Each week we’ll take a step back into the history of Great Bend through the eyes of reporters past. We’ll reacquaint you with what went into creating the Great Bend of today, and do our best to update you on what “the rest of the story” turned out to be.


Mystery Farm
The Mystery Farm photo of the week was a popular feature in the Great Bend Herald Press, the weekly paper of the 1950s in Great Bend.  Aerial photographs of farmsteads were displayed, and a one year subscription was awarded to the first two people to contact the Herald identifying the farm.  The owner would also receive a framed photograph of their farmstead courtesy of paper.  
The Saturday, Feb. 12 edition featured a photo of the John B. and Veronica G. Birzer farm,  though the location was unclear, described s “one mile north and one mile south of Ellinwood.”  The Birzers recognized their place by the four clothesline poles in the photo.  “The farm has been owned by Mr. and Mrs. John B. Birzer for 20 years but they have lived there only fifteen years, occupying the new house built in 1950.”   The couple belonged to and were active in St. Josephs Catholic Church.  Birzer raised wheat and white faced Hereford cattle, “marketing his stock off the grass instead of feeding it out.”  He farmed a total of 400 acres, 160 of which he owned, by what was then referred to as the “generally accepted method of farming.”
Feeding grass used to be the common practice, but today Mr. Birzer would likely market his cattle as “grass-fed beef,” and be able to charge a premium for it in some markets.

The Great Bend of Tomorrow
A firm from St. Louis addressed a group of over 50 Great Bend citizens at the launch of “Operation Task Force” where plans for the “Great Bend of Tomorrow” were revealed.  Maps of the city circa 1955 and the projected maps of 1980 were on display in the Uptown room of the Zarah Hotel.  If all went as projected, the city would grow from a population of 16,000 to 27,500, and the size would grow from 2500 acres to 4000 acres, with expansion to the south, east and west.  Flood control would need to be built first.
“The public should always keep in mind that the plan would be projected more than a quarter-century into the future, but could be kept up-to-date with revision from time to time,” the hired planner, Eldridge Lovelace cautioned.  Probably a wise idea, as no one can really see into the future.  
As it turns out, the city has continued to have a pretty steady population since then.  There have been expansions, mostly to the west, and flood control has been built, though much of it was done outside the 25 year time line that the projection incorporated.  Still, as W.R. Dildine editorialized, “We have seen towns grow up overnight without adequate future planning and become a hodgepodge.  On the other hand we have seen communities which have adopted long range planning become centers of interest of planners all over the country.  The proposed master plan will serve as a guide for future city councils and planners and will prove the merit in spending the $12,000 paid (for the plan).”

Cartoons hit close to home
Quality cartoonists have historically been a rare commodity in the newspaper business.  It’s not easy to capture the news in line, but many have tried, and reached some level of success.  Duke Rush was one such person, drawing for the Great Bend Herald Press in the mid 1950s.  Two of his drawings appeared in the Feb. 12, 1955 edition.  One editorialized a discussion at that week’s Great Bend City Council meeting at which the city manager supported changes in how properties would be assessed for tax purposes, and how the city was under pressure to provide more services, but no one wanted to pay for them.  He suggested cuts to police and fire departments in order to free up funds for other services too.  
“While not a utopia we do not feel a real pinch in our fire and police departments,” City Manager Perry C. Peine told the Herald Press.  “We staff the fire department for the major fire which may happen every one or two years and could operate on a reduced force.  We could put three more policemen to good use, but we are not pinched.”  He also suggested services like street sweeping could be cut in half, from a daily occurrence to an every-other-day sweep.    Imagine how today’s drivers would react to daily street sweeping.  
Another cartoon appeared as part of a paid advertisement from a Great Bend citizen and businessman, contractor Val Kramer.  Kramer and another contractor, Joe Konecny, had fought City Hall and won after Building and Trades Inspector Abe Goodwin had charged and fined them for zoning violations for operating their businesses from their homes.  
After charges were filed, Kramer provided Goodwin with a list of 82 other business people in Great Bend that also operated various businesses from their homes.  People like hair stylists, accountants, office workers and pawn shop owners.  With evidence of these other violators, the city council ordered Goodwin to drop the charges and work on coming up with revised statutes or a plan to prosecute all violators, not single out a few.  Not only was there a news story about the meeting, there was the paid letter and cartoon, and a long editorial by the manager of the Herald, W.R. Dilldine.   
Elmer Leroy “Duke” Rush went on to become a journalist at the Wichita Eagle, and married Wichita Eagle columnist Diane F.  (Samms) Rush in 1975.    Born in 1930, his career was in its infant stage when he worked for the Herald.  He died in 2000, and is buried a the Geneseo cemetery.  

Homecoming Queen
Portraits of the seven candidates for Homecoming Queen ran on page 5 of the Herald Press.  The senior girls nominated included Dee Anderson, Betty Armstrong, Darlene Dohrmann, Wanda Clymer, Margaret Kope, Sue Fitz-Roy and Joyce Lawrence.  The GBHS student body had already voted, and it was school secretary Maxine Riddle who tallied the votes and was the only person who would know who the winner was until it was revealed at the crowning ceremony the following week.  Dee Anderson turned out to be the Queen, and the other six were her attendants at the homecoming basketball game against Russell.