If you want to get a better understanding of a place, visit its history museum.
While it can be easy to walk into a place that preserves items from the past and picture them as dusty old relics, the truth is, those cases, exhibits, and dioramas protect not only a bunch of old stuff; they tell the stories of people, and they tell the stories of place.
As Geary County Historical Society Director and Curator Heather Hagedorn said:
“We all become history, eventually.”
Her comment was regarding her efforts to encourage locals to donate present-day items, but it articulated one reason history museums are such an important way to get to know a community.
Geary County Historical Society’s story began in 1972 as an attempt to save an historic blacksmith shop.
“A group of history-loving people got together and created the Historical Society,” Heather said. They weren’t able to save the building, but the society remained.
They collected items, rented a building on 7th Street, and had a small museum. “We’ll use the term loosely.”
Eventually, they needed larger, more permanent digs. Fortunately, a space became available.
The Geary County Historical Society is in a building that is itself historic. Built in 1903, it was the high school until 1929, when the last senior class graduated.
The high school may have moved, but the building remained a place for education. For the next four decades, it was a Departmental School for kindergartners and sixth graders.
Side note: I met a man in Heritage Park who told me he and his family had come to Junction City in the 1960s, and he remembered going to that school, a living example of what Heather believes.
In the 1970s, the three-story building held Head Start classes and special education programs, but by 1980, the structure was woefully out of date and it was vacated. It had fallen into such disrepair the city talked about tearing it down to put up apartment buildings.
Related: Junction City, Kansas: a Uniquely American City
Fortunately, the Geary County Historical Society was in need of a home. Even more fortunately, a local family got one for them. Fred and Dorothy Bramlage bought the building to save it, then donated it to the society.
The couple were active philanthropists: the Dorothy Bramlage Public Library serves Junction City, and if you’ve seen a Kansas State basketball game in Manhattan, it was in the Fred Bramlage Coliseum.
It took about ten years to get the building up to standard. Elevators and more bathrooms were needed, and much of the museum’s interior was transformed to house exhibits instead of classrooms.
However, one classroom still exists on the second floor, and you can see what it would have been like to attend as a student.
Geary County Historical Society Main Museum
Today’s museum comprises three floors of exhibits. They only have enough room to display about an eighth of their holdings, so some displays are rotated.
In the basement, you can see a print shop like the one that published the Daily Union, which can trace its beginnings to 1858.
The first floor includes a “main street” exhibit that shows the types of shops residents in the late 19th and early 20th centuries would have patronized, including a blacksmith.
There’s also “grandma’s kitchen,” which illustrates the effort involved in ironing, doing the laundry, and other day-to-day chores.
It’s enough to make you appreciate modern conveniences.
There are also indigenous artifacts and remnants from a mastodon.
Also on the first floor are several photographs of early prominent Junction City residents. These date back to the 1920s and the first effort to create a historical society.
Unfortunately, at that time, women were referred to only by their husband’s name. Because of dedicated research, all but two of the women now have the dignity of their own names.
The second floor is where you’ll find that classroom, and there’s an auditorium where they host themed events like their popular murder mysteries.
That’s also where you’ll learn about local businesses, including Stacy’s Restaurant. This Grandview Plaza spot opened in 1969 and is still serving comfort food today.
And don’t miss the Ferris Wheel of Shoes. W.H. Moses designed a display in the shape of a Ferris wheel for his dry goods store, and Heather was so inspired she asked a local to replicate it.
In addition to the old high school, the Geary County Historical Society has been collecting other structures.
Adjacent to the museum stands the Starcke House, once owned by a prominent jeweler family. This Victorian-era home not only showcases period architecture and furnishings but also holds intriguing family stories that continue to unfold as new information comes to light.
On the west side of town, the Society maintains the Spring Valley Historic Site. On its grounds is a one-room schoolhouse that operated from 1873 to 1958.
Remarkably, this school never had running water or electricity throughout its 85 years of operation. “We have a board member who went to school there,” Heather noted, providing a direct link to this piece of educational history.
The same site also houses two relocated log cabins. One of these, the Wetzel Cabin, holds particular significance as the location of the first Lutheran congregation west of the Mississippi.
The Society’s last acquisition was St. Joseph’s Church, which they purchased in 2008. Listed on the State Register of Historic Place, it’s a work in progress. Improvements have included a new roof, front doors, some windows, and electricity and light fixtures.
Heather described it as “definitely a grassroots effort from the community out there who just really believe in that project.”
This restoration underscores the Society’s dedication to preserving not just artifacts, but entire structures that hold historical and cultural significance for the community.
One of the Society’s most innovative initiatives focuses on collecting oral histories from community members.
“We do a Memories at the Museum program,” Heather explained, “which is all about collecting oral histories, and letting people tell their stories while they’re alive rather than waiting and making it harder for historians in the future.”
This program has captured invaluable firsthand accounts of significant historical periods and experiences, including stories from World War II veterans and accounts of growing up Black in Junction City during the 1960s and 1970s.
The Society has also collaborated with the Black History Trail project. “We’ve partnered with them to help them tell the stories through the trail,” Heather said.
The Society is creating the signs for the trail and plans eventually to have an exhibit with artifacts.
Related: Rathert Field, home to the Junction City Brigade, is one of the stops on the trail.
Through exhibits, oral histories, and preservation efforts, the Geary County Historical Society tells the story of the community.
Whether you’re a history buff or just curious about Junction City’s roots, this museum provides a unique and engaging look into how the past shapes its present, and perhaps gain insight into its future.
Geary County Historical Society
530 N Adams, Junction City, KS 66441
(785)238-1666
gearyhistory.org
Ready to plan a trip to Geary County, KS? Reserve your copy of Discover Geary County, Kansas: Nature, History, and Hometown Hospitality in the Sunflower State
