The Alma Hotel: A Chronology
-by Greg Hoots- Joseph Brandt was born in Germany in 1828 and immigrated to America in the mid-1850s, settling first in Wisconsin where he met his wife, Christena, the daughter of Prussian […]
Dunn Home Supply, Eskridge, Kansas
-by Greg Hoots- Dean Dunn was born in 1926 in Eskridge, Kansas, the son of local pharmacist, Preston Dunn and his wife Dora. Preston Dunn had moved to Eskridge with his parents […]
Don Mogge: Eyewitness to History
-by Greg Hoots- Note: This story was first published in the Flint Hills Special, 2012. For years I shared my lunch break with Don Mogge. I would grab a bite to eat […]
The Great American Eclipse of 1918
On August 21, 2017, millions of Americans will view the total solar eclipse as its shadow sweeps across the country at midday. It is predicted that as many as 100-million people will […]
Photo Friday: Strand Theatre of Eskridge
The Strand Theatre, located at 115 South Main Street in Eskridge, Kansas, opened in the mid-1950s, providing a modern movie house for residents of the surrounding area. The theater was owned by […]
The Photography of Charles Herman
Charles L. Herman was born in 1922 in Alma, Kansas, the son of Alma shoemaker, Fred Herrmann and his wife Mary Schubert Herrmann. Charles graduated from Alma High School and was a […]
Photo Friday: Modern Woodmen of American Log Rolling, August 30,1900
-by Greg Hoots- Modern Woodmen of America is a fraternal organization founded in 1883 in Lyons, Iowa by Joseph Cullen Root. Root was an esteemed businessman who had been very successful in […]
Herrmann’s Shoe and Harness Shops
-by Greg Hoots- Ferdinand and Christine Herrmann were a young German couple, married for five years when they immigrated to America in 1874, settling in Alma, Kansas, a rural Wabaunsee County town with […]
Prohibition Blues: The Life and Times of Bill Page
-by Greg Hoots- When one hears about Prohibition, the image that comes to mind is the decade of the “roaring twenties”, complete with gangsters toting machine guns and wild nights in the […]
Cold Case: Murder on Eight-Mile Road
-by Greg Hoots- William Thomas Smale came to Kansas in 1869 as a 14-year old youth when his family immigrated to the United States from Canada. Smale’s father was a farmer, and […]
