A view of how the court house square looked in the year 1954. To the right of the court house is the popular old gazabo that for many years was the center of entertainment and gatherings of all the city and county folks.
All kinds of entertainment took place in this wonderful old structure. All kinds of musical entertainment, political and religious speakings, much sharing of the local business news and gossip of the town, and there were games of checkers and the big thing on Saturday's - the swapping and trading of knives. It was also a wonderful place for the local children to play and always fascinating to go inside and see what the big people were doing.
The concrete foundation in front of the gazebo was the covering of the old community well. The well was, is the early days of Marion, the main source of water for the business district. In later years it was filled in and covered with the concrete slab. On top of it is a Illinois Central Centennial Marker. I'll use the history of it in the next entry.
The beautiful old Court House and Gazebo were torn down in 1961 to make room for the new court house. The local officials decided that this court house had served it's purpose and was beyond saving or trying to update, and the same for the Gazebo.
1 comment:
and there were the daily washer pitching games on the lawn between the gazebo and the walkway into the courthouse and only about 6 feet from the sidewalk.
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