What to See in Wichita - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Wichita, Kansas. The Kansas Aviation Museum is a museum located in Wichita, Kansas, United States, near 31st South and George Washington Blvd. The building was the former Wichita Municipal Airport terminal from 1935 to 1954.

The Museum features many display aircraft including the WB-47E Stratojet, B-52D Stratofortress, KC-135 Stratotanker, Boeing 727, Boeing 737-2H4, Republic F-84F Thunderstreak, Beech Starship, Cessna T-37, Learjet 23, Cessna 500/501 Prototype, Stearman 4D, Texico 11, Stearman Trainer, 1920 Laird Swallow, 1926 Swallow, 1930 Watkins Skylark SL, 1944 Beech Staggerwing, U-8 Seminole, and Lockheed T-33.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Administration Building in 1990. It has also been known as Building One.^[1]

Arena in Wichita, Kansas. Intrust Bank Arena is a 15,004-seat multi-purpose arena in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is located on the northeast corner of Emporia and Waterman streets in downtown Wichita. The arena is the second largest indoor arena in the state of Kansas, behind Allen Fieldhouse at KU, which seats 16,300. Locally, it has more seating than Charles Koch Arena at WSU, which seats 10,506. The arena features 22 suites, 2 party suites, and over 300 premium seats. It is owned by the government of Sedgwick County and operated by ASM Global.

It is home to Wichita Thunder (ice hockey team) and previously to Wichita Force (indoor football team). The Wichita State Shockers men's basketball team uses the arena as an alternate site for games that attract more fans than can be accommodated at its on-campus arena, Charles Koch Arena. The arena hosted first and second-round games for the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament in 2011 and the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 2018. The arena is also scheduled to host 1st and 2nd-round games of the men's tournament in 2025, as well as a regional for Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games in the 2022 women's tournament. The arena was scheduled to host the 2021 tournament, until the NCAA announced all games would be held at the state of Indiana due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On December 29, 2018, the UFC announced that Intrust Bank Arena would host the first ever UFC event held in Kansas.^[2]

Tourist attraction in Wichita, Kansas. Botanica, The Wichita Gardens was opened in 1987 as a collaboration between the Wichita Area Garden Council and the City of Wichita. Originally it had four gardens and now encompasses 17.6 acres of botanical gardens located at 701 North Amidon, Wichita, Kansas, USA. They are city-owned as part of the Wichita Park System and are operated by Botanica, Inc. a non-profit 5013.

The gardens include: an aquatic collection; butterfly garden and 2,880 square foot (270 m2) butterfly house featuring pansy exhibits during the winter; greenhouse for tropical plants; juniper collection with more than 30 types of junipers; peony collection of 104 cultivars; pinetum; rock garden with sedum and sempervivum; rose garden with more than 350 rose plants; sensory garden; Shakespearean garden; woodlands with azaleas, dogwoods, elm, hackberry, honey locust, mulberry, osage orange, and redbuds; and Xeriscape demonstration garden.

Botanica opened the Downing Children's Garden in July 2011 and features several themed areas including the monster woods, salamander stream, granddaddy's musical maze, a rainbow and sunflower fountain and plaza.

A new events center opened in 2014 which will hold 299 people in chairs or 240 at tables. The inspiration for it came from the wood-and-glass Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. “It’s not a church but it can give that feeling, particularly when you have something spiritual like a wedding. It has that ambience.” Botanica hosts more than 200 weddings a year, bringing in about 27 percent of its revenue, but it wasn't built with such rentals in mind.

In May 2014, it was announced the 1949 Allan Herschell Company carousel from the former Joyland Amusement Park was donated to the Botanica and would be placed in the Downing Children's Garden.^[6]

The Wichita Art Museum is an art museum located in Wichita, Kansas, United States.

The museum was established in 1915, when Louise Caldwell Murdock’s Will which created a trust to start the Roland P. Murdock Collection of art in memory of her husband. The trust would purchase art for the City of Wichita by “American painters, potters, sculptors, and textile weavers.” The collection includes works by Mary Cassatt, Arthur G. Dove, Thomas Eakins, Robert Henri, Douglas Abdell, Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, John Marin, Paul Meltsner, Horace Pippin, Maurice Prendergast, Albert Pinkham Ryder and Charles Sheeler. The Museum's lobby features a ceiling and chandelier made by Dale Chihuly.

The museum opened in 1935 with art borrowed from other museums. The first work in the Murdock Collection was purchased in 1939. Mrs. Murdock's friend, Elizabeth Stubblefield Navas, selected and purchased works of American art for the Murdock Collection until 1962. The building was enlarged with a new lobby and two new wings in 1963. In 1964, a foundation was established for the purpose of raising funds for new acquisitions. In the 1970s, the city built a new and larger climate controlled facility. In 2003, the museum finished another expansion project giving the building a total of 115,000 square feet (10,700 m2). The current building was designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes.

Tera Hedrick, an art historian and Wichita East High School graduate, was hired as curator in 2017 after serving in an interim role.

In January 2020, the museum announced that it would begin renovation on its main entrance and lobby.^[8]

Museum in the Sedgwick County, Kansas. The Lowell D. Holmes Museum of Anthropology began in 1966 as the Museum of Man, at the bequest and initiation of Dr. Lowell Holmes, Professor of Anthropology at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, United States. Over the next 33 years it grew slowly and became known throughout the campus as a small but interesting museum. The collections and exhibitions include cultural items from around the world and archaeological objects predominantly from the American Midwest and Southwest. In 1999, the anthropology department and the museum moved to a new location in Neff Hall. The museum was expanded and Mr. Jerry Martin was hired as Director. This was the first time that the museum had a professional director whose only job was to work with, and develop the museum.

Martin's concept was to have the museum essentially run and operated by students as part of their museum studies training. He raised funds to hire student staff to run the day-to-day operations of the museum under his supervision. As of the fall semester of 2006, the museum has the funds to hire five student positions. The museum has a wide range of functions. It has exhibitions open to the public, houses a rapidly expanding collection, a support unit for the anthropology department and faculty of Wichita State University, a research facility for students, a repository for United States Government archaeological collections, and the basis for a growing museum studies program. These different functions provide a very wide range of experience for the student staff.^[11]

Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center is a performing arts and convention center in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is located between Douglas Street and Waterman Street near the east bank of the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2020.

Century II is the largest center for entertainment, consumer shows and meetings in Wichita and is home to four arts organizations - Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Grand Opera, Music Theatre Wichita, and Music Theatre for Young People.

The facility has almost 200,000 sq ft (19,000 m2) of contiguous exhibit space, 20 meeting rooms, a Concert Hall that seats 2,197 people in continental seating, the Mary Jane Teall Theatre that seats 650 people in continental seating, and Convention Hall that seats 4,700 people.

The Performing Arts and Convention Center hosted Miss USA pageants from 1990 to 1993 and Miss Teen USA 1995.^[13]

Sculpture. Sedgwick County Memorial Hall and Soldiers and Sailors Monument is a Civil War monument on the grounds of the Old Sedgwick County Courthouse, in Wichita, Kansas. It was designed by E. M. Viquesney, with sculpture by Frederick Hibbard and the W. H. Mullins Manufacturing Company. The idea to construct a memorial to Sedgewick County Civil War veterans began with two local GAR posts in 1904, but sufficient funds were not available until in 1911. In that year the Kansas State Legislature passed a one-time county tax levy to fund the building of monuments in counties with a population of over 72,000.

The monument consists of a Second Empire granite pavilion adorned with five statues. Its dome is crowned by a hammered copper figure of Liberty holding a flag and a laurel wreath, made by the W. H. Mullins Company of Salem, Ohio. At the base of the dome are four life-sized bronze figures by Hibbard representing the Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, and Navy. Inscriptions on the monument's four facades list the battles, dates and locations in which local soldiers fought. The Liberty figure originally faced the courthouse, but after its installation the veterans decided that the statue should face outward. Rotating it 180 degrees delayed the monument's dedication from Lincoln's Birthday to Flag Day. The monument's interior features a Memorial Hall, 12 feet square, with two marble-and-glass cases displaying war relics. The Hall remained locked for 25 years because the key had been lost. The key was found again in 1948.

The monument was dedicated June 14, 1913. It was restored (2000–01), and rededicated on Veterans Day, November 11, 2001.^[14]

Cathedral in Wichita, Kansas. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, also known as St. Mary's Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is the seat of the Diocese of Wichita.

The first Catholic church was constructed in Wichita in 1872. The cathedral parish was founded in 1887. The present cathedral church was begun in 1906 and it was consecrated on September 19, 1912. It was designed by Emmanuel Louis Masqueray. Cardinal James Gibbons of Baltimore dedicated the church in the presence of 30 other Catholic bishops. Archbishop John J. Glennon of St. Louis delivered the sermon. The cathedral was built at a cost of $500,000. The building was constructed of Bedford stone. It measures 169 feet (52 m) long and 100 feet (30 m) wide at the transepts. The dome is 135 feet (41 m) feet from the ground. The bronze doors, which were designed and created Domus Dei of Italy, were installed in 1997.^[18]

The Bitting Building is a historic structure in Wichita, Kansas. It was built in 1912 as a four-story building replacing an earlier building on the site. Seven additional stories were added in 1919. Major renovations were carried out in 1959 and the 1980s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. It is at 107 N. Market Street.

The current building was one of a series built for brothers who established a retail business and who were avid book collectors. It has 11 stores.

It sold in 1998 when it had a barber shop on its ground floor as well as retail. The top floor was occupied by an oil business and geologists had offices in the building. It was empty in 2002 and was being converted to apartments in 2015.^[19]