By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“Junction City’s Connection With Dwight D. Eisenhower”
Many of the stories used in “Our Past Is Present” articles come from the marvelous collection of stories found in the book Set In Stone, which is available at our Museum. This is some of what may be found on page 144 of that book in a story written by Gaylynn Childs, retired Executive Director of the Geary County Historical Society.
“Dwight D. Eisenhower’s brother, Roy, owned and operated a drug store at 622 North Washington Street for about 25 years. Net Quest Computer Sales and Repair is currently located in that building. Roy always referred to himself as a “druggist”. Ike preferred the term “pharmacist”, when describing his brother.
Roy Eisenhower was a thirty-second-degree mason, a lifelong member of the Chamber of Commerce and was active in many service clubs and community organizations. He was an avid sportsman and like his famous brother enjoyed playing golf whenever he could get away from the store.
He was described as a “red hot Republican” and took an active interest in local politics. Because of the relationship between Fort Riley and Junction City, Roy was much better known to the officers and men at the post than was Dwight.
Roy died in 1942. His widow, Edna Eisenhower, continued to run the drugstore.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States from 1952-61. There are no documented accounts of Dwight (“Ike”) Eisenhower visiting in Junction City after he was President. However it was reported by Fred Beeler, that when Ike was in Abilene, during and after his presidential years, “he would drive his Secret Service guys nuts when he’d occasionally slip away and borrow a car from one of his Abilene friends and drive himself over to Junction City to pay a visit to his brother’s widow. She died in 1989 at the age of 97.”
“The Early Days Of Our Local Hospitals”
The first hospital facility in Junction was quite different from today’s hospital as we would expect. In fact, until 1913, there wasn’t one.
In the fall of 1913, two of the leading physicians of Junction City, Dr. Walter Carr and Dr. E.A. Smiley, realized the handicap under which they were working by not having a hospital in town. So, they opened a small hospital in the east part of Dr. Smiley’s residence on the northeast corner of 5th and Adams Streets.
The need for a larger facility was soon apparent and in 1915 six of the community’s doctors and surgeons organized a hospital association. They secured the old Grenter home at the corner of 2nd and Adams Streets with the intention of converting the spacious two-story house into a hospital. It functioned that way for 6 or 7 years.
The flu epidemic of 1918 motivated the construction of the first hospital not in a residence in 1921. This hospital was located at the south end of Jefferson Street.
The new medical facility maintained its own dietary kitchen and each floor was supplied
with hot and cold water. The operating room was equipped with the most modern appliances
of the day. There were three nurses and a matron. An ambulance service was operated by Mr.
Durand. Eighteen months after opening, it was reported that there had been 200 admissions.
150 of those were for major operations and there had not been a single loss of life.
The Junction City Hospital served the medical needs of the community until the new
Geary Community Hospital complex opened in 1967. At that time, Dr. E.A. Smiley was still on
the staff.