05/15/2026
As we celebrate Historic Preservation Month, let's take a look at how history is recorded...
Print primary sources like photographs, newspapers, maps, and community directories are sometimes the easiest primary sources to get our hands on--but they often fail to tell the whole story. Instead, it tells the story that the editor of the paper at the time wanted to tell--a valid part of the story, yes, but not the entire story.
So we turn to the primary sources that were never printed like oral histories and diaries. Often, when studying underrepresented groups like women and people of color, these are the primary forms of historic evidence available. Stories passed down orally, written in diaries, and remembered out loud to those willing to listen.
To honor these unpublished bits of history--please enjoy a portion of Goldie Gorman Webster's memoir, recounting her family's arrival in Junction City in 1901, which she wrote down before she died in 1993.
"LIFE AS WE LIVED IT IN JUNCTION CITY, KANSAS, AFTER 1901.
We came to Junction City in 1901. The first few weeks we lived at the Farmer’s Home Hotel at the corner of 8th and Washington Streets. This hotel, owned and operated by George and Annie Henry, drew its business from farmers who came to the Rockwell Store, across the street, and from trainmen who were on "lay over" from the railroad. There were two children in the Henry family about our age, and my sister and I played with them. There was a large shade tree behind the building. The Henry yard adjoined the yard of the Geary County Courthouse. The jail was in the basement of the courthouse. One day my sister and I decided to explore the courthouse yard. We ventured near the courthouse basement windows in the jail area. A man came to a window and called out to us. When we approached he asked us if we would go over to the Rockwell store and buy him a plug of to***co. Never having been a customer at the store, we hesitated, but at last being willing to oblige the man, we agreed to go. He pushed a dime out to us. We went to the store and were waited upon by a nice young man who sold us a square of brown to***co with a shiny little star pressed into it on one side. It was of metal. When we gave the plug to the prisoner, he gave us the star to pay for our trouble. The star was the trademark for the to***co company. We learned later that some folks collected the little stars and horseshoes which were also trademarks for another brand.
When mother learned of this incident, she announced to father, that we must move at once, this place being in the wrong environment for little girls. Suitable quarters were hard to find due to the fact that a railroad man needed to live in the north end of town, close to his work. There was little transportation in those days, so they most often walked to work. The Wetzig brothers owned the first car that I can remember about. I believe their car was a REO. They operated a bicycle sale and repair ship at 9th and Washington St. The railroad hired a young man, called the "Caller", whose duty it was to alert the train men when to report for a run. He also called out the men in the maintenance department when an emergency arose.
Father found an apartment for us in the home of Eugene and Rose Pickering on North Washington St. We lived there for awhile until he found a house for us across the street from the Keeshan greenhouse. Here we had a barn so we were able to keep a cow. We sold our extra milk to the neighbors for five cents a quart. The milk was delivered in a tin pail. When the city herd was not running, our cow was tethered along the street, where she fed on grass and weeds. When the cow went with the herd, we children watched for her return in the evening. (By the way, Junction City was given the right to feed these cows on the Fort Riley military reservation. In return for this right "the fort" was given the right to send their children to Junction City schools.) The herd spent the day on the reservation across the Republican river. We always marveled that "Bossy" knew exactly when to leave the herd, travel one-half block west and one-half block north at which point she went into her own barn. The herd was attended by several horsemen and followed by a few boys."
[pictured: Goldie Gorman Webster, high school graduation 1911; Farmer's Home Hotel, also known as The Cottage House circa 1900; and a print advertisement for the Farmer's Home printed in the 1882 Davis County Description and Narrative publication]
