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| DWIGHT D EISENHOWER GENERAL/PRESIDENT |
This sign welcomes visitors to the historic site.
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| Redbud tree in full bloom |
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| Welcome Center |
Across the street from the Welcome Center is a very important place for The Travelling Toe. It houses very nice restrooms!! After a road journey this provided welcome relief. (chuckle)
As we walked up the street to the house, we stopped and paused to admire this impressive statue of Eisenhower. This is a postcard picture above and below is the one The Travelling Toe took. (the postcard is better)
Our tour guide, Maxine, was energic, interesting and very knowledgeable about the President, his family and the house.
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| Maxine our tour guide |
This photo of the house is a postcard.
Below are photos of the interior of the house, however the furniture is not original of course but is to that period of time.
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| small bedroom where Dwight was born |
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| parlor |
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| kitchen with wood burning stove |
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| photo David and Ida |
His father David, was a very hard worker and saved money to attend college. There he met the lovely Ida.
Ida had been orphaned at the age of 12 and lived on the grace and favor of her extended family. She worked hard for her kept but aspired to attend school. Through perseverance, she graduated from high school When she turned 21, she moved to Kansas where her brother and his family lived, so she could attend college. But she also meet the love of her life, David, at college.
David's family were farmers in Kansas but he wanted to be a businessman not a framer so he sold his acreage and started a General Store. However the business went bankrupt and David was now broke, married with 2 young babies and needed a job. His family used their connections and were able to get him a job working for the Katy Railroad. Only thing was that the job was at the railyard in Denison Texas. So David, Ida and the 2 babies travelled to Texas They moved into a simple frame house next to the railyards. He earned about $40.00 a month.The young family struggled financially but the family back in Kansas were doing well with their dairy farm. David completed a correspondence course in refrigeration, which allowed him to return to Kansas to run the dairy's cold storage barn. Dwight was nearly 18 months old when his family returned to Kansas.
With his parents setting an example that education was important, Dwight and his brothers all attended college. Dwight applied to West Point and passed all the exams but 2 other applicants were ahead of him. However one of the students failed his physical and Dwight was accepted into West Point.
As history unfolded during the dark days of the 1940's, the town of Denison became very proud of it's famous citizen. The small frame house was purchased by the city of Denison in 1946.
One of the neighbor ladies, Jennie Jackson, wrote to then General Eisenhower and told him about the house where he was born and how she had cared for him during his time in Dension. Ike returned to Dension that same year to much acclaim. He and Sam Rayburn arrived at the local air base then along with other dignities, and Ms.Jackson, were treated to a Texas sized breakfast! That was what Ike asked for!
In 1958, the little frame house became a State Park. In 2016, it was placed on the US National Register of Historic Places and also became a Texas State Historic Site.
If you live in the Fort Worth, Dallas area, this is fun day trip, plus Denison has several other fun sites to visit, shops in the downtown area and some good places to eat!
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