Our Past Is Present April 18, 2018

April 18, 2018

            You are reading “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.  Your host understands that it may not be possible for all of you to listen to or read this program EVERY DAY and some of you may not have access to our blogspot at gearyhistory.blogspot.com. Since becoming the host of this program in March of 2016, there have only been a few repeated stories.  So, just in case you missed one or more of those over 500 programs, some of those stories used previously may be repeated.  In fact that is the case today.

            This is a list of historical facts about Junction City and Geary County:

            *Junction City was the first town west of the Mississippi to distribute Coca-Cola.  This was at 710 N. Washington where Eye -Ware Junction is now located.

            *Junction City was one of the first towns in Kansas to have a kindergarten in 1927.

            *In 1929, the “Uptown Theater” was one of the first theaters in Kansas to be equipped with “talkies” or motion pictures.

            *Some of the famous guests at the historical Bartell Hotel located at the corner of Sixth and Washington Street in Junction City were Gene Tierney, John Phillip Sousa, W.C. Fields, John Wayne and the Russian Grand Duke Alexis.

            *Fort Riley’s first name was Camp Center, because it was believed to be the geographic center of the United States. However, it has been learned that the actual center of the 48 contiguous states is near Lebanon, Kansas in Smith County.

            *Davis County was Geary County’s original name.

            *In the fall of 1857, the name Junction City was formalized.

            And… one more:  *Walker Stone Company was one of the first industries in the area.

Well, there is some information for you trivia buffs. 

            Thanks for reading today and visit as often as you can to “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.