Did You Know This About Geary County History?”		 By Dr. Ferrell Miller								 Geary County Historical Society Board Member<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/3/1585327915078.jpeg" alt="Joseph Stanley Pennell" />
 <figcaption>Joseph Stanley Pennell</figcaption>
 </figure> J.J. Pennell was a well-known Junction City photographer between 1886 and 1922. In 1908 he built the building at 801 North Washington Street, which housed the Miller Pharmacy at the street level and his photography studio upstairs.&nbsp; After Pennell’s death, his widow and son moved from their home on Fourth Street to the second floor of the Washington Street building. It was here that Joseph Stanley Pennell, J.J.’s son, wrote his first novel, The History of Rome Hanks, which was a best seller in 1944.	It was in Junction City that Joseph began to settle down and for more than two years immersed himself in studying about the American Civil War. Lee Harrington is the central figure in the novel, The History of Rome Hanks. Harrington is a young man trying to sort out memories of the Civil War as told him by his grandfather. He tries to imagine what life would have been like then and what impact the Civil War might have had on the people. The tales range from past to present, from Gettysburg to Shiloh. In 1960, Joseph sold the building at 801 North Washington Street to the College of Emporia and moved to Oregon. This was after his complaints about a noise calliope were not dealt with by city officials. The main floor of the building was then occupied by Gambles Department store, the second floor by the Red Cross and apartments and the basement by Republic Printing. In 1998, the building was restored and has since been occupied by Geary County Court Services.“The Early Days Of Our Local Hospitals” 	Theresa Bramlage, Chairperson of the Geary Community Hospital Board, and others recently led a successful fundraising campaign to help with the financial concerns of the hospital. Over 1 million dollars was raised by contributions and pledges at a dinner, concert and paintings, which were created live by Artrageous. At the end of the show an auction of those paintings. The event took place at the C.L. Hoover Opera House on March 7, 2020.The advancement and improvements made at our Geary Community Hospital have made it one of the best medical facilities in the area. However, the first hospital facility in Junction was quite different as we would expect. In the fall of 1913, two of the leading physicians of Junction City, Dr. Walter Carr and Dr. E.A. Smiley, realized the handicap under which they were working by not having a hospital in town. So, they opened a small hospital in the east part of Dr. Smiley’s residence on the northeast corner of 5th and Adams Streets. This address is the current residence of Joe and Sheila Markley, Co-Director’s at the C.L. Hoover Opera House. The need for a larger facility was soon apparent and in 1915 six of the community’s doctors and surgeons organized a hospital association. They secured the old Grenter home at the corner of 2nd and Adams Streets with the intention of converting the spacious two-story house into a hospital. It functioned that way for 6 or 7 years. The flu epidemic of 1918 motivated the construction of the first hospital not in a residence in 1921. This hospital was located at the south end of Jefferson Street (currently the Dreiling Arms Apartments). The new medical facility maintained its own dietary kitchen and each floor was supplied with hot and cold water. The operating room was equipped with the most modern appliances of the day. There were three nurses and a matron. An ambulance service was operated by Mr. Durand. Eighteen months after opening, it was reported that there had been 200 admissions. 150 of those were for major operations and there had not been a single loss of life. 	The Junction City Hospital served the medical needs of the community until the new Geary Community Hospital complex opened in 1967. At that time, Dr. E.A. Smiley was still on the staff.

Our Past is Present