Gettysburg's Most Famous Resident: the Eisenhowers

Dwight David Eisenhower and Mamie Eisenhower purchased a 189-acre farm three and one-half miles south of Gettysburg. The town of Gettysburg is famous for what occurred there on July 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd of July 1863, now it was famous again; it had its very own "First Family, the Eisenhowers".

Dwight David Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890 in Denison, Texas. His parents named him David Dwight; he later reversed to Dwight David.[1] During his grade school years, he acquired the nickname of 'Ike" which followed him throughout the rest of his life.

After Ike graduated from high school, he worked for his father in a creamery, and then he applied to West Point in 1911 and was accepted. In 1915 he graduated from West Point 61^st in a class of 164. He then was assigned to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas where he met Mamie Geneva Doud. They were married July 1, 1916 and their first child, Doud Dwight was born in 1917. Doud Dwight lived only three years and died in 1920. Their second son, John was born in 1922.

Ike first came to Gettysburg in 1918 when be became the commander of a tank training brigade at Camp Colt. After the war he was appointed to the Battle Monuments Commission where he was able to travel to European battlefields. He had many varied positions between the wars and when the US entered the war on Dec 7, 1941 he was assigned to War Plans Division of the Army General Staff.[2]

Less than a year after the war started, Ike was promoted to Major General and given the command of the American forces in the European Theater of Operations. After the war he was appointed to Army Chief of Staff and retired from the army in 1948. In 1952 he was elected as President of the United States and served two terms as the President. On Sept 23, 1955 Ike suffered a heart attack.

On Jan 20, 1961, Ike and Mamie left the White House and retired to their farm at Gettysburg. Ike really enjoyed raising show cattle, and he took a personal interest in his farming operations and had a very good knowledge of Angus breeding, soil conservation and farming techniques. He spend much of his time in renovation of his pre-Civil War house, so he had the old house torn down and a new one build on the same site. Mamie wanted to preserve some of the original house so the brick facing in the kitchen, some of the oak beams and the dutch oven were saved and used in the new house.

Several surrounding farms were bought through the years to insure the Eisenhower's' privacy. W. Alton Jones, a close friend of Ike's, along with General Arthur Nevins, purchased the 124-acre Brandon Farm in 1954. The also purchased the 160-acre Bernard W. Redding Farm and the Pizer Schoolhouse lot.[3]

Ike and Mamie split their time between their Gettysburg farm and their second home in Palm Desert, California. He opened an office at the Gettysburg College campus and worked there almost every day from the first of May to late December from 1961-1967. The Eisenhower's were very popular in Gettysburg and got along well with the local citizens.

In the spring of 1968, while in California, Ike suffered his second heart attack. He was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital where he died on March 28, 1969. After his death the US House of Representatives authorized $1,081,000 to develop Ike's farm as a National Historic Site. Mamie continued to live at the farm part of the time until her death in November 1979.

Today, the farm consisting of 690 acres and is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. The Eisenhower National Historic Site was open to the public in 1980. Tours are offered daily and can be obtained at the National Park Visitor's Center.

One of my most memorable visits to Gettysburg was when with the Friends of the National Parks at Gettysburg (now called Gettysburg Foundation), gave a private tour of the Eisenhower Farm. It was in the evening and just a clear beautiful sky, perfect for a tour. After we went through the house and having the ranger explain to us about what each room was and what they meant to Ike and Mamie, we was able to sit out in the back yard and enjoy the view. I got chills up my spine sitting there and thinking of the history that happened where I was sitting. You can see the battlefield from the farm; in fact the farm was and is part of the Gettysburg Battlefield. Ike's putting green is there, and I could picture him and some of his famous friends putting there.

On your next visit please make time for a visit to the Eisenhower's Farm and make sure you sit on the small wall that runs along Ike's and Mamie's favorite room, the Porch. I promise you that you will leave there with a sense of history and with a feeling that you just experienced something very special.

[1] The Eisenhowers, Gettysburg's First Family by Stan Cohen

[2] The Eisenhowers, Gettysburg's First Family by Stan Cohen

[3] The Eisenhowers - Gettysburg's First Family by Stan Cohen