Not far away is the Koch Community Plaza and Koch Scouting Center. Then there is the Koch Orangutan and Chimpanzee Habitat at the robustly Koch-supported Sedgwick County Zoo. Stop off for swimming lessons at the Koch Aquatic Center at the North Branch Y.M.C.A., or a learning experience recognizing the ecological interests of Fred Koch and his wife, Mary, at the Great Plains Nature Center’s Koch Habitat Hall.

The Kochs contribute generously to Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Salvation Army and smaller community endeavors. The company’s 3,500 jobs, regular employment opportunities and growth have meant steady paychecks in Wichita while other important and historic sectors of the local economy have struggled. The company estimated its direct payments in salary and benefits to Kansas workers, most of them in Wichita, at $410 million last year.

“There is almost no one in town who doesn’t have a friend, a neighbor, a relative who works out at Koch,” said Mary Beth Jarvis, a former Koch executive who oversees the organization that puts on the city’s annual river festival and the accompanying symphony concert, which has long been underwritten by the Koch family.

Since 2000, organizations affiliated with the Koch family or company have given more than $50 million to Wichita and Kansas nonprofit groups, according to a company tally. Charles Koch lives in Wichita, and David lives in New York City, where he is also a donor to the arts and medicine.

Image David Koch in 2014. Credit... Carlo Allegri/Reuters

While such strong community support has dazzled some residents, others see the Koch activities as insidious, an attempt to buy good will while the two brothers and their political allies spend much more behind the scenes to dismantle bedrock government programs more important to the average Kansan.

“That is all just bells and whistles, the shiny little things to distract you while they are proceeding to try to change our country into what they want it to be,” said Randy Mousley, president of the Wichita teachers’ union. He has clashed with Koch-backed groups and legislators over deep income and business tax cuts that reduced state aid for education and forced some districts to eliminate staff and raise property taxes.