By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“Some Early Businesses In Junction City”
Junction City became an incorporated city in 1859. Among the early businesses in town, which flourished for nearly sixty-five years was the B. Rockwell Merchandise and Grain Company. The current address for the Rockwell building is 723-725 North Washington Street.
Captain Bertrand Rockwell was a Civil War veteran and began his Junction City dry goods and grocery business in 1865. The building was constructed of pine lumber, which was hauled by ox team from Leavenworth, Kansas.
The Rockwell’s store was open during typical store hours from 5 AM until 11 PM. Bertrand lived with his father in a back room of the store during the first year after opening. The Rockwell’s dealt in feed, grain, fine groceries, clothing dry goods and hardware. The Rockwell firm expanded until there was a staff of thirty persons. They became internationally known as the first Kansas firm to ship grain overseas from the Gulf ports.
The original wooden building burned in 1888 and was replaced by another two-story brick and stone structure that same year. That building still stands at the southeast corner of 8th and Washington Streets.
Bertrand met his bride to be, Julia Snyder from Chapman, Kansas, who was a regular customer at the store. They were married in 1870 at the Episcopal Church of the Covenant located at 314 North Adams Street in Junction City. There’s was the first wedding held in that church. The Rockwell’s had five daughters.
In 1897, Bertrand had the Ladies Reading Club building constructed at 3rd and Jefferson Streets and gave it to that organization. Bertrand also worked with Reverend Anderson to get the First Presbyterian Church on 5th Street built and the Highland Cemetery on Ash Street established.
The Rockwell’s moved to Kansas City, Missouri in 1906 when Bertrand retired. Bertrand’s brother George A. took over the business. While living in Kansas City, Missouri, one of their daughters, Mary, designed and had a house built in 1908 for Bertrand and Julia. Bertrand died in 1930 at the age of 85 with an estate of up to $400,000.
The store closed in the 1920’s and has since been a Woolworth’s, a Duckwall’s and is currently where the Rent-A-Center is at 723 North Washington Street and the Allen B. Angst Law Office is at 725 North Washington.
“Some Memories Shared By Mrs. A.W. Bentley”
Today’s story is about the birthplace of Mrs. A.W. Bentley. Mrs. Bentley is probably the only person in Junction City who could boast that the Municipal Building marked the site of her birthplace. Mrs. Bentley was born in a frame building, located near what is now the southeast corner of the current Municipal Building in the days when Wild Bill Hickok was making regular visits to Junction City.
She was born on June 13, 1868. Her birthplace was a rooming and boarding house operated by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. E. Church. The old house had been added onto and came to be known as the Central Hotel. There were eight rooms in the hotel. Wild Bill Hickok was a frequent visitor at the hotel when he came to town from Abilene. When Mrs. Bentley was a baby, Wild Bill would push her around town in her baby buggy. She stated that she was “too small to remember much about it, but he used to take her downtown. Every other building in town was a saloon in those days and sometimes he would take me into a saloon with him.” Mrs. Bentley also said that “Some of her mother’s friends, used to tell her mother that she shouldn’t let Bill take her with him because of that. However, mother wasn’t afraid for me. He was a gambler, but he was a good man and a gentleman.”
Mrs. Bentley also recalled that “there were few buildings in Junction City when they lived in the rooming house. To the east was the city jail, located about where the new fire department is situated (this is now the Opera House). Above the jail was the school room where Mrs. Charlotte McFarland taught the children. Mrs. Bentley did not attend this school, but attended the “Ninth Street School”, which was built in 1918, which is now the Karns Building at 300 W. Ninth Street.
Mrs. Bentley also mentioned that “the old town clock, (which was on the tower of the Opera House) has fooled me many times. Working as a telephone operator I used to pass it every day. I’d look at one side of it and think I was late. Then I’d see another side and I’d still have plenty of time. Sometimes the hands of the clock would stick due to icy weather and cause the clock to display different times. It just depended on which side of the clock you were looking up to on the tower as to the time.”
Thanks to Joe and Sheila Markley, the C.L. Hoover Opera House Board and donors, the tower clock has been renovated and updated. It even has the same time on all sides of the towers.