Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters

Take your next trip with Atlas Obscura!

Our small-group adventures are inspired by our Atlas of the world's most fascinating places, the stories behind them, and the people who bring them to life.

Visit Adventures
Trips Highlight
Pastel de nata
Portugal • 8 days, 7 nights
Portugal: A Culinary Adventure from Porto to Lisbon
from
Italy • 9 days, 8 nights
Flavors of Italy: Roman Carbonara, Florentine Steak & Venetian Cocktails
from
View all trips
Top Destinations
Latest Places
Most Popular Places Random Place Lists Itineraries
Add a Place
Download the App
Top Destinations
View All Destinations »

Countries

  • Australia
  • Canada
  • China
  • France
  • Germany
  • India
  • Italy
  • Japan

Cities

  • Amsterdam
  • Barcelona
  • Beijing
  • Berlin
  • Boston
  • Budapest
  • Chicago
  • London
  • Los Angeles
  • Mexico City
  • Montreal
  • Moscow
  • New Orleans
  • New York City
  • Paris
  • Philadelphia
  • Rome
  • San Francisco
  • Seattle
  • Stockholm
  • Tokyo
  • Toronto
  • Vienna
  • Washington, D.C.
Latest Places
View All Places »
The wall commemorating 11,908 Jewish victims of the Shoah from Frankfurt.
Börneplatz Memorial
Entrance to the munitions area of the lower part of the bunker
Simserhof
Carlos Calderón Yruegas calls the villa his personal playground.
Villa Tabaiba
Apples and pears, Spitalfields Market.
Brick Lane Roundels
Latest Places to Eat & Drink
View All Places to Eat »
The sign declares this the number-one gumbo shop in town.
Gumbo Hut Shioya
The pavlova comes crowned with jewel-like fruit.
Central Park Boathouse
The Village Tavern of Long Grove - exterior.
The Village Tavern
Hunter House Hamburgers
L’Escamoteur
Recent Stories
All Stories Video Podcast
Most Recent Stories
View All Stories »
The exterior of the Hall of Records.
Atlas Obscura Mailbag: Urban Exploration, Illegal Carvings, and Repeat Vacations
1 day ago
Biosphere 2 campus (2016)
Biosphere 2: How Volunteers Survived for 2 Years in an Airtight Habitat
2 days ago
Places like Forest Grove linger on the edge of wilderness and civilization.
Listening for Echoes of the Forest Grove Sound
2 days ago
Longwood House, where Napoleon Bonaparte spent his final years.
The Longwood House: Napoleon Bonaparte’s Beautiful Prison
3 days ago

No search results found for
“”

Make sure words are spelled correctly.

Try searching for a travel destination.

Places near me Random place

Popular Destinations

  • Paris
  • London
  • New York
  • Berlin
  • Rome
  • Los Angeles
Trips Places Foods Stories Newsletters
Sign In Join
Places near me Random place
All the United States Kansas Chanute Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial

Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial

This unusual sculpture honors the city's namesake, Octave Chanute, for his pioneering work in early aviation.

Chanute, Kansas

Added By
Ian Lefkowitz
Email
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list
The Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial   ianlefk / Atlas Obscura User
The Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial   ianlefk / Atlas Obscura User
The exhibit includes a depiction of the 1896 Chanute Glider.   ianlefk / Atlas Obscura User
A plaque dedicated to the Wright Brothers’ flight.   ianlefk / Atlas Obscura User
The Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial as seen from the historic railroad station built at Octave Chanute’s suggestion.   ianlefk / Atlas Obscura User
Panels at the Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial explain Octave Chanute’s history and relationship to the historic flight.   ianlefk / Atlas Obscura User
A mural located near the Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial honoring both the city and the engineer.   ianlefk / Atlas Obscura User
Been Here
Want to go
Added to list

About

On your first visit to Chanute, Kansas, you may be forgiven for thinking that it is a cradle of aviation. How else would you explain the biplane sculpture visible from Main Street? This plane and the surrounding park honors Octave Chanute, the town’s namesake, for his achievements in flight and his mentorship of the Wright Brothers. The only catch? He only briefly visited the town, and it was named for him before he began working on aeronautic exploits in earnest. Nevertheless, this unusual memorial offers a photogenic look into early aviation history.

Born in Paris and raised in America, by the 1870s Octave Chanute was one of America’s foremost civil engineers, building bridges and America’s largest stockyards. In particular, he designed the Hannibal Bridge, which was the first bridge to cross the Missouri River, as well as the Kansas City stockyards, which together established Kansas City as the great economic superpower of the prairie. Later, while surveying Neosho County, he suggested the rival communities of Tioga, New Chicago, Chicago Junction, and Alliance consolidate for a better chance of receiving a railroad depot. With the plan a success, the new town was formed and named in his honor on January 1, 1873.

Unbeknownst to those Kansans, Octave Chanute also had a hobby–making things fly. Chanute had a lifelong passion for aeronautics, and would frequently write or visit other experimenters. After his retirement in 1889, he began devoting himself to the craft as a full-time pursuit. In 1894, he wrote Progress in Flying Machines, a compendium of research to that point. By 1896, he was testing a biplane glider with his assistants, eventually reaching flights of hundreds of feet in length. Believing himself too old to fly, and a practitioner of what we would today call “open source” science, he would encourage and share ideas with other enthusiasts, including a now-famous pair of brothers. He began making frequent trips to Kitty Hawk, offering the Wright brothers notes and encouragement as they were leading up to their historic flight.

To honor the city's namesake for his pioneering and innovative spirit, the Chanute High School Class of 1941 dedicated a sculpture to Octave Chanute in September 2003. The sculpture is a tribute to the Wright Brothers’ aircraft, measuring 20 feet in length with a 23-foot wingspan. It was designed to move with the wind, demonstrating the aeronautic beauty of flight. A series of painted panels proclaim Chanute to be the father of aviation, with a quote from Wilbur Wright that acknowledged his contributions to their success. And across the street, visitors can find the historic train station that led to the founding of the town, and the brief moment that its history intertwined with that of Octave Chanute.

Related Tags

Airplanes Aviation Memorials Monuments

Community Contributors

Added By

ianlefk

Published

November 17, 2023

Edit this listing

Make an Edit
Add Photos
Sources
  • https://www.travelks.com/listing/chanute-wright-brothers-memorial/37270/
  • https://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Prehistory/chanute/PH7.htm
  • https://chanutechamber.com/about-chanute-2/about-chanute/
  • http://www.kansastravel.org/chanutewrightbrothers.htm
  • https://www.nps.gov/people/chanute.htm
Chanute-Wright Brothers Memorial
27 W Main St
Chanute, Kansas, 66720
United States
37.681523, -95.45301
Get Directions

Nearby Places

Center of Google Earth Mural

Chanute, Kansas

miles away

Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum

Chanute, Kansas

miles away

Sad Saga of Vegetarian Creek

Humboldt, Kansas

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Chanute

Chanute

Kansas

Places 3

Nearby Places

Center of Google Earth Mural

Chanute, Kansas

miles away

Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum

Chanute, Kansas

miles away

Sad Saga of Vegetarian Creek

Humboldt, Kansas

miles away

Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Chanute

Chanute

Kansas

Places 3

Related Places

  • The First Flight Monument hints at a darker time.

    Tokyo, Japan

    First Flight Monument

    A monument marking the first airplane flights in Japan hints at the dark history behind its peaceful park setting.

  • Pangborn-Herndon Memorial.

    East Wenatchee, Washington

    Pangborn-Herndon Memorial

    A monument tucked within a suburban neighborhood commemorates the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean.

  • Located in George Izay Park in Burbank, California

    Burbank, California

    The 'Spirit of Burbank' F-104 Starfighter

    This distinctive blue and white jet fighter is a symbol of the area’s relationship with aviation.

  • Viterbo, Italy

    Fontana-Monumento al Paracadutista d’Italia

    This war memorial commemorates some of the world's first paratroopers.

  • Grissom Rocket Monument.

    Mitchell, Indiana

    Virgil I. Gus Grissom Rocket Monument

    This memorial to the Mercury Seven astronaut stands at the site of his former elementary school.

  • The monument.

    Fairbanks, Alaska

    Lend-Lease Monument

    This super-sized statue is the only public memorial to the deal that ended America's neutrality during World War II.

  • Landing site of the transatlantic flight of Alcock and Brown, and adjacent memorial cairn.

    Galway, Ireland

    Landing Site of the First Transatlantic Flight

    A strange egg in a mucky bog of western Ireland marks the spot of an aviation milestone.

  • The sculpture commemorating the 1993 crash.

    Stockholm, Sweden

    Långholmen Crash Site

    A steel paper plane is all that remains of a crashed aircraft that caused an amazingly small amount of damage.

Aerial image of Vietnam, displaying the picturesque rice terraces, characterized by their layered, verdant fields.
Atlas Obscura Membership

Become an Atlas Obscura Member


Join our community of curious explorers.

Become a Member

Get Our Email Newsletter

Follow Us

Facebook YouTube TikTok Instagram Pinterest RSS Feed

Get the app

Download the App
Download on the Apple App Store Get it on Google Play
  • All Places
  • Latest Places
  • Most Popular
  • Places to Eat
  • Random
  • Nearby
  • Add a Place
  • Stories
  • Food & Drink
  • Itineraries
  • Lists
  • Video
  • Podcast
  • Newsletters
  • All Trips
  • Family Trip
  • Food & Drink
  • History & Culture
  • Wildlife & Nature
  • FAQ
  • Membership
  • Feedback & Ideas
  • Community Guidelines
  • Product Blog
  • Unique Gifts
  • Work With Us
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Advertise With Us
  • Advertising Guidelines
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms of Use
Atlas Obscura

© 2025 Atlas Obscura. All Rights Reserved.