EISENHOWER BIRTHPLACE STATE HISTORICAL SITE. Eisenhower Birthplace State Historical Site is located just east of U.S. Highway 75 in Denison. Dwight D. Eisenhowerqv was born in the two-story frame home, which was acquired by a group of Denison residents and restored as a memorial to Eisenhower shortly after his election to the presidency in 1952. The home and the property were deeded to the Eisenhower Birthplace Foundation in 1953. This organization purchased and moved several houses to the site, landscaped the area, and added a parking lot. The site was deeded to the State Parks Board in 1958. In 1993, because of cuts in the state budget, Texas Rural Communities, Incorporated, a nonprofit organization, took over maintenance of the park.
The house contains furnishings typical of the 1890s, the decade in which Eisenhower was born. The only item in the house that actually belonged to the Eisenhower family, however, is a quilt in the room in which Eisenhower was born. An antique crank telephone in the home's entry hall greets visitors with a message that Eisenhower recorded in 1952.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Ray Miller, Texas Parks (Austin: Cordovan, 1984).
Brian Hart
