 | Faye Graves, a native Wichitan, attended school at Friends and Wichita State, concluding at Midwestern Theological Seminary. He has been active in media for many years with Channel 12, KIRL, KFDI, KOOO AM & FM (Omaha), KFRM & KICT 95, as an owner, manager, producer, director and announcer. He has served as President of the Haysville Board of Education. He has also served on several national boards of the Southern Baptist Convention. Faye currently serves as Executive Pastor and Director of Administration and Education at Immanuel Baptist Church, 1415 S. Topeka, Wichita. You may contact Faye by e-mail fmgraves@amenibc.org, or by phone at (316) 262-1452. |
Nostalgia
1969-12-31 18:00:00
Do you remember?
Has Wichita changed much over the years?
ANSWER: I heard someone say the other day as they were talking to a fellow classmate “Wichita looks like the same town as it was when I was here.” What a gross misjudgment! This person left Wichita in the mid-’50s. Many new things are here… the Epic Center… which by the way was supposed to end up with another building just like it facing the present one, but was never built. How about the farm credit bank building on the river… the coliseum… the Garvey Center?And what was then the Holiday Inn? Even Century Two was new! The beautiful Sedgwick County Zoo, the county courthouse and city hall…the Hyatt hotel, the Marriott and numerous other motels and hotels. New interstates going through the city. The new boathouse, and all the new buildings and hotels on the east side as well as New Market Square and many other shopping additions.What is gone? The Allis hotel. Downtown car dealers such as East Douglas, Spencer Dodge, Turner Ford and Quality Chevrolet. Butts Cadillac and Buick became Bulger, but it is now gone too. Downtown… all of the price dealerships… Ford, Lincoln, Mercury, West Douglas, Spraker Volkswagon, Kaizer Frazier, and others.Then, the stores that were big…not there… Hinkels, McClellands, Woolworths, Kress, Walkers, Henry’s Lewins, Heads, Robert Hall, Steins, Bucks, Innes, Macy’s, and Wolf Brothers. All of the downtown movie theaters that were once there are gone, except the Orpheum and the Crown Uptown.Previews of upcoming attractions are the Waterwalk, the Arena and the New Developments planned by the Minnesota Group that now own many of the old downtown buildings.No…Wichita is not the same old town. But it is still a great town and has many fantastic changes ahead. I’m glad to be a native of this city. Have a tremendous day.
