Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site

Dwight David Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, in a two-story frame house on the east side of Denison, next to the railroad tracks. His father had come to work for the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railroad, the Katy, which made the town: the townsite was laid out in the summer of 1872 and named for a Katy vice president, George Denison, and by 1890 Denison had about 11,000 people. The family lived here only about two years before moving to Kansas.

Denison residents bought the house in 1946, the year Eisenhower made the first of three visits to it, and opened it as a museum. The Eisenhower Birthplace Foundation restored it and gave it to the State of Texas in 1958, and the Katy's successor pulled up the tracks beside it in 1990. The Texas Historical Commission took the site over from Texas Parks and Wildlife on January 1, 2008, and the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.

Tours start at the top of each hour and run through the downstairs bedroom, parlor, dining area and kitchen, furnished with antiques to show the working-class life of the family. A visitor center holds Eisenhower memorabilia and exhibits on his years as a general and president, and the grounds have a general store and a garden statue of him. A ticket also admits you to the Sam Rayburn House in Bonham for a week.