By Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“FDR Was A Guest At Fort Riley In 1943”
Seventy-eight years ago, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was on the lest leg of a twenty state railroad tour in which he inspected various aspects of the nation’s “war effort.” He visited army posts, war plants, marine and naval bases and met with state governors.
An Associated Press release stated that “Although his movements were supposed to be a military secret, the President found crowds waiting at nearly every station and crossroads as his train went by. Since it has become known that he was on the go, the arrival of troops to guard the rail routes he used served as a magnet to people along the way.”
Apparently, Junction City was no exception to this as the Daily Union newspaper reported: “President Roosevelt’s special train paused briefly at the Union Pacific Depot in Junction City last Sunday morning while the train was being serviced. The train arrived from the west at 7:10 AM and remained about 20 minutes before continuing to Fort Riley. At Fort Riley, the President was met at the depot by three troops of cavalry mounted on chestnut horses, which escorted him to the stadium where the outdoor Easter service was held.”
National press releases covered the service. “Here in the geographical center of America, where a territorial capitol of Kansas still stands, the President spent a relatively quite Easter Sunday at a post which predates the Civil War. He attended open-air divine services with 15,000 members of the armed forces. The service was held at Sturgis Field where the grassy slopes were crammed with officers, men, WAAC and a smattering of wives and children.
Following the church service, the President toured the post by motor car and then joined 500 officer candidates for lunch where he ate with the same food served to the buck privates at the post – cream of tomato soup, lettuce and tomato salad, Swiss steak, mashed potatoes, dessert and coffee. During the meal, an orchestra tice played Home on the Range, which according to reports was FDR’s favorite song.
Late in the day the presidential train departed Fort Riley for Omaha, Nebraska. With his Scottie pup, Fala, beside him, the President of the United States sat on the observation platform as it pulled slowly up the track. A band played “Auld Lang Syne” and the massed colors of the 9th Armored Division snapping in the breeze off the prairies waved him a colorful farewell.
“Rudolph Family Businesses In Junction City”
Some of the information in this article was taken from an article previously written by Mrs. Jerry Lawson, the daughter of Joe Rudolph, and published in the J.C. Union newspaper in 1991.
Joe Rudolph and his family owned and operated Rudolph Power Implement Company, Rudolph Motor Company, Rudolph Bros. Motor Company and a Junction City skating rink, all at or near 206 E. Sixth Street in the 1920s through the early 1940s.
Between 1937 and 1938, the Rudolph businesses brought in the first rubber-tired tractors and combines. Firestone tires, worth $10,000, were mounted on tractors through Rudolph Power Implement Company for which the Firestone company offered a bonus prize.
On April 14, 1938, the first rubber-tired combine to come to Geary County made its debut on Washington Street, stopping in front of the Central National Bank. Rudolph Power Implement Company furnished the machine while area merchants co-sponsored professional wrestler Tony Ross (referred to by the Junction City Union as the “Human Tractor”) to pull the combine. Reports told of people who craned out second story windows and came from miles around to see this great machine, the Minneapolis Moline.
The 40-bushel machine was made and shipped from Minneapolis-St. Paul complete with snow packed hoppers and in such demand, supply could not be met. Other names sold by the Rudolph family included Oliver tillage tools, Massey-Harris farm machinery, Allis-Chalmers, Hart-Parr steamer tractors, Star Fleet trucks and Star and Flint cars.
Another Rudolph business was the skating rink at the site of the Sixth Street overpass. This was a favorite place for soldiers having their final days of duty at the end of the war in the 1940s.
The Rudolph family resided on farms in northernmost Geary County as well as Junction City. In 1935, the Rudolph farms were leased by Fort Riley troops of the Calvary School Brigade for maneuvers. In 1965, Fort Riley military reservation expansion forced relocation of the Rudolph family.