The Founding of MAAIC

More than a century ago Indian and non-Indian cultural conflicts sent major tremors throughout the "Great West" - but somehow those troubled times never fully developed in Wichita.

Yes, there were problems - to say there were not is to ignore the vast cultural differences between the two groups during those times. Yet, while almost everywhere else military forts were springing up to remind Native Americans that the White Man was here to stay, there never was a Fort Wichita.

The history of the City of Wichita has developed a final chapter to add to its pioneer era - one that is innately tied to the successful completion of the new Mid-America All-Indian Center (MAAIC). In Wichita's early years there developed a feeling of kinship and cooperation with the original Americans. Maybe it was a feeling that "They were here first." More likely it was a feeling of humanism ingrained within the pioneer psychology of survival through helping others.

Early Wichita: Pioneer photographer W.S. Rogers snapped this camp in 1870 at the bend of the Arkansas River.