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In the site consideration process, MAAIC contacted city government personnel regarding possible use of existing city owned land. It was then that the Board of Trustees learned General Obligation bonds secured by the city could possibly be used to build an Indian Center.
After preliminary negotiation with the city, an important decision was reached - in effect a "landmark decision."
On April 16, 1974, the Wichita City Commission, in unprecedented action, approved a $2-million bond issue to construct and equip a unique design by Shaeffer-Schirmer, professional architects, for a Mid-America All-Indian Center building.
Its location, the confluence of the Little and Big Arkansas Rivers near downtown Wichita. The Indians were to return to the site that had meant so much to them.
"I remember saying to myself how ironic it was," Bob Carroll says, "because that was the first site chosen by the board anyway. Traditionally, Indians have always followed the water and this site was more than just a piece of land to them."
Additionally, the site had already been of enormous interest to the people of Wichita. Earlier that spring Bosin's gift to the city of his remarkable sculpture Keeper of the Plains had made headlines. It was erected at the peninsular point of the two rivers and dedicated May 18, 1974.
The 44-foot sculpture of weathering Cor-Ten steel stands as a tribute to Indian heritage and marks the strength of continuing Indian culture. As with many Indian activities in Wichita, the cooperation of non-Indians working for the Kansas Gas and Electric Company, provided the engineering expertise to convert the sculpture from design to physical structure.
In 1975 Bosin's sculpture was chosen as one of the official symbols of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. A short time later the Mid-America All-Indian Center was designated as one of 150 national Bicentennial projects.
Interior of MAAIC construction site facing southeast. |
Construction of the new center began with the Groundbreaking Ceremonies March 8, 1975. At the groundbreaking, Kansas Governor Robert Bennett said: "Through the years the Indian has symbolized strength, wisdom, honesty. This Center, located where the two rivers meet, will symbolize the coming together of Indian culture, first within itself and then with the non-Indian."
A greatly expanded staff moved into the new building at the beginning of April 1976, in the midst of the Bicentennial year. As the only nationally recognized Bicentennial project in Kansas, MAAIC drew national attention during its week-long dedication in late May, 1976.
To Hollis Stabler, who served as MAAIC board chairman for two years, the new building represented a new era. "When I first walked in, it just floored me. I know it serves as an incentive for other Indian people."
Speaking of the total accomplishment, Blackbear Bosin said, "In all my years of working for the betterment of Native Americans, never have I seen such commitment on the part of one community."