A huge thank you to everyone who attended Night at the Museum 2025 and to our volunteers and board members who helped to make the event a success!
Come rain or shine, Kearny County’s senior population knows that they can count on the girls at the Kearny County Senior Center to provide them with much appreciated services, tasty food and fun activities. According to information compiled by the late Cleone Neff, the roots of the organization can be traced to 1964 when the “Kearny County Senior Citizens Recreation Group” was begun by Rose Eatinger White. Rose met with the Memorial Building Board to secure time for senior citizens to use the Memorial Building on a regular basis for fellowship and recreation when other community activities were not scheduled. Senior citizen get-togethers had been every two weeks prior to this. Rose hosted the first such meeting. Women played cards while men played dominoes. Refreshments were furnished by members of the Presbyterian Church Women’s Society, county extension units and senior volunteers. Several from Deerfield participated in these activities.
In 1968, the Lakin Young Women’s Club, a federated service organization, initiated a long-range program of service to the senior citizens of Kearny County. Surveys were conducted to determine the number of seniors in the county, the prevailing needs of this group, existing programs in the community targeted toward the elderly and identifying organizations interested in meeting the special needs of this group. At Rose’s request, the Lakin Young Women’s Club agreed to incorporate the bi-weekly get-togethers into their program projections. A two-year community service program was set into action by a committee composed of Joan Wiley, Thelma White and Cleone Neff. This culminated into the organization of the Kearny County Council on Aging on Feb. 2, 1973. Bylaws were adopted Oct. 4, 1974, and Cleone Neff became the first chairman of the board, a position she held until 2000. The KCCA became financially operative with $2,550 received from county revenue sharing funds in 1975. In April 1975, voters approved a petition to permit the use of county mill levy funds for senior citizen programs thus giving the KCCA the distinction of being the first aging program in the 28 Southwest Kansas counties to receive county mill levy support.
On January 9, 1976, the KCCA received its first installment of mill levy funding. These funds were used to conduct ceramic classes and special events for seniors, to purchase Meals-On-Wheels supplies and office supplies, to fuel busses borrowed from the school for various senior citizen outings, and to operate a once-a-week mealsite with meals being made at the Lakin Grade School kitchen. All activities were planned and carried out by volunteer coordinators at this time.
The January 11, 1978 Lakin Independent announced that renovation work had begun to convert the old Kearny County hospital building on Kansas Street into a center for senior citizen activities and offices for the Kearny County health nurse. Although many items at the new Senior Center were donated, the KCCA used much of its mill levy funding to furnish and transform the center from its original use as a hospital. The Kearny County Senior Center was unveiled in 1979, and Bea Myers was employed as full-time director while Paul Jantz was hired as part-time custodian. County funding was put to use as regularly scheduled craft classes, shopping trips, shuffleboard, quilting, snooker, and other activities and services were offered free of charge to participants. The center became the administrative headquarters for Meals-On-Wheels, a joint effort of the Council on Aging and Kearny County Hospital. A volunteer force was heavily relied upon to deliver meals, carry out programming, and drive busses.
Eventually, the Council on Aging purchased its own busses. Not only did tours and day trips flourish, but transportation was also offered to area events like community concerts and the Grant County Home Products Dinner. In the 1990s, transportation services expanded as staff began offering local transportation not only to the Senior Center but also to doctor appointments and for shopping and errands. At one time, the KCCA had a fleet of four busses, housing one at Deerfield to serve the community’s needs there.
Activities and services offered have been numerous and varied and have included morning coffees, Bible Studies, dances, cooking classes, arts and crafts, country line dancing, holiday parties and special events, brunches, snooker tournaments, exercise classes, educational programs, commodity and Kansas Food Bank distribution, dinner-outs and lunch dates, insurance counseling, technology classes, intergenerational programs and much, much more. In 1998, center staff began cooking and serving a hot, well-balanced meal on Wednesdays at a minimal charge. This program continues to thrive and is now available for dining in-person or pick-up on Wednesdays.
Like many other organizations and businesses, the Senior Center had to adapt to the era of Covid by thinking out of the box. When in-person activities couldn’t be conducted, several events were done through the center’s drive thru such as mealsite pick-up, handing out special foods like funnel cake, and an ugly sweater contest. Activities like bingo and trivia were started over Zoom. Calls were made to the homes of elderly to check on them and see if they needed any errands or shopping done. The staff even worked in conjunction with the county treasurer’s office to assist seniors in getting their tags and taxes taken care of. The employees went over and above to ensure that Kearny County’s seniors were taken care of and safe.
The success of the Senior Center can be attributed to the unwavering dedication of hard-working staff members, volunteers, board members, county commissioners, and various individuals and organizations who have partnered with the KCCA to offer programs for the elderly through the years. Together they have worked tirelessly to make sure the needs of Kearny County’s seniors are met.
SOURCES: Lakin Independent, Museum archives, and Kearny County Senior Center’s Facebook page.
Mark your calendars! 
In August of 1950, an open house was held at the new Kearny County Hospital located at 305 Kansas Street in Lakin, but it would be several months before the doors were opened to patients. About 1947, local Jaycee President B.C. Nash began talking up the idea of building a community hospital. He had plans, estimates and letters suggesting ways of financing the project. According to Monte Canfield, publisher of the Lakin Independent, Nash kept pestering everyone in town with his idea until they finally took notice. “He kept at it and finally got The Independent to launch a publicity drive which eventually culminated in a mass meeting to talk over the possibility of a Kearny county hospital.”
That meeting was held in February of 1948, and a large group of interested citizens took the ball from Nash and ran with it. They circulated petitions among registered voters, and the question of whether to issue $100,000 in bonds was placed on the ballot in November of 1948. The issue carried by a vote of more than four to one.
Soon after the bonds were voted, the county commissioners appointed a board of hospital trustees as provided by law to go ahead with plans to build a hospital. The board consisted of E.L. White, Madison Downing, Glenn Steward, J.R. Hutton and Canfield. When estimates were made, it was discovered the bond funds were insufficient, but county commissioners agreed to proceed and figure out how to come up with the necessary additional funds. These were raised in 1949, and construction began that October.
When the facility was finished in the summer of 1950, the hospital board was anxious to have as many people as possible see the inside of the new building. At the time, equipment was being ordered and hospital groups were being contacted with the hope that by the time the hospital began operations, a professional hospital organization would be secured to manage the facility. As funds were still needed to finance the furnishing of the rooms, donations were sought. More than $7,500 was received from individuals, business firms and organizations, and a small tax levy was made available which helped make it possible to finally get enough money together to equip the hospital as it should be. The facility featured the most modern equipment for caring for the ill. The technical equipment was the best that money could buy and plentiful while the patient rooms were cheerful. A contract was entered into with the Lutheran Hospital Association of Kearny County to operate the facility. The association was composed of members of the Immanuel Lutheran Church at Deerfield which elected a five-man hospital board. They worked without pay and often without recognition for the time and talent they contributed to the hospital.
An open house on January 11, 1952, gave everyone a chance to inspect the fully equipped facility before it began receiving patents the following week. According to Canfield, the fine institution was not just the work of a few but “rather the accomplishment of many. It took not only the members of the board, whose responsibility became the supervision of the actual building, but also the thousands of citizens of the county who voted to finance and build this hospital. Without their unqualified support there never would have been a Kearny County hospital.” Canfield called the feat “a dream of many years come true.”
The Lakin Chamber of Commerce and business firms announced that gifts totaling several hundred dollars would go to the first babies born in the new hospital and their parents. The first baby born there was Gary Neil Moreland of Deerfield, on February 5, 1952.
Nash was paid the recognition due him by being asked by the board of trustees to preside at the dedication program held January 20, 1952, in the Lakin Grade School auditorium. Nash gave a short history entitled, “Building A Hospital.” The impressive dedication ceremony included a concert by the Lakin High School and Lakin Grade School bands, musical numbers by the Lakin Quartette, and the recognition of members of the Lutheran Hospital Association board, hospital administrative staff, members of the hospital board of trustees and distinguished guests.
In April 1956, the hospital board received the first half of a Ford Foundation Grant of $10,000. That November, a bond issue of $115,000 to expand the facilities was overwhelmingly approved by voters. The Ford Foundation Grant Fund was used for equipment, and the approval of the bond issue meant that a much-needed addition and upgrades were made to the hospital including more bathrooms, patient rooms, a new nurses’ station, larger waiting room and kitchen, and much more.
In April of 1975, the Lutheran Hospital Association ended their 23-year lease and transferred the control and operation of the hospital to a county board of trustees. All assets owned by the association were given to the county. President of the Lutheran group, Otis Molz, pointed out that his association had felt for some time that the move should be made, and the proper time had come since Lakin had fine doctors and medical staff using the facilities and the occupancy rate was at a peak. Representing the new county board were Carl Bentrup, chairman; Ann Tate, Bob Glunt and Elmer Branine. Ted Morgan was the hospital board attorney, and Jerry Horton was named as new administrator. In January of that year, doctors J.R. Zimmerman and Jon S. Wheat had expressed interest in construction of new hospital facilities. The Kansas Street building was used as a hospital until 1978 when a new Kearny County Hospital was opened in the White addition.
SOURCES: Archives of the Lakin Independent, History of Kearny County Vols. I and II, and Museum archives.
Much has been written about the one-room school on the Museum grounds, but what about the man who gave the school its name? Willard Amos Miller, of Shelby, Ohio, came to Western Kansas in April of 1886. He filed on a quarter section of land in Kearny County on The Flats about 16 miles north of Lakin where he built a comfortable, cozy sod house. The two-room home was plastered inside and had a coat of white wash, and his older sister, Ida, sent him short curtains for the windows. The building was warm in winter and cool in summer. Beneath the house was a fruit cellar. Miller dug and cemented a cistern for drinking water, but water had to be hauled in barrels from his neighbors’ wells to replenish his supply. After building several cisterns for others on The Flats, he became known as “The Cistern Man.”
In November of 1886, Miller went to Wellington to engage in the broom industry for part of his winter’s work. He returned to the broom industry several times during the slack winter seasons on The Flats. In January of 1887, his broom factory work yielded him $11 per week which he considered to be a fair wage as jobs were scarce. Willard later returned to his claim and broke the virgin sod with an ox team which he had named Tom and Jerry. He paid $160 for a wagon, plow, and the team of oxen which plowed at the rate of one to one and a quarter acre per day. Miller often plowed for his pioneering neighbors, breaking up acres of the beautiful, virgin buffalo grass.
Miller wrote in his personal notes, “Imagine yourself in the center of a field which is nearly level and on which the grass is about two inches high with no fences to obstruct the view. You can look in all directions without trees or anything to hinder the view, and all around, the ground and sky seem to meet.”
One day he was plowing for a neighbor about three miles from his home. In the evening, Miller picketed the oxen close to where he had been plowing in a draw where there was good grass. “It was dry and hard plowing, so I walked home to let the oxen have more rest. A good rain came up during the night and when I returned to the oxen the following morning, there Jerry and Tom were standing in water waist-deep.” It was too wet to do any plowing so Willard picketed the oxen so they could just reach the water and walked home again, returning the next day when plowing was ideal.
The rains were bountiful on The Flats in the summer of 1887 so he began to build a new home on the south side of his claim. Miller dug a basement and put in a wood floor and used shingle roofing. He made two comfortable rooms finished with regular doors and windows and plastered the inside. “It was as comfortable a house as any we ever had.” He also dug a well and cemented the sides. “I think as Benjamin Franklin said, “A farmer is rich when he has a little farm well tilled, a little house well filled, and a wife well willed.” This statement was found in Willard’s notes and was written about eight months prior to him taking a wife.
Willard returned to Shelby and married Alice Malone on January 30, 1888. Both had been school teachers, and their romance started in a schoolroom where Professor Miller was the teacher and Alice, one of the older pupils. Alice’s family prepared a big turkey dinner for their wedding feast. About a month later, they started for Kansas. It was a cold day when they arrived at Lakin. A neighbor had driven Willard’s team to the railroad station to pick up the bride and groom, and it took most of the day to take the couple to their new home on the prairie. “W.A. Miller escaped a heavy shiverre by bringing a blizzard along with his bride,” was one of the tidbits in the “Oanica Jottings” section of the Kearny County Advocate on March 18, 1888.
In addition to farming, Willard returned to teaching in order to make financial gains. Willard and Alice’s first child, Florence Miller Strauss, was born in April 1889 when her father was teaching at the Holloway School one mile north of their sod home. The Millers had an agreement that Alice was to place a white cloth on a pole in view of the school house if she thought the stork was coming. About 11 a.m., the expectant mother placed the white cloth, but Willard did not see Alice’s signal as it was a quiet day and there was no breeze to make the flag wave. As Willard came home from school, his bride was in the yard waving to him. He thought all was well so he took his time. When he arrived home, he found out otherwise and immediately got busy. He rode his pony to the Loy’s home about ¾ a mile away to have Mrs. Loy fetch the midwife; however, the stork arrived before the midwife could be retrieved. The young school master delivered his firstborn, severed the umbilical cord, and all went well. He had gained his knowledge about delivering babies from a book. The midwife, Septha Fulmer, offered to stay two weeks and assist with the new baby as she and her husband greatly needed feed for their stock. “Sep” was given fodder in exchange for her services. Alice hand sewed all the baby clothes, but they were too small, like doll clothes. “Sep” ripped them all out and remade them for her.
When a new school building was built on The Flats in 1893, Willard suggested that the school be named Columbian in recognition of the Columbian Exposition, the world’s fair held in Chicago that year. Miller was the first teacher in the new school, and patrons overwhelmingly approved his suggestion.
Willard not only taught in several of the one-room school houses in Kearny County but helped organize the school system here. He and Alice also organized a number of churches and Sunday schools. In 1896, The Advocate reported that the family had been taken with the eastern fever and left for Franklin County, Kansas. In 1909 at Thayer, they purchased property that had previously belonged to Kansas’s eighth Governor, John Pierce St. John. But the Millers were attached to Western Kansas and were back by 1914, making their home in Finney County where they lived out the remainder of their years. Willard Amos Miller died in 1940 at the age of 77, and his bride died in 1959 at the age of 88. In addition to daughter Florence, the couple had five more children: Lucy Miller Englund, Carl Miller, Pearl Miller Dell, Ralph Miller and Willard B. Miller. Several generations of Willard and Alice’s family have made Kearny County their home, and many descendants followed in their footsteps by entering into agriculture and/or education. All but one of Willard and Alice’s children became teachers with Florence and Ralph teaching at both Columbia School and in the Deerfield schools like their father had.
SOURCES: Information and pictures provided by the late Florence Miller Strauss and donated to Kearny County Museum by the late Max and Marianne Miller; and archives of The Garden City Daily Telegram, Kearny County Advocate, Thayer News and Garden City Herald.
Whether remembered as the Red Crown Café, Mouse House, Harold’s Hideaway, or Benny’s Grill, plenty of delicious, comforting meals were served in the building that sat at 110 E. Santa Fe Trail Blvd. in Lakin. The property was demolished in November 2017 to make room for the Casey’s General Store. The Teeter Irrigation building to the west, originally a Standard Service Station, was also torn down.
The Standard Service Station was built in 1952 by F. W. Stewart. In 1956, Stewart added on to the east side of the building to house the Red Crown Café. That café was first leased by Mrs. B.A. Jefferson, followed by Datha Bushek, then Mrs. George Homm. In October of 1958, Bertha Johnson took over management of the Red Crown. Bertha and her sister, Emma Musgrove, were well known for their good food and friendly service as they had been successfully running the “66” Café. Em continued to manage the “66” Café, but it wasn’t long before the duo were working under the same roof again. In 1961, Bert and Em moved out of the Standard station and into the new Red Crown Café building which sat just to the east and was also built by Stewart. Over 100 happy customers could be seated at a time, and a party room on the east side of the building could accommodate 35 diners in a private dining area. The new café gave Lakin a large modern restaurant to take care of locals and tourists.
Stewart eventually sold the building to Clair and Golda West and Lee and Betty West who took over in October of 1964. Although the name stayed the same, the café would change managers many times. Besides Lee and Betty, some of the other managers were Ruby Rexroat, Mr. and Mrs. Bob Williams, and Mr. and Mrs. Jack Reynolds. When Larry Crane bought out the Wests in October 1975, he also kept the Red Crown name.
Lester and Janelle Mouse then purchased the business in 1977, and the Mouse House was born. One of the popular specials in 1978 was a rib eye steak dinner which sold for just $3.50. Not only were the Mouses known for having excellent food, but they also had some of the prettiest help in town … their four daughters: Melissa, Steph, Stacey and Heather. The venture was highly successful but hard work. According to their daughter Stacey Geubelle, Lester was concerned with the toll that the workload was taking on his wife so he sold the business to Harold and Rita Waechter in December 1980.
The Waechters continued to run the restaurant under the same name but would remodel and add on to the building. In June of 1983, they asked the public to help them name their new supper club located in the back of the building. The name, Harold’s Hideaway, was submitted by Jo Vanatta. Live dance bands, such as Johnny Mason and The Night Stealers, played on weekends at the club. Eventually the Mouse House name was dropped, and the entire building became known as Harold’s Hideaway.
The next business there was Annie B’s Country Kitchen, moving from its original location in the old Dairy King at 303 W. Santa Fe Trail Blvd. Operated by Dennis and Jo Branine, Annie B’s opened in January 1993. That December, Annie B’s announced the opening of The Club for fine meals and drinks. Next came The Finish Line which was opened in February 1995 by Kenny and Gwen Waechter. That spring they moved their other business, The Locker Room, from the Nash Building into the club. Guests could enjoy pizza and a cold one while watching football or playing pool.
In February 2001, Bob and Edith Majors bought the building from Harold and Rita Waechter. Bob had been given the nickname “Frank” by his golfing buddies for being so forthright; thus, the restaurant was named Frank’s Supper Club. It was managed by Deanna Hunter, Majors’ daughter. In 2009, Andres Lozano purchased the property on contract, and Benny’s was opened. Benny’s Mexican fare was a favorite among locals, but the restaurant also served American food. Benny’s was the last eatery in the building.
When the restaurant was torn down, many former employees and customers shared their memories on Facebook, and some expressed sincere sadness over the building’s demise. There were a lot of good memories made there from families eating out, church goers enjoying doughnuts after a Sunday service, employees who bonded like family, couples taking a spin around the dance floor, and good friends sharing conversation over a cup of joe.
SOURCES: Museum and Lakin Independent archives with special thanks to Sandy Lane, Bob Majors, Stacey Geubelle and Missy Gerritzen, Kearny Co. Register of Deeds.
As promised, this week we are sharing with you some of the photos taken at the 66 Cafe which was located on the southeast corner of HWY 50 and Campbell Street in Lakin. The 66 had several managers over the years, but these photos of employees and customers were taken when the cafe was being ran by sisters Bertha Walker Johnson and Emma Walker Musgrove. We think they are wonderful pictures from a bygone era and hope you feel the same.
Please consider sharing with the historical society any pictures you may have of old businesses, buildings and even people of Kearny County. We always think that a story is more entertaining when there is a picture to go along with it, and we definitely could use more photos. For instance, we have no photographs of the Dairy King and only one of the Rainbow King skating rink. Birthday party pictures are wonderful, and exterior pictures are also very much appreciated! We won’t keep your photos but will make digital copies for Museum files. Photos can also be e-mailed to us at KCHSMuseum@outlook.com.
Those Walker sisters sure knew how to cook! Bertha Walker Johnson and Emma Walker Musgrove were restaurateurs for many years in Lakin, and the sisterly duo became well known for their excellent food and friendly service.
Bertha and Emma were the daughters of Jesse and Mamie Walker. Bertha, the oldest of the 11 Walker children, was born in 1909 in Tennessee where her parents farmed tobacco. The family moved to Virginia in 1911 and then to Kentucky where Emma was born in 1920. In 1921, the Walker family moved to Kansas, coming to Kearny County in 1927. According to the History of Kearny County, the family settled south of Lakin midway through the sandhills on Bear Creek on the SW quarter of 36-25-37. They eventually moved, living both in Hartland and Lakin where most of the children attended school.
Bertha married in 1924, and Emma in 1945. Their lives would take them in different directions. Bertha’s husband, Paul, was a mechanic, and the couple operated filling stations and garages while living in Missouri and in Texas. In 1929, the Johnsons moved back to Kansas, and in 1934, Bertha and her only child, Don, moved in with her parents. It was at this point in time that Bertha’s career in the food industry began. She went to work at the Tumbleweed Café on East Highway 50. This café was located where Lakin Automotive now stands. Bertha later left for Omaha, Neb. to attend beauty school. Deciding that was not her calling, she returned to Lakin and went back to work at the Tumbleweed. It was the Dirty 30s, and those were hard years. Bertha recalled, “if we served 12 meals, we had had a good day.”
In the late 30s, Bertha went to Great Bend where she worked in a hotel coffee shop. From there, she went to California where she managed the soda fountain and lunch room in a Rexall Drugstore at Pasadena. In September of 1953, Bertha and Emma’s father was struck by an automobile as he crossed the street to his home a block south of the Lakin depot. Mr. Walker was taken to the Kearny County hospital for treatment but died a few days later. Mrs. Walker went to California to live with Bertha but was very unhappy and homesick. Bertha brought her mother back to Lakin and stayed.
In 1954, Bertha purchased the restaurant equipment of Everett Wagoner and opened shop in the 66 Cafe. This business was in the west side of the Phillips 66 building on US 50 which sat where Valley Tire is now located. Emma’s husband, Frank, was in the oilfield industry. Because of his job, the Musgroves had lived various places including Oklahoma and Kansas, but in 1957, Emma joined her older sister in the restaurant business at Lakin. Em’s daughter, Sandy, with her smiling face and genuine enthusiasm was a regular fixture in the cafes.
In October of 1958, Bertha took over management of the Red Crown which was located in the service station that once sat on the corner where Casey’s is now located. Em continued to manage the “66” Café, but it wasn’t long before the sisters were working under the same roof again. In 1961, Bert and Em moved out of the Standard station and into the new and spacious Red Crown Café building just a stone’s throw away to the east. At their grand opening on March 28, 1961, Bert and Em served up chicken pot pie dinners for only 65 cents.
Frank Stewart owned the Red Crown building, and eventually offered to sell it to the sisters, but Bert and Em needed time to mull it over. Stewart ending up selling the building to someone else. The Walker Sisters made the move to Main Street in 1964 where they operated the Downtown Café at 119 S. Main until 1975.
That wasn’t the end of the sisters’ cooking days though. They were both members of the First Baptist Church and Golden Agers where their tasty vittles were enjoyed at many a covered dish dinner. But their talents extended beyond the kitchen. Emma was a gifted painter, and two of her paintings now belong to the Kearny County Historical Society. Bertha was an expert quilter and a member of the Senior Center’s quilting group for many years. Her handiwork graced many quilts, and this writer considers herself fortunate to have been gifted some of Bertha’s work.
Emma Walker Musgrove died at Lakin unexpectedly on June 10, 1984, of an apparent heart attack, and Bertha Walker Johnson passed away April 7, 2000, at the High Plains Retirement Village. The Walker sisters left an undeniable mark on their community. The museum was gifted a wonderful collection of black and white photos, most of them taken inside the 66 Café when Bert and Em were running the business. Next week, in lieu of an article, we will be sharing with you several of those photos which contain some familiar faces.
SOURCES: Diggin’ Up Bones by Betty Barnes; History of Kearny County Vol. I; Kearny Senior Center Newsletter November 1982; Ancestry.com; archives of The Lakin Independent; and Museum archives.
