Our Past Is Present August 9, 2018

August 9, 2018

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

            We have been sharing information about some of the properties owned by the Geary County Historical Society, which are available for visiting. Some of these sites are by appointment or are used by the Society for special occasions.  Today is one of those sites available by appointment when you visit the Museum at the corner of Sixth and Adams Streets during the hours of 1 and 4 Tuesdays through Sundays.

            Today, we will be sharing information about the Starcke House, which is located across the alley from the Museum on the corner of Fifth and Adams Streets.  The Society renovated and opened the Starcke House, in the fall of 2000.  The one story brick structure was for a century the home of Walter and Eunice Starcke, who ran a jewelry shop for decades in downtown Junction City.  The house serves as a “period house museum” in which the furniture and household goods can be displayed in a natural setting.

            The restoration of the Starcke house at 306 West 5^th Street was built in the 1880s by pioneer jeweler and watch-maker Andrew Vogler as a home for his young German bride.  The original structure was described in a 1938 “Union” newspaper article as a “squatty red brick house” which made “conspicuous” the corner on which it sat for 52 years.  When it was originally built, however, the four-room house with a lean-to kitchen attached to the back offered the latest in comfort and modest amenities for its inhabitants.

            Stop by our Museum and ask to see the Starcke house and see why we say “Our Past Is Present” from the Geary County Historical Society.