969. Near the museum is one of the city's landmarks, the "Keeper of the Plains" monument.


Mid-America All-Indian Center

The Roland P. Murdock collection, acquired from 1939 to 1962, is a prized cache of 168 American works across history and media. It includes such remarkable features as three Thomas Eakins paintings, four Edward Hopper paintings, 31 Arthur Dove works, and a set of pendant paintings by John Singleton Copley. Adding strength and depth to this core collection are WAM’s notable holdings in art of the American West with 20 works by Charles Russell, contributed by M.C. and Gwendolyn Naftzger and John and Elsie Naftzger, a growing and distinguished collection of 19th-, 20th-, and now 21st-century glass thanks to a bequest from F. Price Cossman, and a strong collection of Pre-Columbian art established by two Wichita families—Gregory, Haig, and Rima Kurdian, and S.O. and Louise Beren.

Since the founding of the museum in 1935, the permanent collection of the Wichita Art Museum has grown to more than 8,000 objects. The collection is international, with an emphasis on American artists of the 19th and 20th century. It is particularly strong in works that reflect the cultural heritage of the Great Plains.

Wichita Art Museum

Said to be an area frozen in the years of 1865-1880, the Old
Cowtown Museum is open to all guests interested in history. Working directly
with the city of Wichita, the museum houses over 10,000 pieces of American
history, ranging from textiles, tools, art, and more. Cowtown has the
distinction of being officially recognized by the American Alliance of Museums,
the highest national recognition achievable by a museum in the United States.

Old Cowtown is a living history museum with fifty-four historic and refashioned buildings that work to recreate a Central Plains cattle town in the late 19th century. Cowtown’s unique programming chronicles Wichita's transformation from a frontier settlement to a cattle town, as well as its subsequent transformation to an agricultural center and manufacturing city. Costumed staff portray buffalo hunters, traders, cowboys, blacksmiths, carpenters, and farmers. Guests can tour authentic and recreated stores, depots, banks, grain elevators, barns, saloons, newspaper shops, and much more. Children will especially enjoy the DeVore Farm, which features a working farm with machinery from the 1880s.

Highlights and History of Central Wichita Tour

Lassen Hotel

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources