Having visited Normandy so frequently on holiday since I was young, I’ve always had an interest in WW2 history. If you haven’t been to Normandy I highly recommend going, particularly to the U.S military cemetery in Colleville Sur Mer. Before I moved to Texas I had no idea that in a small town just south of the Oklahoma border, one of the most important historical figures in modern times was born here. The town is Denison, Texas, it’s population is around 20,000 so pretty small by Texas standards. The aforementioned man was General Dwight D Eisenhower, the supreme commander of allied forces in Europe, and also the 34th President of the United States of America.
This was the humble first home of the man who would grow to be the most powerful on earth. His family had very humble roots and lived in this modest home before relocating to Abilene, Kansas. When the Eisenhower’s lived here the area around the house was very different. As it’s now part of a museum the other houses around here were removed, but in the 1890s there were a number of buildings within this photo. Immediately to the left of the building there was also a train line running less than 20ft from their front door. Denison was an important railway town thanks to the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railway. The front door of the house. Unfortunately all the fixtures inside the house have changed since it was occupied by the Eisenhower’s. This building however is the exact same structure. Although none of the furnishings are original, this is the very room where Dwight D Eisenhower was born. Looking into the kitchen it was amazing how warm this house was. We visited in early spring and already it was close to 30 degrees, I don’t want to imagine how hot that house was in the summer of 1890 when he was born. I can’t remember exactly but I think the lady taking us around told us there were 6 of these Bronze statues in the world. One is here, one is in his President Library in Abilene and another is in Normandy (not sure where the others are sorry). This one is unique though, as it’s the only one where he’s not wearing his military hat.After leading allied forces in Europe to victory in WW2, he was courted by both political parties to stand for office. He eventually decided to run for President as a republican, winning two landslide general elections. Having been in Germany at the conclusion of the war, he noticed how impressive their autobahn system was. One of the major successes in his presidency was to introduce the interstate highway system to America. An impressive bust on the side of the motorway near to Denison of General Eisenhower.
After we visited the museum we took a trip into Denison itself. It still has a lot of it’s historic western buildings. A train also ran by still displaying the Missouri-Kansas-Texas name which was around when the president was born.
Howdy, my name’s Matt. I'm originally from England but now live here in the Great State of Texas. Since moving here I thought it would be fun to try something new and enter the world of photo blogging.
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