DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER
DWIGHT DAVID EISENHOWER The 34th president of the United States, Dwight David Eisenhower, grew up in Dickinson County. His parents, David and Ida Eisenhower, moved to Hope, about 10 miles west of here, in 1885. There, the Eisenhowers opened a general merchandise store and the future president’s two older brothers were born.
When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing and as we sat there in the warmth of the summer afternoon on a riverbank, we talked about what we wanted to do when we grew up. I told him that I wanted to be a real major league baseball player . . .and he said that he'd like to be president of the United States. Neither of us got our wish.”—Dwight D. Eisenhower
After moving briefly to [Denison], Texas, where Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, the family returned to Dickinson County, this time to Abilene, about 25 miles northwest of here. Eisenhower left for West Point in 1911, served as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces during World War II, and was elected president in 1952, but he always cherished his Kansas heritage—“the proudest thing I can claim is that I am from Abilene.”
Note: This sign replaced old historic marker 29, 'Father Juan de Padilla & Quivira,' 2012.
US-56, Dickinson County
Plaque via Kansas Historical Society, and is used with their permission. Full page