Wichita community center reopening honors Carl Brewer, city’s 100th mayor
Nearly every seat in the new two-court gymnasium at the Carl G. Brewer Community Center was full Saturday morning.
Where friends and family members weren’t sitting shoulder-to-shoulder, strollers, baby carriers, walkers and canes filled in the gaps. When seats ran out, people lined the gym walls while many more tuned in from home via the city’s livestream.
Former Wichita Mayor Brewer had a way of drawing people in and bringing the community together — in life and, as the size of the crowd showed, after his passing in 2020 at the age of 63. From 2001 to 2015, he served two terms as a City Council member followed by two as mayor.
Mayor Lily Wu hailed Brewer as “a leader dedicated to building strong and connected communities.”
“This community center reflects the same commitment bringing people together, supporting families and creating opportunities for everyone in our community,” Wu said.
On Saturday, the city celebrated the legacy of Wichita’s 100th mayor and the reopening of the community center that now bears his name. City leaders toured a dramatically expanded facility, served breakfast to families and unveiled the new home of the Black Educators Hall of Fame, drawing a crowd large enough to overflow the center’s spacious new parking lot.
“He always wanted to help people,” state Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau said of Brewer, Wichita’s first elected African-American mayor. “He wanted to make life better, not only for his family, but for all of us. And look how many lives he impacted. The cars — I had to park down the street and walk up.”
The opening celebration signaled a new chapter for McAdams Park, where the original McAdams Recreation Center first opened in 1958. The Brewer center — now nearly triple its former size — will offer an array of programming and resources, and will also serve as a symbol of the historically-Black neighborhood’s history, pride and progress.
That cultural and historical sentiment is reflected in a series of new murals, displays and artwork throughout the more than 30,00-square-foot facility, highlighting the connection between local African-American artists, Wichita and Ghana, where Brewer traced his ancestry.
In the gymnasium, the legacy of influential Black Wichita athletes is also on display: Wichita State Shocker standout and former NBA star Antoine Carr, and NFL Hall of Famer Barry Sanders are just two of the figures depicted — alongside Adinkra symbols of Ghana’s Ashanti Akan people, representing traits such as love, leadership, and unity.
“This is how we celebrate our ancestors and the change-makers and our loved ones — by making art,” Ellamonique Baccus, the art consultant for the community center project, said.
That celebration of heritage extends beyond the artwork and into the walls of the expanded center. A new central entryway connects the old and new buildings, inviting visitors to either step into the original facility on the left or explore the expansive new addition on the right.
One of the largest rooms — and the heart of the center — is its gymnasium, complete with two full-sized courts and a walking track. It’s the largest of three gyms now available at the community center, along with with new locker rooms and showers.
The $13 million expansion, funded through a combination of city investment and partnerships with local organizations, was financed at 0% interest through a collaboration with Fidelity Bank. Fidelity CEO Aaron Bastian said the bank’s involvement reflects the power of impactful contribution and Brewer’s lifelong penchant for partnerships that strengthened it.
“Of all the things that we’ve done in our community involvement, I don’t think I can be any prouder than I am right now,” Bastian said. “This is what investment in the community looks like, and I think this is how we make Wichita better.”
The center also offers communal activity spaces and a commercial kitchen where youth and adult culinary classes will be held. New programming offers activities for all ages and interests: a men’s 5-on-5 basketball league will run from January through March while a child development program for ages 2½ to 5 prepares children for the transition from pre-K to kindergarten. Free art classes for elementary students, free Wi-Fi and dance and fitness programs will also be available — with the potential for more offerings over time.
“This is your space,“ Recreation Superintendent Angela Buckner said. “There’s no program we’re not looking to do. If you have ideas, we’re always open and willing to listen.”
The center is also the new home of the Black Educators Hall of Fame, which honors the contributions of African-American teachers and administrators. For many, seeing their mentors, friends, relatives — or even themselves — honored on the walls of a dedicated space allowed them to better connect to the community.
“Those are the teachers and administrators you’ll never forget, those the ones that made a difference. That’s why you stayed at school, that’s why you did your homework. It was like your extra mom or dad at school …” Baccus said. “It’s just a wonderful opportunity to be able to walk through a space and see your family — people that you care about, people who care about you.”
As the crowd dispersed into the gyms, art rooms and hallways of the building bearing his name, the impact of his life and work was visible — in the children tugging their parents toward program booths, in the adults reminiscing and reuniting with old friends and in the former students and family members stopping to point out familiar faces in the Hall of Fame.
“Brewer was a visionary, transformational man, one who knew that Wichita could be better if we invested in our community and in our people, and he fought to do just that,” District 1 City Council member Brandon Johnson said. “ … My hope — our hope — is that you experience a center that embodies that same sentiment, a significant investment in this city, in this community, in this neighborhood and our people, a space that provides access to opportunity for all.”
Johnson, whose time on the council will soon conclude due to term limits, said he considered Brewer — also a former District 1 councilman — to be a friend and mentor, and he was glad to close his career with something so meaningful to them both.
“I’m proud of many things during my time serving on the city council, but the thing I may be most proud of are projects like this that directly impact neighborhoods,” Johnson said. “Today, I know he’s looking down with his smile, because more than we both likely could have imagined has been done here.”
Brewer always brought people together. And on Saturday morning, he did it again.
The expanded Carl G. Brewer Community Center is now open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m.
