By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“Some More Early Buildings In The Downtown Business District”
The late Marilyn Heldstab, former Geary Museum Director, wrote an article for the local newspaper in 1993 about buildings which were in the current downtown business district. This is some of what she wrote.
Apparently the first building was a house occupied by Robert and Elizabeth Henderson. They were the parents of the first child born in the city, a daughter, named Elizabeth. The Hendersons located here before Junction City had been incorporated in 1859. Sometime before Mrs. Henderson’s death in 1917, she wrote the following: “In May 1858, my husband pitched a tent on the corner of Washington and Sixth Streets. There was not a building of any description on the town site. Workmen were coming on daily and the construction of the town was soon started. My husband built a small board house on the corner beside our tent, and for a few months we lived in it, moving in the fall to the corner now occupied by O’Reilley’s livery barn, where we again lived in a tent while my husband built our house at the corner of Fifth and Franklin Streets. The lumber for the house came from the Logan Grove Farm and was taken to a sawmill at Kansas Falls. I held a candle many a night while my husband worked on the interior of our house. The Indians were almost daily visitors to our tent, and took great delight looking at themselves in the mirror on our bureau. All our provisions were hauled from Leavenworth. Our only kind of light was tallow candles made of buffalo tallow, and we made them ourselves.”
In 1867, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson moved to Logan Grove, three miles south of Junction City.
An article in the Union in 1904 states that Frank O’Reilley sold his livery stable located on the corner of Fifth and Washington Streets to Edward Ashlin. O’Reilley had started his business in Junction City in 1869.
During WWI, the Knights of Columbus built a building on the corner of Fifth and Washington Streets where soldiers came for fellowship and recreation. The Knights gave the building to St. Xavier’s Church who in turn sold the building to the Elks Club. When the Elks Club became the owners of the building, it was their lodge until they were forced to vacate when the city acquired that block.
Gery Schoenrock later developed that area now known as Washington Square. Currently there are several businesses at that location.
“Junction City Hosted Wild West Show Twice”
When Gaylynn Childs was the Assistant Director at the Geary County Museum, she wrote some of the following for the local newspaper. The title of the article was Junction City Host To Wild West Show Twice.
William F. Cody was born in Iowa in 1846 and grew up in Kansas. A true child of the plains, he started working at the age of 11 as a courier between wagon trains crossing the plains, and then he rode briefly for the Pony Express.
During the Civil War, Cody served with the 7th Kansas Cavalry and after the war worked as a scout for the U.S. Army. In 1867 and 1868, he was “loaned” to the Kansas Pacific Railroad to hunt buffalo to feed the work crews and from then on was known as “Buffalo Bill”.
Twice in the early years of the 20th century, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show played in Junction City. The first time was in 1900. Not only did heavy rain succeed in canceling one of the two scheduled shows on September 28, but the city also played host that afternoon to a brief visit from Teddy Roosevelt.
At that time, Roosevelt was the Governor of New York and was the Vice-Presidential candidate with running mate William Mckinley for the United States Presidency. He had been touring the West by train and stopped at Junction City’s depot to deliver a short speech from the train platform.
A real coincidence of this double visit was the fact that one of the attractions added to the Wild West Show that season was reenactment of the famous charge up San Juan Hill made by Roosevelt and his “Rough Riders” in Cuba in 1898.
Nine years later, and again in September, the “Great Scout” again brought his entourage to Junction City. By this time, he had merged his show with his rival, Col. Gordon “Pawnee Bill” Lillie, and the combined extravaganza boasted an “oriental spectacle, historic dramas and ethnological exhibits with typical casts, the Battle of Summit Springs and the Rough Riders of the World led in person by the last of the great scouts, Col. Cody.
During the one-day stop in Junction City, the troupe required 10,000 pounds of bran, seven tons of hay, nine tons of straw and 250 bushels of oats, all procured locally. The show, which was at the grounds near the Union Pacific Roundhouse, required 30 acres of land. Every bit of that space was filled, and several adjoining fields were also occupied.
As with many great showmen, Cody was not a wise manager and when he died in 1917, at the age of 71, he was penniless.