Wichita getting sculptures of Carry Nation, T-rex; where will they go?

In all likelihood, the city of Wichita will soon have two new pieces of public art in Old Town with donations of sculptures of ax-wielding prohibitionist Carry Nation and a tyrannosaurus rex.

And no, they won’t be fighting.

The skeletal T-Rex sculpture, constructed from junked auto parts, is slated to be placed in front of the Museum of World Treasures in Old Town.

The sculpture of Nation is planned to go around the corner and down the street, near the Eaton Hotel building.

The City Council is expected to accept the donated art works on Tuesday.

The museum commissioned the T-rex from Phil Brinkley of Jurassic Art, a Rose Hill studio specializing in dinosaur-themed metal sculptures.

One of the museum’s star attractions is a fossilized T-rex skeleton dubbed “Ivan.”

“The (metal) sculpture was meant to be a conversation piece that would attract visitors to the museum,” says a staff report from the Division of Arts and Cultural Services. “The donation is valued at approximately $4,500 and is scheduled to be installed around November 1, 2017, dependent on weather and other conditions.”

The Carry Nation sculpture is a tribute to the radical prohibitionist of the 1800s, who gained historical fame by attacking bars and saloons with a hatchet to protest alcohol consumption.

One of the establishments she trashed was Wichita’s Carey Hotel at the southwest corner of Douglas and St. Francis.

According to the historical record, it was early in her bar-bashing career, before she adopted her trademark hatchet, and she actually used rocks to smash the large mirror behind the bar and wreck a suggestive painting of Cleopatra bathing.

The Carey was later renamed the Eaton Hotel and has since been redeveloped as an upscale apartment complex. It is now known as Eaton Place.

The bronze statue will be six feet tall – Nation’s actual height. It was created by artist Babs Mellor and was donated by her and J. Eric Engstrom and is appraised at $30,000.

Council member Janet Miller, who led Friday’s council agenda review in the absence of Mayor Jeff Longwell, said she appreciates the donation but wants more details on exactly where it will be installed.

The staff report said only “adjacent to the Eaton Hotel along Douglas Avenue.” Miller said she wants to know if that means Douglas, St. Francis, or possibly Naftzger Park.

The park, across the street from the Eaton, has a granite water fountain dedicated to Nation.

However, the park is slated for a complete redesign and modernization next year. Preliminary plans do call for some kind of tribute to Nation.

“The city is appreciative any time we receive an offer of a donation of any kind, so that’s wonderful,” Miller said of the statue.

But the city also has “a strong tradition of taking some time in locating public art. I just want to make sure we had the time to do that,” she said.

The council will discuss the statues at its meeting at 9 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 455 N. Main, Wichita.

This story was originally published October 15, 2017 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Wichita getting sculptures of Carry Nation, T-rex; where will they go?."