By Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“More Early Junction City Business History” Part 1
The following information about early downtown businesses in Junction City was taken from a book available for purchase at the Geary County Historical Society Museum titled Our Town On The Plains by James Shortridge.
Although Junction City’s principal retail stores inevitably dominated the attention of shoppers, newspaper reporters, and photographers, these were far from the only important business activities in town. Many of the other, relatively hidden activities dealt in personal services and operated from small offices that did not require a traditional Washington Street storefront. Others in this group sold regular wares but kept away from the downtown core because of the location of their clientele (for example, a neighborhood grocery), their lack of money to pay the relatively high rents there, or perhaps their race or social standing. Still others dealt in products that demanded unusually large lots (such as lumberyard) or that generated odor or noise (such as livery stables or foundries).
All the doctors and dentists in town kept offices in the second stories of downtown business. So did most attorneys, insurance agents, and newspaper editors. In city directories, these locations are designated with standard street numbers, but in practice, people know them as did O.R. Wibking, who gave the location of his dental office as simply “over Keller’s”. Narrow, dark stairwells wedged between storefronts provided access to these various quarters, but the rooms themselves usually were well lit.
Combinations of poverty and prejudice that could keep entrepreneurs from prime retail settings are represented by an unknown popcorn vender, shoe repairman, James A. Counts and the Hammond family laundry. Joseph Pennell (1893-1922), the famous photographer in Junction City, observed the popcorn stand daily, since it stood directly beneath his studio at the corner of Seventh and Washington Streets. Most towns had at least one business of this type, often run by a physically handicapped person.
James Counts was perhaps the first African American in Junction City to run a business that catered successfully to a generally audience. He came to Kansas while serving in the Tenth Cavalry. In 1914, he rented one of the small frame buildings on West Seventh and opened a shoe-repair shop. The only occupations listed for black men in the city directory as recently as 1909 were as porters, in menial labor, or with the African American communit
“More Early Junction City Business History” Part 2
Although the Hammond laundry, several general stores, and a few other enterprises were scattered throughout the residential area, Junction City possessed only one secondary business concentration. This was a block of East Tenth Street, directly across from the Union Pacific Depot. For reasons that were unclear to city officials at the time, this general area had never been well maintained. Despite serving as the main entrance to the city for all business travelers and as the point of departure for every local person on his or her way to Topeka or Abilene, it somehow remained “one of the disgraceful sights… on the Union Pacific between Kansas City and Denver”.
Joseph Pennell photographed the depot in 1915. His purpose was not so much to display that serviceable stone structure as it was to highlight the completion a landscaping improvement project nearby. The small park near the building and adjacent to Price Street, had been a cooperative endeavor between the city and the railroad. It included new ornamental trees, a drinking fountain, a light, and an impressive series of raised, 200-pound cement letters that spelled out the town name.
The landscaping was successful but did little to change the overall character of the neighborhood. Just across the street from the depot stood the Depot Hotel, which had a shadowy reputation. Pennell labeled it “Bowery Row”, a reference to a saloon by that name just east of the hotel on Tenth Street, and an allusion to a district in old New York City that was known for its cheap resorts and tawdry display.
The Depot Hotel served its share of legitimate travelers. However, to Junction City residents, it was the focus of a district where soldiers came to drink and prostitutes to ply their trade.