 | 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
2012-01-25 14:42:18
Remember...
Q: What were all of the entertainment venues of the past?
A: We had two main venues in Wichita. The largest was the Wichita Forum located at the intersection of William and South Water Streets. It was the city’s main auditorium from 1911 until the construction of Century II in the 1960’s.
According to the Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum, Wichita’s main
auditorium was the Toler Auditorium at First and St. Francis before the city erected the Forum. “The son of the owner was Sidney Toler who became famous as the actor who played the character of Charlie Chan.”
The Forum was constructed of red brick and had three wrap around balconies and seated about 7,000. The entertainment area was the showplace for many national events. There were rodeos, the Sport, Boat and Travel Shows, the Home Show, school graduations, church functions with city wide revival meetings, the circus and other specialty display shows using the building.
The Forum hosted nearly every major artist and movie star personality of those times. I remember one show that I attended that featured Count Basie and his orchestra, Billy Eckstine, Nat King Cole, Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald. That was a star studded evening. Hap Peebles was Wichita’s major promoter during this time and he helped Channel 12 and myself bring Johnny Cash and Bobby Lord to the Forum for our yearly Hi-Fi- Hop Dance Contest. Hap scheduled many country shows with all of the top recording stars.
The Forum also housed the National Guard. During World War II, the guard was activated and used the Forum for barracks and began their drilling maneuvers inside and outside on the streets.
The city had three extra-wide streets to channel traffic to downtown and to the Forum.
For the smaller crowds, there was the Arcadia Theater located on the northeast corner of the building.
Today, we have a new Forum theater that has been refurbished from an old church building on South Hillside and used for live performances. We now have many places for large attractions and all size theaters to accommodate all kinds of entertainment.
It is interesting to think about Wichita’s history and how we have grown. It help one appreciate all the new and modern arenas we enjoy today.
