The Calkins family and the Shawnee Chamber have been intertwined since the Chamber's very beginning. Although Calkins Electric was officially incorporated in 1957, Carl Calkins was one of the Shawnee Chamber’s original members in 1946. Located in the current Stag Homes office in downtown Shawnee at 5707 Nieman Rd, Shawnee, KS 66203, one portion of Calkins Electric is the oldest building in Shawnee, built in 1824. After retiring in 1974, Carl passed the business off to his son, Ed Calkins. Ed ran the operations of the family business until his retirement in 2000, when he passed it off to his children, Jeff, Wendi, and the late Chris Calkins.

Meanwhile, the Aztec Theater, located at 11119 Johnson Dr, Shawnee, KS 66203, had sat empty for 46 years. After many years in the electric business, Jeff and Chris, alongside their business partner, Bruce Young, officially brought back the Aztec Shawnee Theater and opened it in December 2020. When the Aztec joined the Shawnee Chamber, the Calkins family was simultaneously the oldest and newest members of the Chamber. Today, with the help of the Founders and their spouses, the Aztec is a thriving theater and one of the main attractions of downtown Shawnee.

The Calkins legacy remains strong within the Chamber itself. Carl’s great-granddaughter, Kaleigh Calkins, has been serving as the Chamber’s Director of Investor Services for over 3 years, playing a vital role in programming and member relations. Eighty years after the Chamber’s founding, the Calkins family continues to exemplify what it means to invest in Shawnee through a belief in the city’s future.