Wichita State University is planning to move the original Pizza Hut building on campus to the new Innovation Campus. KMUW's Abigail Beckman reports the 500-square foot building will be turned into a museum.
Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by brothers Frank and Dan Carney, students at what was then the University of Wichita. The building where the business started was moved to the south side of the WSU campus in the mid-1980s.
Keith Pickus with WSU says the museum will highlight Wichita's past and present entrepreneurial history."You know, if we're looking to tell the story of innovation here in Wichita, what better story than Pizza Hut?" he says.
Pickus says Pizza Hut founder Dan Carney plans to donate his sizeable collection of Pizza Hut mementos and artifacts to the new museum. The project will be funded by a $1.2 million campaign, most of which will go to renovating and relocating the building to its new home south of the Marcus Welcome Center.
Other costs include the installation of Pizza Hut memorabilia and video screens to share oral histories of the founding generation.
The WSU Foundation plans to raise $500,000 to endow a student curator program, employing students in academic areas such as history and museum studies to work as docents and update museum contents.
The museum is expected to open in late 2017.
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