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Dwight David Eisenhower Grayson County's Most Famous Son 
The Denison Press
Friday, December 21, 1945 pg. 1 Public To Be Asked to Donate A move started back in 1942 by the Denison Press to purchase the birthplace of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower as a perpetual shrine for Denison's top man in World War No. 2 saw fruition this week in the announcement that a private source had provided the purchase money to buy the home and that a committee will be named to see that the home is properly fitted as a memorial shrine and a place to honor the man now on the lips of all the world. The Press publisher in 1942, along with the late Bob Bray made the first subscriptions, if and when the home should be purchased. Later the matter was taken up by the Brotherhood of Engineers and F.B. Geer, and after some agitation, Miss Jennie Jackson was named as the chairman of a committee to work at the job. This past week, after much delay in dickering for a price at which the property could be purchased, a deal was made and the price set at $3,000, the owner, E.H. Mullin, agreeing on that figure. Active in the matter of closing the deal were Fred Conn, E.J. Lily, and Mayor W.L. Ashburn along with Walter T. Loomis and W.O. Harwell of the Denison Chamber of Commerce, Kenneth Mills, Ralph Geisenhoner, Carl Akin, Noel Jennings and Mrs. E.L. Haley, Mrs. Luther Cherry and Miss Jennis Jackson of the Denison Garden Club. Mayor Ashurn announces that a permanent committee will be named to see the matter of improving the property and otherwise making it fit in the community as a proper memorial and perpetual interesting place for visitors. To this end furniture and other articles suitable for the home and the date of the birth of the outstanding citizen is to be sought. Contributions of such equipment along with memoirs and curios suitable for a home of this nature will be acceptable, it is announced. The idea of moving the house to a suitable place on Forest Park will likely be dropped, and improving the grounds and the property, not to change the general aspect of the place, is to be carried out. The Press along with others, including the banks and the Herald, will be glad to receive checks or other gifts toward the project. In the December 28, 1945 issue of The Denison Press the announcement was made that Eisenhower had committed to a visit to his birthplace in 1946. 
Sherman Democrat
July 4, 1976 "Always America Edition" Denison Restores Ike's Birthplace Sherman can brag about a visit by a President of the United States, but Denison can top it - one was born in that city. Dwight David Eisenhower, a World War II military leader and later a popular President, was born Oct. 14, 1890 in a frame house in Denison. But Eisenhower can't be considered a hometown boy since his parents moved to Abilene, Kans., a few months after he was born. Eisenhower didn't even know he was born in Denison until 1946, and on his military records, he listed Tyler as his birthplace because his family had lived there until 1889. During the latter years of World War II, when Eisenhower had become an international hero, talk began spreading through Denison that the general had been born in that town. Fred Conn, publisher of the Denison Herald, found an 1891 city directory which had an Eisenhower family living at Lamar and Day streets. Conn then located Mrs. Ida Elizabeth Eisenhower, the general's mother in Abilene, Kan. and she verified Denison as the birthplace. At the time the family lived in Denison the general's father was an engine wiper for the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad. By the time Eisenhower was elected president in 1952, a number of committees had formed to make the birthplace a state park. The National Park Service and the Texas State Parks Board helped plan a park setting around the house, and when the plans were finished surrounding property needed for the park was bought by the Eisenhower Birthplace Foundation, Inc., which was chartered on Eisenhower's birthday in 1953. The purchase was completed in 1955, and the foundation deeded the property to the City of Denison. In 1958 the city gave the birthplace park to the State of Texas. In the restoration, the foundation had tried to get the house to look as it had when the Eisenhowers lived there. To help determine the kind of fencing used around the lot, the group contracted Arthur Eisenhower of Kansas City, the oldest Eisenhower boy, who was 4-years-old when he lived there. Arthur was able to remember sitting on the flat topped post waiting for the tamale man, and the planner was able to come up with a reasonable copy. 
The interior of the house contains furniture representative of the 1890s, although a quilt in the bedroom where the president was born is the only authentic Eisenhower possession in the house. Mrs. Mamie Dove Eisenhower, the president's wife, selected the wallpaper used in the restoration. Eisenhoweres revisited the birthplace April 20, 1946, and again in June of 1965. Mrs. Eisenhower accompanied him on the first visit and came back alone in October of 1952. 
General Eisenhower visits Denison for dedication of his birthplace 1946 General Eisenhower, 2nd from right Bill Ashburn, 1st on right ~ Denison's Mayor The Eisenhower birthplace is now under the supervision of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department with John Hefner as park attendant. The museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and during the summer from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is 25 cents for adults, 10c for children 6-12, and free for children under 6. Eisenhower was the third seven sons born to David Jacob and Ida Elizabeth Stover Eisenhower, both from Abilene, Kans. where their ancestors had settled as part of a Mennonite colony. The family was poor, with the father working in a creamery in Abilene. In 1910 Dwight David, called "Ike," entered West Point. He served in the army during World War I, but was an obscure officer. 
1915 He was made a full colonel in March 1941, and was working in the war department when he won the attention of Army Chief of Staff Gen. George C. Marshall. Three months later, he was named chief of staff of the 3rd Army. He became a brigadier general in September 1941, and then the war broke in the winter. In the following March, he was named head of operation division of the war department, and in June 1942, Gen. Marshall promoted him to commander of all United States troops in Europe. Eisenhower's rapid advancement came about not only for his knowledge of military strategy, but with the help of his friendly personality and ability to mediate and persuade. In July 1942, he was made a lieutenant general and began heading the allied invasion of French North Africa. He was made a full general in February 1944, and was appointed supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces the previous December. Eisenhower planned the D-Day invasion of France, when on June 6, 1944 more than a million men in 4,000 ships crossed the English Channel into Normandy and fought to Paris, bringing about an end to the war. In December 1944 Eisenhower reached the ultimate rank - five-star general. He left active duty in 1948 and became president of Columbia University. President Harry S. Truman asked him to serve as supreme commander of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1950, and he accepted. Both political parties wanted Eisenhower to run for president, and he announced he was a Republican. He was nominated by his party in 1952 and won over Democrat Adlai Stevenson. In 1956 he won again, this time by a landslide margin. As a president, Eisenhower was popular, though his administration did not make any major changes. Accomplishments under his administration include teh creation of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare in 1953, promotion of the International Atomic Energy Agency formed in 1957, the first civil rights act passed since 1875 and the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) formed in 1958. Eisenhower died March 28, 1969 in a Washington, D.C. hospital after suffering from a series of heart attacks. He was buried in Abilene. 
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