100 years ago

june 17, 1909

Central Park — A Movement to Permanently Improve It

Ask any stranger who has ever spent a day in Marion what one thing here impressed him most favorably and he will promptly and enthusiastically reply, “Your beautiful Park.” Much money has been spent on this park, but most of it has been spent for temporary adornments, which were pretty while they lasted, and were worth the money, but which had no permanent value.

The Record now proposes the inauguration of a movement having for its objective an intelligent, a systematic and permanent improvement of this prettiest of all Kansas parks.

The permanent work that has been done is a good beginning and need not be disturbed. The lily pond, the fountain, the flower vases, the iron seats, and the improvements about the spring are all right.

The city has under consideration the construction of a cement walk along the full frontage of the Park from the stone arch bridge to the Baptist church. This is all the city can be asked to do under the peculiar conditions known to every citizen. Private pride and generosity must do the rest.

Let us suggest some of the proposed improvements: A flower bed of hardy perennial plants in the half circle around the fountain; the remodeling of the gateway arches; the construction of cement walks along lines carefully planned by a landscape artist; the completion of the work about the spring, including cement steps down the hill; a permanent bridge connecting the two wings of the Park; more iron seats, swings, etc.

Personally, the writer hopes to see the park adorned with attractive statuary, and a boulevard constructed from Main street on the west side of the Luta into the south side of the Park.

All these things cannot be done at once, but many of them can be done at comparatively small cost.

Marion is on the move. Progression is in the air. Town pride is on top. And New Marion, Marion Beautiful, can express itself in no way better than in the permanent improvement of Nature’s best gift to a Kansas town—Central Park.

The writer will give ten dollars to start this improvement fund, and will gladly give more if others will increase the amount. Are there not a large number of citizens who will respond liberally to this suggestion? If so let us hear from you at once.

E.W.H.

Concerning This Town

NOT A BOOM

The unusual activity in real estate circles here, and the marked advance in the price of Marion property, need not give even the most conservative citizen any uneasiness. This new condition is not a boom. It is not a fictitious inflation of values. It is not a temporary town craze. It is merely Marion coming into possession of its own.

The collapse of the boom years ago left the town heavily in debt with little or nothing to show for its expenditures. The Chingawasa railroad, the sugar factory, the canning factory, the iron foundry, the Y.M.C.A. building emprise, and other unwise undertakings had failed, leaving a burden of debt, public and private, as constant reminders of them.

“A burnt child dreads the fire,” and from an extreme of wild speculative enterprise the town lapsed into a state of ultra conservatism.

Nobody had any confidence in anything. The town allowed its electric lights to go out, and even its business streets have been in total darkness. It contented itself with a so-called system of waterworks, which furnished no water fit for any purpose in its homes and hardly fit even for lawn purposes, for which it has been almost exclusively used. It hardly dared dream of a sewerage system.

This condition was, of course, death to progress. It paralyzed property values. But, it did one good thing. It gave the town time and opportunity to get out of debt, which it has improved. The obligations had to be met, and they have been.

Paying for a dead horse is always an unpleasant job, but one feels better when it is all over.

With a clean ledger, the town starts on a new era. It is to have a new electric light plant and a new water system. These alone would enable it to “catch up” with other towns its size.

However, it does better than this. It is putting in a complete sewer system, which at once outclasses towns of its size. So that from a town far behind other towns, it vaults far ahead of them. And this is why the old town is enjoying a degree of prosperity and progress which gratifies its progressive citizens and astonishes its neighbors.

E.W. Hoch returned home Saturday from his lecturing trip in Kentucky and West Virginia and does not expect to be gone again until the first of July.

Members of the Marion Band who attended the Band Reunion at Hillsboro Tuesday were Ross Sheets, leader; Wm Kieferle, Laird Dean, Roy Frazer, Willard Keller, Fred Baker, Chas. Brooker, Wm. Burkholder, Sam McBride, Willard King, Glenn Lilley, Louis Keller, Harry Rogers, Carl Sheldon, Roy Williams, J.G. Forney, Carl Ehrlich, and Ross Miler.