The founder and namesake of one of Wichita’s best-known dive bars has died, say locals who knew him.
Jim Kirby, who in 1972 opened Kirby’s Beer Store at 3227 E. 17th St. — across the street from the Wichita State University campus — recently died in Seattle, where he’d lived for 46 years. According to Kirby’s co-owner Alex Thomas, Kirby, 79, died on Friday, Dec. 19.
Though he’d long since left Wichita, Kirby would occasionally return to visit the bar he founded. He was in town in May 2022 for Kirby’s 50th birthday festivities…