Wichita - from "Cowtown" to "Air Capital"

Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning we spent in Wichita, the largest city in the state of Kansas with approximately 400.000 people, located on the Arkansas River. The river is the dominant feature of the city, and here the impressive statue of the "Keeper of the Plains" (see pic) is rising 44 ft. (13 m) high and the main museums (Art Museum, Exploration Place and Mid-America All Indian Center) are situated.The city developed as a trading post on the Chisholm Trail in the 1860s and it became a key destination for cattle drives traveling north from Texas to the railroads. "Cowtown" became "Air Capital of the World" in the 1920s and 1930s, when aircraft production (e.g. Cessna, Beachcraft or Airbus)became important in Wichita.



After arrival and lunch at the Public at the Brickyard in Old Town, we visited Old Cowtown Museum again. Not too much has changed there, but we had an excellent, very knowledgeable guide, who brought the old wild west town, showing structures from the 1860s to 1880s, to life.

The Mid-America All Indian Center stands at the feet of the Keeper of the Plains with its fantastic modern pedestrian bridge, located at the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas river. This cultural center and museum is dedicated to many indian tribes (see flags) and mostly shows changing exhibits as well as a permanent one on Kiowa-Comanche artist Blackbear Bosin. He was the artist who created the gigantic bronze statue, which is lit up at night by a fire-torch, called "Ring of Fire"-Show.

Jessica from the local CVB showed us the new neighborhoods in town: the Douglas Design District and the Delano District before we checked into our hotel and shortly afterwards headed out again to explore Old Town a little on our own before we enjoyed a steak dinner at the River City Brewery.

This is the oldest brewery in town, but in the meantime another five microbreweries or so popped up, like the Central Standard Brewery which we visited on Wednesday morning. Tiny brewery, not bottling yet, with brand new equipment and an eclectic, cozy brewpub (see pic). Good beer, too, we especially liked their IPAs, but they also brew interesting "sour beer" (like Berliner Weisse or Gosebier).

The Botanica Wichita Gardens, a Botanical Garden with an exceptional Chinese Garden and a Children's Garden, speaks for itself:

Don Wright, the owner of Old Town District the Old Mill Tasty Shop really is a character, a gentleman who knows what he's doing: offering excellent lunch fare – mainly sandwiches, but also excellent soup and mexican fare - in a place which was founded by Germans, Otto and Erna, in 1932 as an ice cream place and soda fountain. Sandwiches were much better than your usual overloaded mayo sandwiches, fresh and tasty, soups (of which we got tastes) were delicious, and so were the Floats (ice cream, malt and chocolate sirup) and the carrot cake. Enjoyed good conversation and after lunch we would have needed a nap before heading out to Greensburg.