Little is recorded about the early Marion baseball clubs so I wanted to get this out there in hopes that someone may still have some knowledge of the early clubs. According to Bob Jackson, a huge baseball fan and Williamson County Historical Society president, the later teams were called “hard road clubs” and the competitions fell among city teams spread from Murphysboro to Harrisburg. Unfortunately, the first real hard road (old route 13) didn’t become a hard road (concrete) until 1922 and was only completed at the beginning of the Herrin Massacre times so I’m not sure if the term applies to these early teams or not. Continue reading
Category Archives: Civic Events
The following was delivered by Ed. M. Stotlar on February 29, 1916 at the dedication exercise held at the library building during the evening:
The first organized effort for the starting of a Public Library in Marion, Illinois occurred in January, 1906 when Prof. J.W. Asbury, then Supt. of the City schools made a public call for a mass meeting of all citizens interested in procuring a public library for Marion. The meeting was held in the City Hall and liberally attended by citizens interested in the movement. At this meeting Prof. J.W. Asbury was chosen chairman of a committee to confer with the aldermen and mayor and city attorney and ask that a library ordinance for the City of Marion be drawn and passed at once. As a result of the efforts of this committee, the first library ordinance was passed on March 12, 1906, known as Ordinance No. 60. Mr. C.H. Denison was Mayor and the board of aldermen consisted of B.H. Jeter, A.M. Townsend, Sandy Miller, E.H. Moulton, Joseph H. Moss, W.O. Potter, John S. Strike and A.B. McLaren, with George Campbell, Secretary and Hosea V. Ferrell, attorney. Continue reading
Joan Crawford Visits Southern Illinois
New Marion Soft Drink Plant Opens
“There she is” … “oh, I see her” tumbled from the crowd as Joan Crawford radiant in the morning sun stepped upon the platform.
Miss Crawford, dressed in a subdued gray suit with matching hat, moved gracefully across the stage, waving, smiling at the more than 400 people who had come to the dedication ceremony of the new Pepsi-Cola plant west of Marion.
Harry Crisp, Sr. president of Marion Pepsi Cola Bottling Co., Harry Crisp Jr., vice president and general manager, James B. Sommerall, president and chief executive officer of Pepsi-Cola Co., Paul Powell, Illinois Secretary of State and other Pepsi Cola officials attended the ceremonies at the plant on Old Rt. 13 at 10:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Continue reading
The following post is a compilation of newspaper accounts from 1875 recounting the individuals and events that constituted the event commonly referred to historically as “the bloody vendetta.” It includes some firsthand interviews of those involved and having knowledge of the events at the time. Continue reading
Planning for an elderly low-rent housing project that was formed as early as 1960 finally came to fruition in 1963 when the Williamson County Housing Authority got approval on 40 units in Herrin for $506,834 and 20 units in Marion for $265,684. By March of 1963, the Marion units were well under way but bad weather and an area-wide carpenter’s strike delayed construction of the units early on. By June the units were reported to be 98 percent complete and by the end of July they underwent preliminary inspection and final touches. Continue reading
