125 years ago

june 4, 1886

Marion, the county-seat of Marion County, nestles amid a bower of beauty, of lovely scenery, of stately trees, of winding streams, of rich valleys and prolific uplands, at the junction of the Cottonwood river and Luta Creek, and had a population of 2,168, at the March enumeration—an actual increase of 530 during the year ending at that date.

The town is enjoying a veritable boom, about one hundred buildings having been erected, or in process of erection, already this season, including a fine three-story hotel, several large, stone business blocks, and many handsome residences. Two large stone school houses adorn the town giving employment to eight excellent teachers, and instruction to five or six hundred scholars.

Mineral water, possessing medical qualities of undoubted merit, has been discovered and its curative properties are attested not only by many of the best citizens of the town, but testimonials to these facts can be multiplied from many strangers who have been benefited by this water. A large stone bathhouse has been erected at this Health Resort, where warm or cold baths can be enjoyed at all seasons of the year.

Marion is on the M.&M. Railroad, a part of the great A.T.&S.F. system, and the great Rock Island Railroad Company has also secured subsidies for its Kansas extension through Marion, and grading will soon begin on the line.

In a word, Marion is rapidly growing, is enjoying great prosperity, and is the recognized trade center of a region remarkable for the fertility of its soil, the healthfulness of its climate, and the morality and intelligence of its people.

We wish to call editorial attention to the brief communication in another place, announcing a festival in Mr. Wren’s beautiful grove, five or six miles north of Marion Saturday, June 12th. It is for the benefit of their Sabbath School, and we trust will be liberally patronized.

Mr. John Carter has taken the contract to sprinkle Main Street and several side streets, during the season. He begun business Tuesday, but nature relieved him before Wednesday morning, with a sprinkler that beats every human contrivance in that line by a large majority. But as Mr. Carter’s pay goes on all the same, on such occasions, he yielded gracefully to the elements.

Messrs. Smith and Collins, of Fairplay township, who favored this office with a call Tuesday, insist that a real vein of coal has been struck in that township, though they admit that the thickness is not definitely known, varying in estimate from a few inches to a foot or more. They have hopes that a thicker vein will yet be discovered deeper down.