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Kilby Monument to Honor Great Bend Native, Whose Invention Changed the World

     Jack Kilby grew up and attended school in Great Bend, KS. From here, he went to college and entered the workforce, like any other young professional of his day. Then he changed the world in the late 1950s like it had never been changed before or since.
     The soft-spoken engineer and Nobel Prize winner died in 2005, but his legacy lives forever. Kilby’s invention of the monolithic integrated circuit - the microchip - laid the conceptual and technical foundation for the entire field of modern microelectronics. From his first simple circuit, which he built while working at Texas Instruments in 1958, has grown a worldwide integrated circuit market whose sales in 2006 totaled $210 billion.
Those components supported a 2006 worldwide electronic end-equipment market of
$1,402 billion.
     Fund raising has begun so that “The Gift,” a large bronze monument to honor Kilby,
can be constructed on the west side in the county’s courthouse square that already
bears his name as Jack Kilby Square. It has been projected that $400,000 will be
needed to erect the monument.
     “The Gift” consists of three bronze figures rendered at a scale of one-and-a-quarter
times life size. The likeness of Kilby will be approximately 8 feet tall and will stand on
a cylindrical stone column. He reaches out his hand, giving his microchip to a young
boy. To Kilby’s right, a younger girl eagerly reaches out a hand to her older companion
and with her other hand, she points toward the stars. Symbolically, the sculpture
represents transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next and how that
transmission has been affected by the microchip.
     "The Gift" stands on the west axis of the Barton County Courthouse. This area is designated the Jack Kilby Plaza, and the design includes circular seating - low benches complimented by annual flower beds. Also flanking the seating is the Flag Court to the north, and the Information Kiosk to the south. Between the bronze figures and the courthouse is the oval plaza with pedestrian benches and lighting bollards.
     Local sculptor Chet Cale's talent has been tapped to create the sculptures by the Jack Kilby Monument committee. The group of local volunteers has also contracted with PBA Architects of Wichita to produce architectural plans for the monument and with Gary Gordon LLC of New York City to provide architectural lighting design.
     The Committee is chaired by local attorney Glenn Opie (620-793-5455, glennopie@ruraltel.net) and Barton County Historical Society director Beverly Komarek (620-793-5125, director@bartoncountymuseum.org) is serving as vice chair.
     Those wanting to contribute to “The Gift” can mail checks to Great Bend Foundation, PO Drawer E, Great Bend, KS 67530. The donations are tax deductible and no tax dollars are going toward the project.