A Brief Look at Abilene's Historic Buildings: the Dwight D. Eisenhower Boyhood Home

The Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum recently featured the exhibit City on the Plains: A Look at Abilene Architecture. The following is a brief look at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Boyhood Home. (Photograph courtesy of the Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum.)

This simple Victorian cottage was built in 1887 by Ephriam Ellis, who was a school teacher in the community. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s grandfather, Jacob, purchased the home five years later. It was later deeded to Dwight’s uncle, Abraham Lincoln Eisenhower. Abraham decided to move west in 1898, and offered the home to David and Ida, parents of Dwight and five other boys that grew up in the house.

Bill Jeffcoat took this photograph and used the image for a postcard to be sold to Abilene tourists in the 1940s.  Ida Eisenhower was still living in the home at the time.  When Jeffcoat arrived to the home, he noticed that Ida was sweeping the front porch.  When she saw that Jeffcoat was setting up a camera to take a picture of her home, she dropped her broom and rushed inside the house.  If you look at this image closely, you can notice Ida's broom leaning against the right side of the porch.

The Broadway Market in Abilene, Kansas

Broadway Market. Courtesy Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum.

Throughout a large part of the twentieth century in Abilene, the Broadway Market, located at 311 N. Broadway Street, was a small grocery store that despite its size, carried several items.  The market was a family business, first owned by Charles Benignus.  His son, Albert Benignus later took over the business. 

In the early 1900s, the Broadway Market was exclusively a meat market, one of five in Abilene.  By 1939, the market was promoting their many different food items, including 139 different types of cheeses in stock!  As it is told, Dwight D. Eisenhower loved to stop by the Broadway Market, and buy some steaks to cook up while visiting his parents at home.

Mr. and Mrs. Albert Benignus. Courtesy Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum.

Albert Benignus' right hand man, Isaac "Ike" Wesley Robinson, worked in the meat department and was known for his skill in preparing ham loaf, Swedish potato sausage, and pon haus.  For those of you with inquiring minds, pon haus is a dish of Pennsylvania Dutch origin, and is a mixture of corn meal and pork leavings.  It is commonly fried and served for breakfast.  Eisenhower apparently loved the dish so much, that the Broadway Market shipped it to him in Europe during World War II on multiple occasions.

Courtesy Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum.

The Broadway Market no longer exists today, as is common with many small grocery stores, it went out of business after the advent of supermarkets.

The basis of this post was inspired by the writings of Bill Jeffcoat, who wrote down many stories of people from his hometown of Abilene.  The story of Albert Benignus and the Broadway Market is featured in the Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum's current exhibit.

Bishop Ray Witter

Courtesy Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum.

For today's blog post, I thought I would briefly tell the story of Ray Witter, one of the stories featured in the Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum's current exhibit Our Community, Our Stories: Through the Eyes of the Jeffcoat Studio.

Witter grew up on a farm south of Abilene.  His family were devout to the Christian faith, and were members of a Brethren in Christ parish, as many people in Dickinson County history have been.  Witter was a cousin to the Eisenhower boys, and was close to the same age as the future President, Dwight.  Since they were related to one another, the two boys knew each other well, and Eisenhower would often visit and work on the Witter farm during the summer.  The Witter family had horses, so the boys enjoyed horseback riding when they had free time.

As the two boys grew up, their lifestyles greatly parted from one another.  Of course, Eisenhower had his famed military career and was an expert in the ways of war.  Witter took a much different path and became a Brethren in Christ pastor, eventually becoming the minister for a church in the Hope, Kansas area, and later attaining the role of Bishop.

After Witter's retirement, he moved to Abilene and worked as a painter and paper hanger.  After Eisenhower became President, Witter and his son were invited to visit the White House, which must have left quite an impression on Witter.  According to a note written by Bill Jeffcoat, which is featured in the exhibit, "This was the proudest moment in Ray's life."

Our Community, Our Stories: Through the Eyes of the Jeffcoat Studio, is currently on display at the Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum through the rest of August.  Be sure to visit the museum's Facebook page for more information.

Dwight D. Eisenhower and Golf

The media has been mentioning golf a lot this week, due to President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner's game that was played earlier today.  It's also been mentioned that many past presidents have been golfers.  In fact, fifteen of the last eighteen United States presidents have been golf players.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower was probably the most dedicated to the game.  It has been said that during his presidency of eight years, he played over eight hundred rounds of golf.  Many weeks, he would find time to play eighteen holes on both Wednesday and Saturday.  It is amazing he was actually able to make the time to do this.  President Ike knew Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer, and played at the Augusta National Golf Club often. While he was a very active player, he must have thought that he could do better.  He once joked "If I don't improve, I’m going to pass a law that no one can ask me my golf score.”

Golf.com has an interesting look at a set of President Eisenhower's golf clubs here.

A View of the Eisenhower Family

This is probably the most well known photograph taken by Paul "Bud" Jeffcoat.  Jeffcoat was a photographer who owned and operated a studio in Abilene, Kansas for a number of years.  In 1925, he built a new building for his photography business, located at 321 North Broadway Street.  Approximately one year later, he took this photograph at a time when all of the Eisenhower brothers were visiting home.  Jeffcoat's subjects are positioned in interesting places in this photograph, especially Dwight seated on the front steps while in uniform.  After Dwight began his campaign for President, this photograph was featured in several publications, including Life Magazine and National Geographic.  Jeffcoat generally did not get credit for this picture in publications, as he had sold the rights to the photograph for a small fee.

Image courtesy of the Jeffcoat Photography Studio Museum.