Our Story
Serving Wichita since 1903
Central Key & Safe opened in 1903 on the northwest corner of Second and Market. A hundred and twenty years, one relocation of two blocks, and four generations later, we're still here, still family-owned, and still answering the phone ourselves.
From umbrella repair to access control
In the early days, Central sold sporting goods, repaired fishing tackle, restrung tennis racquets, put new tires on tricycles, and traded in umbrella repair. If it was broken and it mattered to somebody in Wichita, it came through our door. As the city grew and discount stores took over the odds and ends, the shop went deep on the trade that had always anchored it: locks, keys, and safes.
In 1922, Lauren Hayward Webb, a World War I veteran who served in France with the American Expeditionary Force, bought the business for $600. He ran it until his death in 1946, when ownership passed to his four daughters: Norma Keller, Dorothy Sydnor, Ruby Trice, and Margaret Phelps. Margaret took the most active hand in running it, and the shop stayed in the family through every decade that followed.
Central moved two blocks to 305 N. Market in 1953 and incorporated in 1967. Both the address and the family ownership have held ever since. Three service trucks run out of that same downtown corner today, handling everything from century-old safes to card access systems, and the shop still keys buildings whose locks it first installed generations ago.
The tools changed. The deal hasn't: do the work right, charge a fair price, and be here tomorrow.
The short version
- 1903Founded at the northwest corner of Second and Market, Wichita.
- 1922Lauren Hayward Webb, WWI veteran, buys the business for $600.
- 1946Ownership passes to Webb's four daughters.
- 1953The shop moves two blocks to 305 N. Market, where it still is.
- 1967Central Key & Safe Co. incorporates; still family-owned.
- TodayThree trucks, a walk-in storefront, and 400+ Google reviews at 4.7 stars.
From the archive
The people who kept the doors open
These came out of the family's own boxes. The shop counter below is Central in its early years, back when the trade ran on hand tools, code books, and a belt-driven machine in the corner.
Still a counter business
Plenty of trades moved online and never looked back. Ours can't, entirely, because half of locksmithing is holding the thing in your hand. Customers bring us locks in grocery bags, keys worn down to nubs, safes inherited from grandparents with no combination and no paperwork. That work happens at a counter, with a person on the other side of it.
So we've kept the counter. Come in and somebody will look at what you've got and tell you honestly whether it's worth fixing.
What we believe
Be the shop people can walk into
Security is a trust business. Anybody can buy a van and a keyword ad; we think you should be able to see the shop, meet the people, and know the business will still be on the same corner the next time you need it. That's been the whole strategy since 1903.
Talk to a locksmith, not a call center
Call the shop or stop by. Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.