Christmas on Prairie 12/06/08

I've always thought when Garrison Keillor ends his Lake Wobegon monologues by describing the town as place time forgot and decades can not improve he must have been talking about Abilene,Kansas.Located off I-70 about 100 miles west of Topeka,It can seem like a town wonderfully and blissfully lost in time, stuck somewhere in it's most famous residents President Dwight David Eisenhowers era of the 50's. Taking the turnoff and heading south you pass ALCo department stores,a Sinclare gas station with the big green dinosaur on the roof,a Victorian Mansion offering tours, the Eisenhower center with it's Museum,Library and final resting place of the General and President, just to the south is a wax museum of WW2 generals,the international Greyhound museum and a cow town celebrating the wild west and the Chisholm trail which ended in Abilene. And that's just on the main drag.

The population of the town in 2000 was listed as 6,543.To get off the main drag you find a Musuem of Telephones,2 more Victorian Mansions and a resturant called the Brookville Hotel that is so renowned for it's Chicken dinners that if you tell someone you ate somewhere else you'll get frowns of disappointment. There is too much to do in 1 day in this little town, too much history to take in a day. I've been to Abilene many times before and will go back.

In 1900 the population was listed in the 3,000 range. In the 1860's the population of cattle could be listed in hundreds of thousands as the cattle drives from Texas ended at the stockyards before they were loaded on the trains to points across the globe. See the wonderful movie John Wayne movie "Red River". In the 1870's Wild Bill Hickok worked briefly in Abilene as did John Wesley Hardin.

On to this visit, In was a beautiful slightly chilly,partly cloudly Saturday afternoon in December. We found out we had arrived in town the same weekend of the Holiday Festival with included a festival of homes, tree lighting at one of the train depots. The resturant we were planning eating at had a tea party which seemed to have brought in an invasion of the Red Hat society. We ate a local Pizzaria instead.

First stop was the Lebold Mansion, this from the Chamber of Commerce website gives a brief history of the Mansion:

"Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, this Italianate Victorian mansion was built in 1880 by Conrad H. Lebold, one of the early founders of the city of Abilene. He was also a banker, land agent, mayor, politician and entrepreneur.

This 23-room mansion built to showcase Lebold’s success, has been completely restored and furnished with period antiques typical of the late Victorian era. The interiors are a showcase of the Victorian decorative arts and your tour guild will explain the history of the mansion and the many unique artifacts essential to the Victorian lifestyle.

See Timothy Hersey’s dugout, the first home in Abilene, located on the first floor of the mansion, below the tower. From this location, Mrs. Hersey served the last “square” meal to the passengers of the Butterfield Stage Coach Lines and the Overland Freight Company as they traveled west.

The museum collection displays furnishings, textiles, artwork, silver, mechanical automations, pianos, organs, melodeon, victrola, period lighting, and much more. "

Almost every room had a Christmas tree and it was just a stunning place to visit, especially during the holidays. What I love about guided tours of house is how people join the tour they progress, we started in the 3rd Room, a group of Red Hat Ladies joined us the basement and a couple joined us somewhere upstairs.And the tour guide working through 23 Rooms managed to keep track of who joined when and where. Pictures to follow in separate posts.

After lunch we went to the Eisenhower center which is built around the small childhood home that stands 5 feet on the "wrong side of the tracks" a distance away from the "right" side of the tracks and stately Victorian Mansions of Bankers and Cattle Barons of the 1880's. The Eisenhower family is truly one of the most amazing in Kansas. The little 2 story house was home to a successful pharmacist,a banker and a college University President. That's not even talking about Dwight David Eisenhower ,West Point Graduate,Supreme Allied Commander of World War 2,President of Columbia University and President of the United States.It says something about the wrong side of the tracks.

The Center includes a Visitor Center,Childhood home,Museum,Library,Statue in the middle of the grounds and Place of Mediation with Eisenhower ,his wife and young child are buried.

I can count 5 times that I had been there, as child, the 9th Grade class of Eisenhower Middle School,the 50th Anniversary of D-Day where I attended events moderated by Eisenhower Biographer Stephen Ambrose and the grandson of either Churchill or Montgomery. A Scot who played the bagpipes while wading through the water at Normady also spoke as did a German Panzer Commander Col. Hans Von Luck, who wrote one of the best war books I've ever read,a most read for anyone interested in Military History

http://www.amazon.com/Panzer-Commander-Memoirs-Colonel-Hans/dp/0440208025

My fault with the Museum is it really doesn't cover enough of Ike's Presidency. He was President during one of the most amazing times in our History. The 50's were the seed of the Civil Rights Movement,The age of Television,suburbia,fast food,the construction of I-70, the space age and a wide range of social,economic and personal change that the country had never really seen. Those topics are covered to be sure.A telegram from Arkansas Governor Orville Fabus arguing against sending in the National Guard to Little Rock is included in the collection.

Highlights of the collection include:

The Note Eisenhower wrote and was prepared to deliver if D-Day had failed

Planning for the secret service for a visit to a Major League Baseball game by the President

The pen General Smith used to sign the Unconditional surrender of Germany.

My Favorite is a Telephone Book from SHAFE headquarters with a stamp declassifying the document in the mid 1970's.

The Generals Staff car

and a collection of plates from George Washingtons Bicentennial that he gave to his parents.

on to the pictures.

Pictures of Old Prairie Town- Part 1

I visited Old Prairie Town in July according to the day stamp on the first 3 pictures.It probably has a better and clearer view than the pictures I took at the Festival mainly because no one was there than Sunday afternoon.

At the Apple Festival the One room school house was packed, some was playing Laura Ingalls who stopped briefly in Kansas as a child and wrote a book about those experiences called "Little House on the Prairie". The TV series was based on events later in the series of that happened in Minnesota.

Last two pictures come from the festival in October, I hope the picture of the gold fish in the fountain are visible.

29th Annual Apple Festival

One of the least publicized places in Topeka was buzzing on Sunday. It's hard to get to, the signs are vague and it's pretty well hidden. Even though it boards I-70,thanks to foloage ,you can't see it from the highway. I can't think of any signs on the Highway for the place. If your from Topeka and talk about Old Prairie Town you might blank looks or the question "Isn't that in Abilene ?" Topekans might now it better as Ward Meade.



Old Priarie town has a one room school house, an old church, a train depot, a log cabin,a botantical garden ,a drug store with an actual soda fountain,an old doctors office and the Ward-Meade Mansion.

The story is the Wards are one of the first settlers of Topeka,built a cabin on the River and fairied people across the river. A Candle was lit in the windown which was a sign to traveled the house was open to travelers on the Oregon, yes we are back on that trail. Oregon trail on the Kansas River, 20 miles South ,yesterday the Santa Fe Trail. Again all came through here, and some stayed.

Parade Pictires from Overbrook

Those who went west came through here

A couple of weeks ago I drove about 30 minutes to the North and West and ran across the Oregon Trail. Today I drove about 14 South on US 75 and then 6 miles on 56 and found the Santa Fe Trail. The Trails for the most started in Independence,Missouri and whether they ended up in Oregon,California ,Utah or New Mexico, hundreds of thousands passed through Kansas, fairly close to Topeka. Wheel ruts of the 6 foot tall wagons can still be seen in fields,and parks in this part of the country. One of the speakers I heard today spoke of the covers of Conastoga wagons as far as the eye could see.

This week the town of Overbrook with it's 900 or so residents celebrated "Santa Fe Trail Days" a two day celebration at the fairgrounds which are doted with 4H barns and advertisements for next weeks Demolition Derby. Yes, the sign on the water tower does say "Don't overlook Overbrook".

At 11am there was a parade which the next entry will detail in pictures. It went down a residental street near the fair grounds past a guy with a home speaker system discribing the enterants and announcing the winners of yesterday Coloring contest. He interviewed some of the marchers, my favorite was a couple from Oklahoma who announced themselves as "from the terriotory of Oklahoma, soon to be a state". The parade was all horses or horse drawn wagons, except for the final marcher a golf cart with a man scooping up the horse droppings, I resisted the urge to photograph that. The Costumes were amazing as were the horses.

The fair itself had historical speakers,horse riding contest,re enactors doing bull whip demostrations,gun fights, a tent served as a Salloon with girls in period costume playing Scott Joplin rags and served Pop in a bottle, Root Beer,Orange and Grape Nehi.

Lower Pott County 9/6/08

One of the charms of this time of the year is Sunflowers , the state flower is everywhere.Beautiful,majestic,taller than me at 6'1'' .They line the highways, grow in back yards adding a Yellow and Brown color to the green fields and grass.



I crossed the new bridge and hooked up with US Hwy 24 in North Topeka and headed West. Highway 24 runs 1,540 miles from Clarkston,Michigan to Dowd,Colorado. You pass the Goodyear plant and Cargill Grain elevators. Further down the road is a Television station,and the small town of Silver Lake. I began to notice something interesting, Cars parked on both sides of the 2 lane highway.A garage sale was in progress, then another house on the highway and another.



The particulars of Silver Lake are 1,358 poulation and 568 households according to 2000 Cencus. On this day I think I can say the population has tripled and most ,if not all 568 were having garage sales. I stopped at a couple. I am looking for a couple of specific DVD/VHS and I'm always up for Expanding my Frank Sinatra CD collection. Came up with nothing at the 4 or 5 places I stopped.



5 miles down the road is Rossville,covered last month and maybe 10 miles down the road was St Mary's. St Mary's may be worth it's own entry for an Indian Pay Station and the Academy and College.The Pay station wasn't opened yet so I continued on. Maybe another 5 miles down the road was a sign advertisng the Oregon Trail Nature Park.

http://www.naturalkansas.org/oregon.htm



I'll be honest, I had no idea this place existed and it's about 1 mile off 24 and not visible from the highway. It is a bunch of walking trials, there is not any historical markers, nothing says this is on the Oregon trial. It's a pretty area with a couple of hills that are pretty heavy climbs,one promised a view of the Jeffery Enegry Center, a steep climb,I did not attempt. A silo with portraits greets visitors in the parking lot. The lower left picture has the town of Belvue in the background, if you can see it.

Labor Day

There were more options than time over Labor Day. Indian Pow Wows, Train festivals in Baldwin, the start of Football season in Topeka,Emporia,Lawrence or Manhattan. I choose on Saturday to attend Railroad Days at the Great Overland Station, the former Union Pacific Station that has been restored. The Station itself is worth it's own blog entry, which I will do sometime.

Railroad days is a return to a tradition that happened from the late 80's to the early years of this century.It would last the whole weekend and attract big name entertainment. It basically was a County Fair, midway,arts and craft,a lot of exhibits dedicated to Topeka Railroad history.It went away from several years and now returned in a much smaller format, with great hopes of bigger and better things. I was there early and could have returned for a concert in the evening,but was torn away by the start of Football.

Monday evening brought the return of Hockey Season in Topeka and a inter squad came played on a foggy ice at the Expocentre. Blue beat White for the season year in a row ,2-1 in OT.

August and Beyond

Has it really been over a month since I wrote anything. It's been a busy month, The Olympics and back to back Political conventions. A thing or two didn't pan out, maybe in the fall I'm told.I did take in "Wheat stock V" a day long bluegrass festival in Topeka , held at a hotel on a hot Saturday afternoon, I think the first one was held in the park,outdoors in August. Moving it indoors was a wise choice. It was a fund raiser for the Jayhawk Theatre, which is in desperate need of repairs and refurbishing. If restored to original glory it would truly be one of the great movie palaces of days gone by.The possibilities are endless.

http://www.jayhawktheatre.com/

I didn't know this story until I read the flier,but it's believed that Gypsy Rose Lee started her career right here in Topeka and at the Jayhawk.

I made a short journey to Rossville,Kansas.Located maybe 15 miles North and west on US Highway 24, the Population is about 1,000,smaller that Wasilla ,Alaska by several thousand. The Baseball diamond is in the city park which has a shelter area,a swing and a slide and a new swimming pool. The wood grandstand was featured in the 1976 Bicentennial issue of Sports Illustrated. A creek runs through the western edge of the town and a walking bridge runs across it , in the distance you can see the train tracks and the highway before it.

A River runs under it -Part 2

The Levee was built as a response to the flood of 51. I was intrigued to see the water marker. It came close to being breeched in 93 but the levee held the water in.





View of South Topeka from bridge,Capital Dome peeking up to the right of the bridge tower.








I love these next two pictures,looking West,you can see the bend of the river and the Omnipresent grain elevators.

View of Downtown and the police impound yard.I always wondered where it was, and knock on wood, glad I have never had a need to know.Again Capital Dome is hiding from this angle.

A River runs under it

A couple of years ago a chunk of Topeka Blvd Bridge fell off. The Bridge was closed down, Congress and money from the Sales Tax was used for construction of a new bridge. It opened today,August 3. A ribbon cutting or something happened at 5. I wanted to go,but as yesterday entry suggested It's too hot. So I went out with a friend later in the evening. Tomorrow it will be opened for car traffic, but tonight belonged to bicycles,dog walking and the curious.
Getting a chance to walk over the bridge solved a problem for me, This is as close as I've ever been to the Kansas River. Topeka was founded by people ferrying wagons ,horses etc on the various trails. The first settlers of Topeka lived near the river. Today it's hard to get close to it. I spent some time driving around a couple of weeks ago thinking there might be a park or something on the North Side that I hadn't known about.

That trip did get just on the other side of the Levee near the Kansas Avenue Bridge, but not on the river itself.Looking on line I was able to find 2 boat ramps in Shawnee County. Now that I think about it,I was foiled looking for the Kansas River in Lecompton as well. There is a log cabin about a mile from the Territorial Capitol that sits on the river, a forest of tree obstructs the view.I know there a river park in Lawrence and further opportunities to get close to the Kansas River exist elsewhere. So Much to see, no independent means to take a year off and see it.

A train went by,which was cool.Note below the engine , that is the old railroad bridge,It didn't survive the 1951 Flood,yet remains in the river.







I like the bridge, you'll see the Limestone towers that support the clocks that are on both side.I know from reading about the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge and Golden Gate,similar opportunities to walk the bridge existed before it was open to traffic.



Nice way to spend a hot Sunday evening and something that doesn't happen that often.

Heat Wave

The Car is air conditioned, The Prairie is not. Travels and fun sites on hiatus.

Signatures

Kim Novak
Bill Holden


Arthur J Connell,Rosalind Russell

Kim Novak was here

To show you how random my travels are, I noticed a few weeks ago "Picnic" was on TCM.I recorded ,one because my mother talked about knowing extra, and William Inge author of the Play is from Independence. He also wrote "Bus Stop" another wonderful play that takes place in Kansas. So last Wednesday I got around to watching "Picnic" and I loved the look at small town Kansas on a hot Labor Day. I wondered where it was filmed, quickly found the answer 5 small towns in Kansas between Hutchinson (Hutch as we call it) and Salina:

Courtesy of Wikipedia:
Halstead's Riverside Park is where all the Labor Day picnic scenes (some of which are semi-documentary) were filmed. The park and many landmarks still existed at the time of the movie's fiftieth anniversary.
Hutchinson, with its huge grain elevators.
Nickerson is the location of the two adjacent houses where Madge (Kim Novak) and her family live (with "old Mrs. Potts" next door), also where Hal (William Holden) "jumps a freight" to go to Tulsa and where Madge boards a bus in the last scene.
Salina, where Hal jumps off a train in the opening scene and meets Allen (Cliff Robertson) at Allen's father's large house, also where Madge kisses Hal by the Salina River and where he escapes from the police by running under a waterfall.
Sterling, where the pre-picnic swim in the lake was filmed.

In my randomness I described to visit one of the film sites and Halstead seemed to be the best choice.

The Museum had a corner reserved for the movie and even has the DVD for sale in the gift shop. Their were two prizes of the collection, one is the swan that Kim Novak was on that sailed down the river when she was awarded Queen of Neewollah and a board that cast and crew members autographed. I'm giving the board it's own entry as the signatures may be hard to see.

Halstead Historical Society

The story on the train depot is it was in use until 1970 when the passenger trains stopped coming through town, It was in disrepair and threatened with being torn until it was discovered it was located 500 yards from a building on the National Historical Register and couldn't be torn down.Towns people got together and re stored the building.It's opened 3 hours a day on weekends and staffed by volunteers.

Yes we have more trains and more Harvey girls, this exhibit comes from a woman living in Halstead who sometimes shows up on Sunday to hang out. In fact I was asked if I wanted to speak with her. I didn't really know what to say and so I didn't ask for the volunteer to call her to see if she'd come by. I should have I suppose.

Halstead was the home of Adolph Rupp the legendary basketball coach of the Kentucky Wildcats,winner of 5 National Championship and really the start of the Kentucky Tradition. Kansas has an interesting Basketball history. The first coach of the University of Kansas was Dr James Naismith, the inventor of the game, he is buried in Lawrence. Another Basketball Powerhouse in University of North Carolina. Carolina had success before Dean Smith of Topeka showed up, but a lot more after he did. Ralph Miller,Gene Keady,and Lon Kruger all Kansans who have coached in College and Pros. Many,many others as well, Kansas has a proud Basketball tradition that it has exported through the country.

A 1910 horse drawn fire hoses. The Museum also features an exhibit on barb wire,artifacts from the local bank ,train stuff and stuff from old churches. I have to say this is one of the best little Museums I've been to. It's not everyday an offer comes along to talk to someone who donated stuff in one of the corners comes along.worth much more than the donation I put in the box. I loved the display of train spikes. Next why I came to Halstead .....