Hear the Band by auntietk
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
In 1924, only a few years after this bandstand was built, Major George S. Patton would have been finishing a two-year series of classes on tactics and logistics at what was then known as the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Patton was there with his wife, Beatrice, and their three children. The oldest girl, named Beatrice after her mother, would have been thirteen years old. The younger girl, Ruth, was nine, and little George was only a year old.
On most sunny summer Sunday afternoons the Fort's Army band would have played patriotic and popular tunes for the entertainment of the men and their families. All five of the Pattons would have gone to hear the band, to visit with friends, to take a break from the routine of studies and things more formally military.
Just two years later Patton's good friend, Major Dwight D. Eisenhower, would graduate from the same school. As a matter of interest, Ike arrived at Fort Leavenworth for his training having borrowed Patton's class notes. Ike and Mamie would have been at Fort Leavenworth in 1926 with their four-year-old son, John.
In later years the two families were quite close, and even vacationed together. Can you imagine them sitting around on the porch of a country house of an evening, reminiscing about their common experiences? Perhaps they had fond memories of this bandstand.
Can you hear the band play?

Comments (29)
I can, and it's a wonderful sound!! Bandstand are such great places, they never fail to make me stop and listen.
Very nice image!!!
A great capture!
and watch too wonderful capture warm hugs, Linda Kaye
I cannot hear it, but I can imagine the lawns filled with people and picnic baskets on a warm summers eve. Well 'composed'! Clive
all of our parks used to have bandstands.....alas a lot have gone
Yes, I can imagine and your description of the place is interesting and beautiful. SO is this lovely capture.
It's very CHUNKY! ours are usually wrought iron and pointy roofs! I can hear the band, though!
Like a tiny castle. Great shot. :)
Nice, sturdy looking bandstand! Not going anywhere soon, that one :-) Cool shot and great info... Rob
Very beautiful capture! Love the architecture!
Lovely
Beautiful capture and yep! I hear the band playing
I love this...MARVELOUS SHOT
Thanks for bringing this old, weather beaten band stand to life for me. I've passed by this relic for more than 30 years and at last do hear the music:) Two very colorful families mentioned in your text...fascinating...just to think what might have been... The material used in construction is native Kansas limestone. Without an abundance of wood on the Great Plains, limestone was used in the late 1800s and early 1900s for all sorts of construction. It was even used for fenceposts to string barbed wire on out on the plains.
Yes, I CAN hear the band playing, and I can visualize the Pattons and other military families gathered to hear the music. Wonderful photo, Tara! What I can't believe is my own blindness. As many time as I've been to Ft. Leavenworth, I've never noticed this lovely structure. What's even more ironic is that I was BORN on Ft. Leavenworth - the old post hospital building still stands and is in use.
What a grand old bandstand! A little Sousa perhaps? Fascinating history. I never knew about the connection between the families.
Great history and shot!
lot of history here. cool shot
Great capture and fabulous information.
Excellent capture and info!
I googled this being the oldest post west of the Mississippi in a great nation's history, so what the heck, I can hear the band play! Timeless beauty captured in the texture of the sandstone rock!
What a shot! What a bit of history! It's nice to see "old stuff" in this country, and I wish we had more of it. I think that old stuff keeps a society grounded and reminds them of actual history. That's a good thing...you gain perspective that way. And as for this shot! Well, you've nailed an excellent mood here, and you've shown me a place I'd love to visit myself. This is marvelous work, as always!
Very interesting history! You have done it well with a nice picture!
In France we call that kind of little structure in a garden : "une petite folie".
Superb shot of this beautiful and interesting place, fantastic textures.
Lovely shot, it looks like a mini castle..
Wonderful capture and stonework. I read your narrative twice so as not to miss a work. dana
I can hear the band, wonderful...cool shot