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Posted on Mon, Mar. 30, 2009

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Protection, Kan., was first U.S. town to get polio vaccine

BY BECCY TANNER

The Wichita Eagle

This is one in a series of vignettes celebrating Kansas history. The series' name comes from the state motto, Ad astra per aspera: "To the stars through difficulties."

Polio.

Once, the mere mention of the disease was enough to scare people.

It had no cure or identifiable cause until the mid-1950s.

If a person succumbed to it, its effects could range from a minor illness to paralysis. Polio was of epidemic proportions in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s.

But in 1957, a town in south-central Kansas became the first community in the nation to protect its 500-plus residents against the crippling disease.

It was because of its name: Protection.

The first immunization shot was given April 2, 1957.

At first, townspeople were wary. Polio -- also known as infantile paralysis -- and its cause were a mystery.

Some thought it could result from eating ripe bananas or watermelons. Maybe drinking from water fountains or swimming in public pools were culprits.

An immunization vaccine had been developed by Jonas Salk and was first tested in 1952.

On March 8, 1957, Orin Strobel, editor of the Protection Post, wrote to his readers:

"A situation has gotten out of hand. I would like to clear up a few rumors."

Strobel wrote that representatives of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis had been in town talking with residents about using the community as an example in a widespread publicity campaign.

The newspaper had since been bombarded by questions.

"I have called New York City, written a number of letters and tried to explain that I don't know if Roy Rogers is coming to Protection, that we didn't have to raise $50,000 to get the Foundation to come here, that there are cartons on the way labeled, 'Protection from Protection,' that there will be 5 million pieces of mail going through the local post office in the next year..."

As part of the campaign, people soon found themselves doing quirky things like having an aerial photo taken of them standing in such a way that they spelled out the phrase, "100% PROTECTION, KANSAS."

They launched 400 weather balloons imprinted with "We're all protected, are you?"

They also scheduled the Polio Protection Powwow on April 24, 1957, and invited celebrities for a parade through Protection's downtown. More than 4,000 people attended.

Among them was country music star Clyde Julian "Red" Foley, who flew in by helicopter. Hollywood stunt man Jock Mahoney rode horseback. Miss Kansas 1956, Mary Ann McGrew, was crowned "Miss Protection" for the day.

In the years after Protection became the first town in America to be immunized against polio, the number of cases reported in Kansas dropped from a high of 1,718 in 1952 to zero by 1962.

Nationally, cases dropped from between 15,000 and 20,000 a year to roughly 10 to 15 annually in recent years.

Today, there is a plaque in downtown Protection from the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis honoring the April 1957 events.

Reach Beccy Tanner at 316-268-6336 or btanner@wichitaeagle.com.