Ron and Kathy's Mid Life Adventures: The Eisenhower Museum and Library, Abilene KS

Right across the street is the Greyhound Hall of Fame

As we fought strong crosswinds with our small Airstream in tow across I-70 in Kansas, all we wanted to do was get through the Kansas winds and start some bike rides on the Katy Trail in Missouri.

But we kept seeing signs for museums and attractions at nearly every exit. In addition to a local historical museum or mansion in nearly every town, there are also the largest hand-painted Czech egg, the largest spur, the largest belt buckle, the Greyhound Hall of Fame, The OZ Museum, the Prairie Museum of Art and History, the Buffalo Bill Sculpture, The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, The Evel Knievel Museum, the Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site, and the Territorial Capitol Museum, are but a few of the many places along I-70.

But the Eisenhower Presidential Library/Museum in Abilene was reason enough to take a day off from the stressful driving and immerse ourselves briefly in history literally the middle of America (well, actually 100 miles from the center of the continental USA). It did not disappoint!

Main Street, Abilene in the torrid mid-day heat
of June. Actually, the town is thriving, as
it was never really a part of the rust belt.

Abilene was a wild cattle town at the end of the Chisholm Trail where cattle were shipped by train to Chicago in the 1870s. Wild Bill Hickok brought some law and order to it as its marshal. It is the home of many stately mansions, the Greyhound Hall of Fame, and a thriving agricultural center. And it is also where Dwight D. Eisenhower grew up on the wrong side of the tracks at least a mile from the mansions, delivering ice to them as a teenager.

The Eisenhower home

Born in the early 1950s, we didn’t become aware of politics and US history until President Kennedy. So, until today all we knew about General and President Eisenhower, aka Ike, came from our interest in WWII, the Interstate Highway system, and his famous Presidential Farewell Address about the military industrial complex. But a tour of his home and a several-hour visit to the museum gave us an appreciation of an extraordinary man (and his wife, Mamie) during an extraordinary century. Ike was born in the horse and buggy days and never had indoor plumbing until age 18. He died just three months before the Apollo moon landing.

The living room (foreground). The parlor was
only when special guests arrived.

The museum did a magnificent job of laying out what things were like in our country and the world from his childhood, to his distinguished military career, to college president, to NATO commander, to President and beyond. He was the right man for the right time, a likeable and hard-working person skilled in logistics and diplomacy. He commanded respect from his adversaries and advocated for his “Middle Way” philosophy of balancing between “present and future needs, obligation with privilege, and security with liberty.” Mamie’s challenging life as a supportive military and presidential wife was also well chronicled.

The D-Day planning table. For security reasons,
no photo was ever taken of the participants

The extensive artifacts, documents, and gifts of his presidency are property of the National Archives, which owns them and establishes a branch in all 14 presidential libraries. But his pre-presidential items are not. One of my favorites was the D-Day planning table from London, plus some of the unique gifts he received.

A gift from the King of Nepal in 1960

Having seen the JFK, Lincoln, and Senator Kennedy museums, we’re now inspired to see more. We’re changing plans and going to the Harry Truman Library/Museum tomorrow.

We salute you, Sir!

After lunch we drove around town, gawking at 10-bedroom homes on tree-lined streets.

As the sign warns,
"Beware of The Thing"

Then we toured the Dr. Seelye over-the-top home built in 1905. It was wired by Thomas Edison and furnished with many purchases at the 1905 World’s Fair (including the only surviving bowling alley of its kind). He made his money creating patent medicines and selling them via an army of salesmen fanning out across the country by horse and wagon. He hung out with George Merck and E.I. Lilly, and Mentholatum Deep Heat is his only surviving invention.