Trying to Save old Marion High School - 2001& 2003

 Just for history's sake, I thought it would be good to record here a couple of efforts to save the old PWA built Marion High School.  Will anyone in the future regret that this beautiful landmark building in Marion was destroyed?  I doubt it.

The Crittenden Press, October 18, 2001.

Plan would revive old school as new location for city hall.  One of Marion's oldest and prized landmarks may again have a chance at new life if local officials follow through on a plan to save the historic building.

On Monday  night, Marion's city council gave Mayor Mick Alexander the authority to enter into an option agreement with Tommy W right for the city of Marion to purchase the old Marion High School on South College Street.

If feasible, the city could soon call the deteriorating building home, converting the former school into Marion City Hall.

Last year, attempts by local officials to purchase the school and its surrounding property for use as a joint city-county justice center were hampered by real estate acquisition discussions involving the parking lot.   (The Marion United Methodist church has previously purchased the lot behind the school for their parking lot)

The mayor said the city has enough money in reserve to get the building stabilized, repairing the roof and other structural problems that have arisen in nearly 20 years without regular maintenance.  Several exterior problems are obvious - broken windows, crumbling woodwork an unattached gutters, but extensive water damage exists inside on either end of the building covered by a flat roof.

Alexander said any use of the property by the city would maintain the  historical integrity and outward appearance of the structure. 

This most recent effort to save the historic schoolhouse marks the third time in four years the property has been considered for development by local officials.  Prior to lat year's justice center plan, a 1998 study looked at converting the structure to a center for higher education.

The Crittenden Press, April 24, 2003 - Old School Plans too High

No one from the county showed up to hear a presentation for renovating the old Marion High School for use as a city/county building during Monday's night's Marion city council meeting.

It may have been just as well, as the cost for the project came close to $9 million.

The resulting monthly cost of more than $37,000 for 20 years came out to payments of $22,379 for the county and $15,035 for the city.

All efforts failed as board members on both city and county didn't think it was worth spending that much money on it.

Now will be only a memory in our forgotten passages of time.

Marion's Egg Factory - 1954

 Lost to the Forgotten Passages of Time is Marion's Egg Factory.  Article found in the Sept. 2, 1954 Marion Reporter.

Walter Roberts Flock Numbers 1008 Hybrid Hens.

One look inside the New Egg Factory, located on the farm of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Roberts, Route 5, will convince one that of all the hens that got away - all come home to roost!

The Egg Factory, owned and operated by the Roberts, houses 1008 hybrid leghorn hens, each in a wire cage with a drinking fountain and feeder, and a wire basket to receive the egg.

Attached to each cage is a "Case-Card" on which the daily production is recorded.  Should the occupant fail to produce as many as four eggs per week, she is taken off the payroll, and is without recourse, as there is no arbitrator.

According to the records, the Roberts are marketing approximately 700 eggs a day to sellers in Henderson, retailing at a slight premium.

The eggs are graded in 24, 21 and 18 ounce weights, and packed in cartons.  The "girls" know nothing of a Hollywood diet for they consume 300 pounds of cage-laying mash a day, and when the 61 overhead lights are left burning they take on a bedtime snack, too.

Mr. Roberts estimates he has an investment of $5000.  He has a building 152 feet long and 24 feet wide, the upper and lower walls are removable, while the center section is stationary.  This permits the walls to be entirely closed for winter and plexiglas panels inserted.

This Crittenden County's newest industry, is deserving of your interest and commendation.  Mr. and Mrs. Roberts are gracious people, and will take pleasure in showing you around their farm, on which they also raise registered cattle and lovely bronze turkeys.

(I love these old articles about past businesses in Marion.  The sad part is we never know when and why they close and their history is lost in time.)

'Tin lizzies' Destroy Marion's Big City Dreams

 

This interesting article was written by Bob Wheeler for the historical edition of The Crittenden Press in December 1972.

The death-rattle of the big-city dreams of our community developed by 1917.  The morbid rattle was the creaking of the old "tin lizzies" intensified by the drum-rolls of World War I.

 

 The evolution of the automobile from a carnival-like ride in 1911-12 to a common and effective means of transportation to near-by cities and shopping centers by 1917 meant the beginning of the end for Marion's economic stability for many local merchants, who were dependent upon the near-isolation of Marion and Crittenden County in keeping an almost exclusive control of local trade. 

First to fall to the auto-invasion were Marion's two large livery stables, as might be expected.  George Foster, who, under the firm name of  Foster & Son, ran the old Wallingford stable on East Bellville Street (now the Wheeler parking lot) gave up early, and joined the enemy in the new Ford agency of Gabe Abell's.  The Guess & Ordway Livery Stable on the North Main Street site of Johnson Electric  Co. had to sell out at auction and the old frame building was soon torn down.

The auto-invasion seems to bring about one advancement that had long been needed in the city of Marion - the grading, smoothing, graveling, oiling and preparation for pavement of the major streets, which by 1913 were curbed but still dirt.

On top of this local problem, the bull Moose split in the Republican Party allowed a visionary, Woodrow Wilson, to sneak into the White House.  Since he was only the second President they had elected since 1856, the National Democratic Party desperately adopted his visions.  Wilson desired the United States to become the economic "big brother" to the world.  This policy not only took away the Protective Tariff, a system under which small American cities' industries had thrived, it commenced the unnecessary U. W. involvement in the First World War.

Crittenden County In "Kentucky's Industrial Review" October 1949

Frankfort, Ky., - Kentucky's first industrial directory in three years came off the press today.  The "Kentucky Industrial Directory, 1949" has been jointly compiled, financed and published by the State Agricultural and Industrial Development Board and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.

George T. Mascott, executive vice president of the State Chamber, state that "the main purpose of the 384-page directory is to promote the sale of Kentucky-made products by listing what the state has to sell and where it can be bought."  "It's the most comprehensive publication of its kind ever issued in the state, listing 289 manufactures.  Officers report they already have a large number of back orders which accumulated following an announcement some time ago that the directory would be on sale early this month.

Following are the Directory's listing for communities in Crittenden County. 

• Marion - Population 3,000.
• County seat of Crittenden County on U.S. 60 and Ky. 91 and 120. 
• Business Organizations: Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club

Crittenden County Employment - Firm Name

• C and L Fluorspar Co., Inc. Males: 14, Female- 1 Total 15   (Marion)
  
• L. Conyer, Males 6, Total 6           (Marion)
  
• Crider Bros. Fluorspar Co. Males 43    (Mexico)
  
• Davenport Mines, Inc., Males 20     ( Marion)
  
• Delhi Fluorspar Corp. Males 30, Females 2, Total 32  (Marion)
  
• Frazer Mining Co. Males 19, Females 1, Total 20   (Mexico)
  
• Kentucky Fluorspar Co., Males 20, Females 1, Total 2  (Marion)
• Mahoning Mining Division of Ozark-Mahoning Co., -   (Marion)
• U. S. Coal and Coke, -  (Mexico)
  

Transportation

• Railroad - Illinois Central
• Bus
• Truck

Utilities Electric - KU

Banks

• Farmers Bank and Trust Co.
• The Peoples Bank

Newspapers: The Crittenden Press, Weekly

Airport: Jaycee Airport, Owner Sid Johnson  (Class S-1)

Manufactures:

• L. Conyer, Employed 6 (Washing and blending fluorspar)
  
• Munt and Orr Sawmill, Employed 5 (Convert logs into rough lumber)
• Winn and Tobin Milling Co., Employed 5, (Floor meal and feed)

   **********************

Mexico - Population 300.

 

Located in Crittenden County on Ky. 295, 7 miles southwest of Marion, the county seat.

 

Transportation:  

• Railroad - Illinois Central
• Truck

Utilities: KU (Kentucky Utilities Co. Inc.

 

Manufacturers:

•  Mott Concrete Production Co., Employed 1 (only part time)