Our Past Is Present March 2, 2018

March 2, 2018

            This is “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.

            The “Junction City Union” newspaper in February of 1949 reported that the Municipal Building had seen heavy use during the previous year.  According to the front page article, an estimated 53,840 persons utilized the city auditorium and other meeting room facilities during 1948.  This information was contained in an annual report on the use of the building tabulated by the City Manager Elder Gunter.  Over half of that number of persons attended the 172 meetings and events slated in the auditorium and receipts from use of that portion of the building came to $3,490.37.  The area most often in use in 1948 was the lower lounge, which had an average of nearly two meetings a day for a total of 525 for the year.  May lodges, civic groups, cubs and organizations used the Municipal Building as a regular meeting place for weekly or monthly meetings, the report stated.

            It also noted that the city auditorium, during the prior year, had been used for five conventions, two circuses, the harvest festival, 40 shows, concerts and the community Christmas Festival.  It was the site of business shows, graduation exercises and teen-age dances.  During the basketball season the auditorium was used almost daily, both after school and at night for both ball games and practice sessions. 

            In addition to these, the building accommodated the USO in the basement and offices for Veterans Affairs and Soil Conservation Agency, the Kansas Employment Service and recreation space for the elderly. 

            The report concluded with the observation that the building was then nearly ten years old and this heavy use had certainly justified its construction.

            And… that’s today’s story on “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.