October 21, 2019

Retracing Lena Huppler Bevers’ Travel Log

Tues. – Oct. 21.

Left Horton about 8:30 A. M.  Had dinner in Atchison.  Had to stay about 4 hours while we got our car fixed.  Left there about 4:30 P. M. and drove until 8 o’clock.  Had supper and stayed all nite in Kansas City, Kan. – Lena Bevers

When Herbert Bevers and Mr. McElhany got on the road on October 21, 1919, they started out from Horton, Kansas at 8:30 AM.  Horton is 12 miles south of Hiawatha and about five miles west of Everest.  The town cannot be found on the running directions of Route 101 of The Official Automobile Blue Book 1920 (see below) because Horton is west of the route described, but starting at mile 18.1 we can follow the route that the two cars probably took to get to Kansas City, Kansas.  Florence Bevers wrote in her travel log that they drove through Everest, Huron, Lancaster, Shannon, Leavenworth, Lansing, Wallula and Piper.¹  Many of these towns are listed in Route 101. The introduction to Route 101 states that this route is a section of the King of Trails – confirmation that Herbert Bevers and Mr. McElhany were driving on the King of Trails.²

When the two cars arrived in Atchison, Herbert had to get their car fixed which took about four hours.  Florence stated “they fixed the timer on our car.”⁴  In the above extract from the 1920 Blue Book, there is an advertisement for a garage.⁵  Maybe this is where the work was done on the Bevers’ car.  When Florence wrote “timer,” perhaps she was referring to the odometer, which would have been very important for keeping track of the distance traveled, if they were following running directions, such as those in the 1920 Blue Book. 

In the description of Atchison above, at the end of the article it mentions the “splendid” public buildings: a $125,000 Atchison County Court House and a $100,000 U. S. Post Office.⁶  When my mother and I left our motel, we drove around the city to see some of the sights.  We went to the courthouse, the post office, the river front and the pedestrian mall.  I needed to mail a letter so I went inside the post office to buy envelopes and stamps.  The woodwork in the lobby was beautiful.

After our tour of Atchison, we headed south on U. S. Highway 73 which closely follows the King of Trails route.  At mile 66.9 in the Route 101 running directions above, it tells the driver to pass a federal prison on the left.⁸  When we reached the point on U. S. Highway 73 where it seemed the prison should be, we searched the landscape for a building that looked like a prison.  Finally, as we came over a hill, there on the left was a huge building.  It was the United States Penitentiary at Leavenworth, a very impressive building.  A sign in front of the grounds declared that photos were not to be taken, so I cannot post any pictures.  Construction of the building began in March 1897 and continued for about 25 years.⁹  To see a picture of the prison, go to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website: https://www.bop.gov/locations/institutions/lvn/index.jsp.

Between Leavenworth and Kansas City, instead of the farm land we had been viewing for a week, we traveled through urban and suburban commercial districts and residential districts.  U. S. Highway 73 becomes a modern four-lane highway south of Lansing.  According to the introduction to Route 101 above, the Bevers family drove on dirt until they were within 17 miles of Kansas City, then they drove on macadam.¹⁰  Leaving Atchison at 4:30 PM, they drove about 55 miles and arrived in Kansas City about 8:00 PM. On this stretch, they drove almost 16 miles per hour.

Upon our approach to Kansas City, Kansas, my mother and I had difficulty finding our way to our motel, because our printed instructions weren’t correct, and I couldn’t understand how to read the Triptik from AAA.  So, we entered the address of the motel in the Garman navigation device and trusted it to lead us to the motel. By using this method, we had to take a freeway to get to our destination.  It worked and we arrived at our motel around 3:00 PM. 

Notes:

1. B. Winkelmann, Our Trip to Texas [Transcription of Our Trip to Texas by Florence Bevers, 1919] (unpublished, n. d.): 2.
2. Automobile Blue Book Publishing Company, The Official Automobile Blue Book 1920, vol. 7 (New York: Automobile Blue Book Publishing Company, 1920): 163-64, https://ia601208.us.archive.org/26/items/case_gv1024_a92_1920_v_7/case_gv1024_a92_1920_v_7.pdf.
3. Rand McNally and Company, Commercial Atlas of America, “Auto Trails Map, District No. 12, Southern Nebraska, Eastern Colorado, Kansas, Northeastern New Mexico, Northern Oklahoma” (Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1924): 372-73, https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~201708~3000668:AutoTrails-Map,-Southern-Nebraska.
4. B. Winkelmann, Our Trip to Texas: 2.
5. Automobile Blue Book Publishing Company, The Official Automobile Blue Book 1920, vol. 7: 71.
6. Automobile Blue Book Publishing Company, The Official Automobile Blue Book 1920, vol. 7: 71.
7. Commercial Street, Atchison, Kansas, (ca. 1910), http://www.mygenealogyhound.com/vintage-postcards/kansas-postcards/KS-Atchison-Kansas-Commercial-Street-vintage-postcard.html#
8. Automobile Blue Book Publishing Company, The Official Automobile Blue Book 1920, vol. 7: 164.
9. United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Penitentiary,_Leavenworth.
10. Automobile Blue Book Publishing Company, The Official Automobile Blue Book 1920, vol. 7: 163.