Our Past Is Present October 4, 2018

October 4, 2018

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

            Today’s story is about the birthplace of Mrs. A.W. Bentley.  Mrs. Bentley lived at what was then 120 East Second Street and was 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 new building in the days when Wild Bill Hickok was making regular visits to Junction City.

            She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. Church and was born on June 13, 1868.  She lived in Junction City all of her life. Her birthplace was a rooming and boarding house operated by her parents.  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 Hickock was a frequent visitor when he came to town from Abilene.  When Mrs. Bentley was a baby, he 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 place 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, but 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 Freshman Success Academy). 

            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.”  

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