Category: Presidents

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial

Washington DC

After seeing all the cherry trees for the Cherry Blossom Festival, we had time to walk over to the FDR Memorial.
FDR and his dog Fala.
FDR was paralyzed by Polio.
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Soup lines during the Great Depression
Great Depression
Listening to FDR’s “Fireside Chats”.
FDR Funeral

President Ulysses Grant Home

Galena IL – September 2021

President Ulysses Grant, our 18th president, from 1869-1877, lived in this house with his wife Julia after he retired from the army (before the Civil War). He lived here before and after the war. After he left the presidency, he lived in New York City.
The house is open for public tours, but we were there early and it was not open yet.
Belvedere Mansion, built in 1857, considered the finest mansion in Galena. (Nothing to do with Grant, but it is significant to Galena IL).

President Herbert Hoover Sites

West Branch IA – September 2021

This is the birthplace of President Herbert Hoover, our 31st president, from 1929-1933. He was born here in 1874.
In this two room house lived Herbert’s parents and three children! Tight quarters!
Rear of the house.
Their bathroom.
Hoover’s father was a blacksmith.
The little box beside the brick chimney says “Seat for boys Tad-Bertie”. Bertie was the future president.
Hoover attended this schoolhouse.
Teacher’s desk.
Penmanship workbook – an obsolete school subject.
Student’s desk and books.
The Friends (Quaker) Meeting House. Hoover was raised Quaker.
Men sat on the right side of the partition.
Women sat on the left side, with access to the cry room.
The cry room.
Unfortunately the Presidential Museum was closed due to COVID fear.
The museum campus is very park-like.
The graves of President Herbert and First Lady Lou Hoover.

Mt. Roosevelt

Deadwood SD – September 2021

Mt. Roosevelt, named for President Theodore Roosevelt.
The Friendship Tower Mount Roosevelt Memorial.
Deadwood resident Seth Bullock met the 26-year-old Theodore Roosevelt in 1884, shortly after Roosevelt moved out west. They became lifelong friends. When Roosevelt died in January 1919, Bullock commissioned this monument which was completed in July 1919. Bullock died in September 1919, and is buried in Deadwood’s Mt. Moriah cemetery on a high hill that had an unimpeded view of Mt. Roosevelt. If you ever have a chance, the story of their friendship is a pretty neat read.
Not that many steps, but they are narrow and pretty steep.
Views of the Black Hills from the top of the tower.
Beautiful aspen trees.

City of Presidents Walk

Rapid City SD – September 2021

Rapid City SD bills itself the “City of Presidents”, and there are statues of all the presidents (President Trump is not there yet) on different street corners in the middle of downtown. It’s a neat idea. So I took about an hour and a half to walk all over downtown and take pictures of all of them. Here are my favorites:

George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
Andrew Jackson
Abraham Lincoln
Ulysses Grant
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt close-up
William Taft. This one is cool. President Taft was a huge (literally!) baseball fan, and he was the first president to throw out the first pitch at a major league baseball game. In this statue, he is bent over ready to throw. There is a baseball behind his back in his right hand!
Calvin Coolidge
Franklin Roosevelt
Dwight Eisenhower
Ronald Reagan

Rushmore Plaza Civic Center

Mary Jean, her daughter Melissa and her friend Pat saw Elvis Presley in concert at this venue in June 1977, just a few weeks before he died.

Mary Jean and Pat revisited the place this week.
The entrance.
The arena. Mary Jean’s seats in 1977 were in the front orange seats on the right, near the fork truck.
Poster from the 1977 concert.