The "woolies" picture that BillD linked up above has labels added for Woolworths, and for Dockums.

It might be notable that the Dockums Drug Store barely in the picture was the site of a "sit-in" in 1958 that preceded most public awareness of the "civil rights movement."

I can't make out enough detail in BillD's picture to date it, but it appears to have a few ca. 52 - 54 cars on the street(?). That's not too accurate a method since most people in Wichita then drove cars at least 5 years old, as I recall; but the number of people on the street would indicate early 1950s.

Relative to the Woolworths history, ca. 1958 there was still enough "downtown" (as evidenced by Dockums still having some business) that I believe Woolworths was still open; but it closed down within a few years after. (Business downtown was so poor by the time it closed for good that few people noticed or noted its "official" passing.)

BillD's picture for reference.

NPR Retrospecitive 2008 for the story about the sit-in.

Forgotten History shows fair pictures of the "public art" currently in downtown Wichita commemorating the sit-in. (One still has to explain what they are to many life-long natives.)

The S.S. Kress store, much larger than Woolworths and arguably more popular, was "catiwampus" across from the Dockums, and probably was close to terminal by 1958, although I don't remember an accurate date for when it closed. The Kress storefront is still identifiable, but I'm not sure any sign now indicates that there used to be a Woolworths across the street and a half-block down.

John