That was back in the day when one could drop into a restaurant in Pratt at most any time of the day for coffee and have his choice of at least half a dozen seats. It was very unusual if he waited more than five minutes for a grocery checker to total his bill. He had a fair chance of getting into a parking spot on Main Street and of getting out of it without a long wait for traffic to thin. He could get a taxi anytime he wanted it to take him anyplace he wanted to go (in town) for 10 or 15 cents. And there were not more than four or five cabs.
Then it became known, in late spring, that the army and navy were to set up a number of training bases in Kansas. Pratt went after one. As the climax in its effort to secure it a three man delegation hastened to Washington to plead for Pratt. Numerous government engineers and other representatives began arriving, checking water and electric utilities, the lay of the land, and other factors entering into the choice of sites. Pessimists predicted gloomily that no good would come from a temporary base here. Those radically in favor seemed to feel that if we didn't get it some farmer would soon be pasturing his stock on Pratt lawns and storing his grain in the county court house or one of the bank buildings.
On june 23rd of 1942 it was announced that the War Department had authorized a $3 million installation here and on the 7th of July a contract for construction was let.
Ten days later came the disquieting news that it was all off, that the War Department was abandoning the project because of a jurisdictional dispute with the Navy.
On Agin' After Being Off Agin'
Early in September of the same year it was announced that the War Department had again decided upon Pratt as a base site. Most Prattans were skeptical. Too many rumors had been floating about during the summer, some blowing hot and some cold. But when, on the 10th, Federal Judge Richard Hopkins signed a condemnation order giving the government a large tract of land a few miles north of town, it began to look like a sure thing. Construction oficially began on the 28th of September.
Pratt suddenly took on some of the appearance of a boom town in the early oil mad days of El Dorado and Augusta, Kansas, of Three Sands, Oklahoma, or of Borger, Texas. Except that, instead of the heavy horse drawn equipment of that period, two and three decades ago, huge trucks and other motorized construction equipment became commonplace in Pratt.
Trucks and equipment bearing the names of Geiger & Rutherford, Busboom & Rauh, Lane Wells, the Koss Construction Co., the Suttle Construction Co., and others were a common sight on the streets of the city. Vehicles of the N. C. Carroll & Sons Gravel Co. plied busily between the gravel plant south of town and the base north of town leaving a trail of sand up the east side of Main Street and water which soon turned to ice.
The city heretofore had taken pride in being a "convention" city. But conventions were out for the duration. There wasn't room for one. Not with the crowded streets of each day giving the impression the city was containing a Firemen's Convention, the Charity Ball, the Kingman football game, Bargain Day and a Santa Claus parade all on the same day.
Buddy, Can You Spare a Bed?
Every available housing facility was soon filled and frequent pleas were made for residents to convert potential housing space into apartments or, at least, into sleeping rooms. Restaurants were crowded beyond capacity and, particularly on Sundays and holidays, Pratt's transient workers practically faced starvation in the midst of plenty. This statement may seem overdrawn. But those persons, at that time, would likely have insisted that it is under rather than over stated.
Principally because of lack of experienced help, sometimes of any help at all, business houses which ordinarily were lighted until late began closing at 8:00 or 6:00. Main Street after dark , except for the transients, townsmen and servicemen parading it looking in vain for some place to go, presented a deserted appearance. This condition made more imperative the need for the later established USO.
Although construction was far from completed the base was formally dedicated on May 2, 1943. More than 13,000 persons, according to actual counts at the gates, visited the base that day. The dedicatory address was delivered by Governor Andrew F. Schoeppel.
The first flying crews to be trained here arrived within a few days of the date of the dedication ceremony. They had been stationed for some time in the Panama Canal Zone. After a year's training with B-29's they left for overseas in April, 1944 as the 40th Bomb Group. They were immediately followed by another group of trainees and, on May 23rd, by Pratt's first contingent of WACs.