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Wichita, Kansas: Sit-In Lunch Counter in Bronze (In Transition)

The lunch counter itself is long gone, as is the drug store where it stood. Now there's a life-size replica in bronze, and it's outdoors, and you can sit at it whenever you want. Currently in storage.

Finlay Ross Park

Directions:
Finlay Ross Park. downtown.
Hours:
Currently in storage.
Status:
In Transition

Visitor Tips and News About Sit-In Lunch Counter in Bronze

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Sit-In Lunch Counter in Bronze

Off display as of September 2023. Moving to Finlay Ross Park.

[Krista Norton, 12/07/2023]

According to a July news story the Park is being remodeled to accommodate the bronze lunch counter, and the project "should reach completion by 2026."

Sit-In Soda Fountain Sculpture

Protest Sit-In Soda Fountain

This sculpture is a tribute to the soda fountain sit-ins of the 1960s. It is located in Reflection Square Park.

[Joe Boulter, 09/30/2007]

The sculpture actually honors a 1958 Wichita civil rights lunch counter sit-in. It got no press coverage at the time and was forgotten for years -- until Wichita built the sculpture.

Soda Fountain Sculpture

The pocket park, where a Woolworths once stood, finally had its soda fountain sculpture in place when I was there last. This is in downtown Wichita, KS, and the soda fountain sculpture is a tribute to the soda fountain sit-ins of the 1960s. The pocket park had turned out to be more of a little plaza, really, with its tiled and concrete surfaces, and a fountain being installed. For a long time, the so-called pocket park was nothing but an empty space between two buildings, so anyone visiting downtown Wichita might not have noticed it.

Along with the soda fountain sculpture in this park, there are now many street sculptures along the same street, (Douglas Avenue,) in the downtown area. Some are of animals, some are of people, and one to look for is a sculpture of an owl which rests on a traffic light overhang, at Douglas and Topeka Ave..

[Don Fraysier, 11/23/2000]

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