Union National Bank Registration Form

7/28/2019 Union National Bank Registration Form

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NPS Form 10-900Oct. 1990

UnitedStates Department of the lnteriorNationalPark Service

NationalRegister of HistoricPlacesRegistrationFormThis formis for use in nominatingor requesting determinations for individualproperties and districts. See instructions in Howto Complete the NationalRegrsfer of Hrsforic Places RegistrationForm (National Register Bulletin164) Complete each item by marking"x-in the appropriate box or byenteringthiinformaonrequested. I a item does not apply to the property being documented, enter "N/A"for "notapplicable,'For functions, architecturalclassicaon, materials, and areas of significance, enter onlycategories and subcategories from theinstructions. Place additionalentries and nanativeitems on continuationsheets (NPS Form 10-9000a). Use a typewriter, wordprocessor, or computer, to complete all items.

1. Name of Property

UnionNational Bank Buildinq

I

IRCEN/ED2?80

Dtc2I 2011

HistoricnameOther name/site number KHRt#'173-5880-08162

2. Location

Street &number

City ortown

State Kansas

104 South Broadway

Wichita

n not for publication! vicinityZipcode67202ode KS CountySedgwick Code 173

3. State/Federal Gertification

As the designated authority under theNationalHistoricPreservation Act, as amended, hereby certify thatth IS x nomination request fordetermination of eligibilitv meets the docu mentation standards for registering properties tn the National Register ofHistoric Placesand meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth tn 36 CFR Part 60 ln my opinion, the property

N i l R i i i d h thi propert b id d ig ificant


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Union NationalBank Buildinq SedqwickCounty, KansasName of Property Countyand State

8. Statement of Sisnificance

ApplicableNationalRegister Griteria(Mark"X"in one or more boxes forthe criteriaqualifyingthepropertyfor National Register

[} A eroperty is associated with events thathave made asignifcantcontributionto the broad pattems of ourhistory

! B property is associated with signifcantperson.X C Property embodiesthe distinctivecharacteristics

of a type, period, or method ofconstructionorrepresents the workof a master, or possesseshigh artisticvalues, or represents a significantanddistinguishableentitywhose components lackindividual distinction.

! D Property has yielded,or likely toyield,information importantin prehistory or history.

Criteria Considerations(Mark'x'in all the boxes that apply,)

Property is:

! A owned by a religious institutionor used forreligiouspurposes.

E B. removedfrom it originallocation.

Areas of Significance(Enter categories frominstructions)

Architecture

trlhnil..lorilana

Period ofSignificance

1926-1958

SignificantDates

lqr lqs

Si ifi P


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Union National Bank Buildinq Sedgwick County Kansas

Name of Property County and State

10. Geographical Data

Acreage of Property ,021

UTM References(Place additional UTM references on a continuation sheet.),l

Ld 6 4 50 'l 2 Zone

E See continuation sheet

Zone Easting2

Verbal Boundary Description(Describe the boundaries of the property on a continuation sheet.)

Boundary Justification(Explain why the boundaries were selected on a continuation sheet.)

11. Form Prepared By

Name/title Dr. Pamela Kinosburv

Organization Historic Preservation Date Februarv 2011Telephone 31 6-686-1 731Street & number 224 North Crestwav


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NPS Form 10-900-a(8-86)

United States Department of the lnteriorNational Park Service

OMB Approval No. 1024-0018

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESCONTINUATION SHEET Union National Bank Buildins

Section Number 7 Pag eWichita, Sedgwick County, KSAfrican American Resources in Wichita MPDF

The Union National Bank building is located in Wichita, Kansas at the

southeast corner of Broadway and Douglas Avenues, the crossroads ofdowntown Wichita. The building was erected at great speed n 1926, and has aconcrete frame with white glazed brick-infill. It has fourteen stories and a full

basement. All the original fenestration on the two primary elevations is modern

replacements. Giant Corinthian pilasters define the first two floors of the northand. west elevations and act as a podium for the remaining twelve floors. Except

for the basement and first two floors which are rectangular, the building is L-

shaped with the 1ong, vertical side facing the first hundred block of South


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NPS Form 10--900-a(8-86)


United States Department of the InteriorNational Park Service

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESCONTINUATION SHEET union National Bank Buildins

Wichita, Sedgwick County, KSSection Number 7 Page 2 African American Resources in Wichita MPDF

basement and half of the first and second floors from the Broadway entrance tothe southwest corner of the building. Above the second floor all the floors rdr/ere

available as rental offices with the exception for the eighth floor that was

occupied by the Union National Bank's law library.1 All the fenestration on

both the Broadway and Douglas Avenue elevations is devoid of any

ornamentation. The third floor is defined by eight pairs of windows that sit ontop of the pilasters' entablature and dividing the third from the fourth floor isanother entablature upon which sits the fourth floor windows. From the fourth

floor the elevation rises nine stories to another entablature. Above it are the


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NPS Form 10-900-a(8-86)


OMB Approval No. .1024-0018



and was recessed with a revolving door at its center flanked by stationary doorsleading into the Dockum Drug Store that occupied the north half of the first

floor while the Union National Bank occupied the south half of the first floor.

Today the original entrance has been sealed off by glass and steel partitions.

With the exception of the differences in the articulation on the Doulgas and

Broadway streets' first and second floors, the treatment of the remaining twelvefloors is the same (Photo 1).

Today the south elevation of the Union National Bank faces an alley and


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NPS Form10-900-a(8-86)

OMBApproval No.1024-0018

UnitedStates Depament of the lnteriorNationalPark Service

NATIONALREGISTEROF HISTORICPLACESCONTINUATIONSHEET UnionNational BankBuildins

Wichita, SedgwickCounty, KSSection Number7 Page 4 AfricanAmericanResources in WichitaMPDF

insertionof sixair conditionerlouvers from theseventh to the twelfthfloorsofthe last row of windows onthe north. On the short side of the elevation thereare pairs of the originalsteel-framedwindowsdown the center of the elevation(Photo 3).

Withregard to the interiorsof the UnionNationalBank none of theoriginalintegrityof the hallways androoms survive.The elevators are in theiroriginalpositions,but have been strippedof theiroriginaldcor. The roomshave been given false ceilings to accommodate the air conditioningand none of


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 8.(8-86)


OMB Approval No. 1024-

NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESCONTINUATION SHEET Union National Bank Buildine


The Union National Bank building is being nominated under Criterion C

as a classic example of a Chicago, tall, concrete-framed, elevatored.office

building and the only one of its kind in Wichita, Kansas. The Union National'

Bank building also is being nominated under Criterion A in the area of Ethnic

Heritage: Black for the Dockum Drug Store sit-in led by a group of Wichita's

black youth during July of 1958. This nomination is being submitted as part of

the "African American Resource in Wichita" multiple property submission as an

example of the "Commercial Buildings property type."


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NPS Form 10-900-a00'18(8-86)





Union National Bank the eye is swiftly directed upward. Unlike Sullivan's

Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri laden with vegetal ornamentation to

distract the eye, there is no ornamentation of any kind on the fenestration or

anyvuhere else to distract the eye and impede its rapid upward movement to the

top of the building (Plate S). The Union National Bank building took only eight

months to complete at a cost of $200,000. Upon its completion it was the

tallest building in the state of Kansas,6

Th U i N i l B k b ildi l i b i i t d in Criterion


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NPS Form 10-900-a0018(8-86)



NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIG PLACESCONTINUATION SHEET union National Bank Buildins

Wichita, Sedgwick County, KSSection Number 8 Page I African American Resources in Wichita MPDF

director spoke at a V/ichita NAACP conference organizedby Vivian Parks, who

was the first women to serve as president of the Wichita NAACP chapter.s That

night Williams stayed at Vivian's home. During his stay he told Ron Walters,

the president of the Wichita NAACP's youth group and Carol Parks, Vivian's

daughter and the youth group's vice president about the sit-ins the Congress of

Racial Equality had organized in the 1940s. Over the intervening two years

Williams returned to Wichita for additional speaking engagements and spoke to

the local NAACP youth group about what they could do to combat racial

di i i i


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 I(8-86)





The result of Docktlm's discrimination policy was that Ron Walters and

Carol Parks proposed that the youth group conduct a sustained sit-in at

Dockum's downtown drug store. Ron and Carol discussed their idea with Chet

Lewis, the president of the Wichita branch of the NAACP, who had succeeded

Carol Parks'mother Vivian as president of the Wichita NAACP chapter. Lewis

endorsed their idea for a Dockum's drug store sit-in and submitted their

proposal to the local NAACP executive committee which endorsed the Dockum

drug store sit-in.1t

h h fi i i i hi h h l l AAC th


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 8(8-86)

OMBApproval No.1024-


NATIONAI. REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESCONTINUATION SHEET union National Bank Buildins


company owned nine stores in Wichita and had been in business for fifty-eightyears. The Dockum company considered its Union National Bank drug store to

be its flagship store, making it an ideal target for a sit-in. Another reason thatthis Dockum store was selected for the sit-in is that many in Wichita's black

community believed that this drug store was the worst of the downtown variety

stores because it refused service to blacks at the take-out counter if whiteswere being served at the lunch counter. Furthermore, Dockum's employed very

few of V/ichita's black citizens and those who rffere employed were not

i d h ' l h l


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 I(8-86)




Wichita, Sedgwick CountY, KS

Section Number 8 Page 11 African American Resources in Wichita MPDF

On the afternoon of Thursday, July 19, 1958, with Kansas' notorious hot

summer well under way and with anxious parents looking on across the street,

more than a d.ozen well dressed and well mannered black high school and

college students entered the Dockum Drug Store and, took ttrir seats on the

stools at the store's counters sitting quietly in an erect position looking

forward. Joining the group of protesters was a white man, Jerry Cole, a Wichita

resident and a strong civil rights advocate.l6 One of the group attempted to

order a coke and was refused. After a while the store's management closed the

h h F i T il


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 8(8-86)




Wichita, Sedgwick County, KS

Section Number I Page 12 African American Resources in Wichita MPDF

floor"lg and left the drug store. Another incident reported in the black press at

the time stated "that about twenty fuhite gang'members entered the store on

Saturday evening, presumably August 9, began to make antagonisitic remarks

to those sitting at the eight lunch-counter seats, and destroyed their protest

signs." One gang member said: "wait till the rest of us get here. We're reallygoing to have a part5r."le After other white groups threatened violence to the

black youths sitting at the lunch counter, Ron Walters, the president of the

NAACP youth group, and Dockum's store manager Wayne V/illiams, asked the

h i i h l h "I h


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 8(8-86)



NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESCONTINUATION SHEET union Natonal Bank Buildins


Williams, Dockum's merchandise manager, was standing and said to him:

"Serve them. I am losing too much money."22 The exhausted protesters were

stunned and celebrated their victory with a coke. The next day Chester Lewis,

the president of Wichita's NAACP chapter, met with V/alter Hieger, the vice

president of the Dockum Chain Drug Stores, to verify that the Dockum Drug

Stores would abolish their discriminatory policies as of 10:00 am, Monday

morning, August 11, 1958. The black youth protesters had \Mon a monumental

victory. Not only would the Dockum company, the largest drug chain in the

i V/i hi b t h R ll i


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 8(8-86)



NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACESGONTINUATION SHEET union National Bank Buildins


Despite the great success of Wichita NAACP's youth group to desegregate

the Dockum Drug Store's flagship store in the heart of downtown V/ichita,Kansas in the summer of 1958, the Dockum Drug Store sit-in has never beenproperly recogrtized by historians as the first successful, student-led sit-in ofthe Civil Rights movement. Several factors are responsible for this lack of

recognition.

The day before the sit-in was to occur, Chester Lewis as president of the

Wi hit h t f th NAACP d hi d president Vivian P k


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 8(8-86)




Wichita, Sedgwick CountY, KS

Section Number 8 Page 15 African American Resources in Wichita MPDF

To confirm the NAACP's national policy against sit-ins the National

NAACP's board minutes did not record anything about the Wichita sit-in. To

compound the problem, Chester Lewis writing to inform the NAACP's national

youth secretary about the Wichita youth sit-ins gave the wrong dates for the

Wichita sit-in. He wrote that the sit-in began on August 2nd and ended on

August 11. The actual dates of the Dockum's sit-in are July 19th to August

11. His error in dating may have down played down the significance of the

V/ichita sit-in.26


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NPS Form 10-900-a001 I(8-86)





Beaconprinted one small article, these newspaper articles had no impact on

the national media or the national consciousness.2s Although V/ichita's two

main-line, white oriented ne\Mspapers all but ignored the Dockum sit-in, black

newspapers did cover the Dockum sit-in. The black-owned newspapers The

Entightener and tine Mid-Wes /Vers Press covered the sit-in, with The

Entightener featuring a large photo on its front page of the Dockum's sit-in.ze

Yet another important factor in the failure of the national NAACP


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NPS Form '10-900-a001 8(8-86)





Committee of the adult branch.3o Although the V/ichita NAACP's youth group

only belatedly received recognition of their successful Dockum Drug Store sit-

in during the summer of 1958 their actions paved the way for the much

publicized and lauded Greensboro, North Carolina sit-in of February 1960.

With regard to Wichita, Kansas, the NAACP's youth group's successful

Dockum Drug Store sit-in has served as a catalyst to encourage the process of

reconciliation and integration between the races and make Wichita a more


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NPS Form 10-900-a(8-86)





BibliographyManuscriptsA copy of the blue prints of the Union National Bank Building. Dave Burk,V/ichita, Kansas.

Wolfenbarger, Deon. "African American Resources of Wichita." National

Register Multiple Property DocumentationForm. Draft. Topeka: Kansas

Historical Society, 2OII.

General $Iorks

Brinkley, Douglas. Ros Parks. New York New York: Penguin Books, 2000


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NPS Form 10-900-a(8-86)





Tlrc Wichta Eagle, "Dockum Drug Company into Its 42nd Year," January 1,794r.

The Wichita Eagle, "Death Claims Business Leader," March 26,194I.

The Wchita Eagle, "Dockum's Drug Company Celebrates its 50*'Anniversry,"March 5, 1950.


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NPS Form 10-900-a(8-86)





Verbal Boundary DescriptionStarting at the southeast corner of Broadway and Douglas going east 75 feet;going south to the alley then west to Broadway then traveling north to thesoutheast corner of Broadway and Douglas. Lots 1, 3, 5, on Douglas Avenue,in N.A. English's Addition to Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas.

Boundary JustificationThe boundary for the Union National Bank nomination contains all theproperty historically associated with the Union National Bank Building.


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NPS Form 10-900-a(8-86)




Wichita, Sedgwick County, KSSection Number Photographs Page 21 African American Resources in Wichita MPDF

Photographs

Union National Bank BuildingWichita, Sedgwick County, KS

Photographer: Christy Davis

Date of Photos: August 5,2OlI

Photo 1 of 10Photo 2 of lOPhoto 3 of 10

North and west elevations, facing SENorth elevation, facing SEast (side) and south (rear) elevations, facing NV/


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6425 SW 6rh AvenueTopeka, KS 66615

phone: 785-272-8681fax'. 785-272-8682

cu ltu ral_resources@kshs. orgASKansas

HistoricalSociety Sam Brownback, GovemorJennie Chinn, ExecutiveDirector

RECIVED22BO

DEC 2 3 2011December 16,20Il

Carol ShullNational Register of HistoricPlacesNational Park Service1201 Eye Street, N. W.8th Floor (MS2280)Washington, DC 20005

Dear Ms. Shull:

Please findenclosed the followingNational Register nominations:

Beaumont Hotel - Beaumont, Butler County (new submission)a


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Union National Bank Registration Form

Documents

Transcript of Union National Bank Registration Form