As I was reading a book on Harry Truman, 33rd President of the United States, I realized that on his 1948 Whistlestop Train tour he simply had to have go through my home town of Big Springs, NE. This link (https://archive.org/details/55304HarryTrumanFootage) has some images from his tour in June of 1848 with pictures from Kearney, NE and Sidney, NE. Traveling by train, the only way between the two is right through Big Springs. There is also this picture (https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/photograph-records/2006-175) from the Truman Library showing all of the places traveled on the tour. If you aren’t familiar with the effort President Truman put into a campaign that seemed lost, it’s a great story of perseverance and a “never say die” attitude.
President Truman’s predecessor Franklin D. Roosevelt also had to have gone right through Big Springs. On Sept 2, 1936 FDR was in both Sidney, NE (https://history.nebraska.gov/talk-about-the-drought-president-roosevelt-visits-nebraska-panhandle/) and the President stopped to speak in Julesburg, CO (just over the border into CO from NE) The Sept 3, 1936 Deuel County Herald reported that President Roosevelt spoke for about 15 minutes and then proceeded to North Platte, NE for another stop on his way to Des Moines. Again, while Big Springs isn’t called out as a stop, if the train stopped in Julesburg and in North Platte, it had to have gone through Big Springs.
The only other Presidential visit I know of was from Truman’s successor, but President Eisenhauer wasn’t the President when he stopped in Big Springs. in 1919 Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhauer was part of the Transcontinental Motor Convoy working to develop a highway system through the United States. The Eisenhauer Library (https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/research/online-documents/1919-transcontinental-motor-convoy) has some great documents and photos on the project. As part of this trip Eisenhauer signed the guest register at the Phelps Hotel in Big Springs. So, of the three Presidents mentioned, he is the only one who stopped for a bit even if he wasn’t techncially President yet, this still counts 🙂 Page 12 of this document (https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/research/online-documents/1919-convoy/daily-log.pdf) details the travel through Big Springs. According to the travel document they departed Omaha on July 30, and arrived in Cheyenne on August 8.
Cory and Nicole Family History 