Eisenhower still making town proud

Amy Bickel
The Hutchinson News
abickel@hutchnews.com

ABILENE - At age 8, Nick Brummer was in awe as he stared down at the marble slab marking the remains of a former president.

"Is this really where he's buried?" the Rossville boy asked his grandmother, Laura Lohmeyer, who nodded quietly.

Although the generation that knew Dwight D. Eisenhower as a victorious general and likable president is aging, the place that bears his name is seeing a revival of interest.

One of the greatest sources of pride for Abilene - which also enjoys a place in history as a cattle-trail town of the Old West and the first stop for Wild Bill Hickok as a lawman - is that Eisenhower never forgot his hometown, and that he chose it for the site of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum.

It's here, amid 22 acres on the southern edge of Abilene, that a collection of buildings surround his boyhood white-frame home.

This includes the library, which houses the presidential papers and other research resources, a museum, a visitors' center and the meditation chapel where the former president and his wife, Mamie, and their 3-year-old son, Doud, are buried.

Today, the Old West town in central Kansas with a population of 6,543 serves as a commercial and agricultural trade center where visitors can taste chocolate at a Russell Stover's factory or see the birthplace of Duckwall-ALCO retail stores. It's like any small Kansas community, where freshly cut wheat fields surround the outskirts, and grain elevators are the tallest buildings.

Abilene might seem like the most unlikely place for a presidential library, but still no one can forget Ike.

"This presidential library is located in Ike's hometown, and to me that is so important because when you come here to the museum or you come here to do research, you also need to take into account this is Abilene, Kan.," said Karl Weissenbach, the center's director. "No one else can claim a five-star general who led a national force in a world war, was a world hero by 1945 - a man with worldwide name recognition who became a two-term president."

Like every presidential library, Eisenhower's depicts pictures of a great man. Here he is as a boy, playing baseball for Abilene High School. Another is of a kid in overalls, posing with his elementary school class. Years later, he waves to a crowd of Abilene residents in the wee hours of the morning of June 24, 1945, not long after the war ended.

The museum is a time capsule. A few of the items include:

* A high-security letter written by Eisenhower marking the end of World War II.

* Notes from his diary in which he wrote on Jan. 4, 1942, "Tempers are short. There are lots of amateur strategists on the job and prima donnas everywhere. I'd give anything to be back in the field."

* The Plaza Theater marquee, where Eisenhower announced in 1952 that he would run for president, as well as a 1950s living room, campaign signs and a video of Eisenhower in action.

* The suit he wore when he took his oath of office, as well as Mamie's second inaugural gown.

* His golf clubs and a scorecard showing Eisenhower shooting an 84.

Those are just a few of the thousands of relics. Even Mamie's wedding dress from their 1916 wedding is on display, as well as a piece of the couple's wedding cake.

Besides the museum, there is the library and a statute of Ike in his military uniform standing in front of five pillars depicting his five-star ranking.

Abilene is Eisenhower, and Eisenhower is Abilene, Weissenbach said.

"His legacy here continues," he said. "Not just here at the library, but throughout the community of Abilene."

After all, Abilene couldn't be prouder of its native son, Weissenbach said.

More than 20,000 people turned out to welcome Ike home June 24, 1945. There was a parade through town and a rally at the city park, now named Eisenhower Park.
Ike told his townsfolk, "The proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene."

Fast facts

Eisenhower graduated from Abilene High School in 1909.
In 1955, Eisenhower signed the presidential library act that established the current Presidential Library System.
The Eisenhower Presidential Library contains 26 million manuscripts, most of which reflect his life and presidency.
It is the only presidential library with five buildings. Most have just one or two.
The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum is one of the "8 Wonders of Kansas."
Displays at the museum
Through Thursday: "School House to the White House: The Education of the Presidents." The display shows the original grade cards, pictures and other school memorabilia of Presidents Hoover through Clinton.
Through Oct. 15: "Ike and Baseball" includes the original correspondence between Eisenhower and famous major league players, photographs and recently released Secret Service reports.
7:30 p.m. Sept 9: A lecture by Marlin Fitzwater titled "Growing Up in Abilene and White House Stories I Tell my Friends."
Sept. 16: Jay Hakes, director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum, delivering a lecture for his new book, "A Declaration of Energy Independence: How Freedom from Foreign Oil Can Improve National Security, Our Economy and the Environment."

If you go

What: The Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum
Where: Abilene
Miles from Hutchinson: 91
Cost: Adults 16 to 61, $8; Adults 62 and older, $6; children 8 to 15 years, $1; children 7 and under, free.
Eisenhower sites: Mr. K's Farmhouse, formally known as Lena's the hilltop restaurant hosted President Eisenhower; Eisenhower's parents, David and Ida, are buried in Abilene Cemetery; a statue of "little Ike" accents the corner of Northwest Third and Spruce in downtown Abilene; Union Pacific Station, where visitors can sample sugar cookies made form Mamie Eisenhower's recipe.
Other sites in Abilene: Old Abilene town, Russell Stover; Seelye Mansion, Lebold Mansion, Greyhound Hall of Fame, Brookville Hotel.