Annexations Big 1974 Marion Story
Marion may have overreached in its last effort, but 1974 was still a big year in annexations pushing the city limits outward.
About 125 residents in an area westward from Interstate 57 to and including the Boswell Addition voted 30 to 5 on July 23 to be annexed into the city.
A 4.5 acre subdivision in which 10 homes will be built in Moore Park west of the Marion limits was annexed into the city on September 23. Continue reading
The road leading to Carbondale from Marion that we now know as new Route 13 is a far cry from what or where it was in the early days when it was no more than a trail. Before Crab Orchard Lake was constructed around 1939, and a section of Route 13 was re-located around it, there was old Route 13, a narrow road extending out West Main Street in Marion and running almost straight, dead west to Carbondale, joining East Walnut in Carbondale, about a half mile south of where new Route 13 now intersects Giant City Road. Continue reading
1973 was a light and dark year for Marion citizens. On the light side, the property tax, often a staple of city financing, was eliminated in this year. The city annexed three parcels of real estate, including Scotsboro, for a total of almost 400 additional acres. One of the commercial annexes, included property that was part of the city’s first industrial park off N. Carbon Street, and would serve as a location for Marion’s third bank, the Peoples Bank of Marion. Ray Fosse Day was held November 27th to celebrate a visit by Fosse after playing with the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. Continue reading
James Bishop Morray was born in Kentucky in 1821. Due to the early deaths of his mother and father, he was raised by an uncle, William Bishop, in Pope County, Illinois. While still a young man he returned to his home state of Kentucky to work for William Wyatt, eventually marrying his daughter, Izzarilda Wyatt in 1842.
In 1844, the Morray and Wyatt families moved to Illinois, purchasing several parcels of land in Creal Springs and Stonefort Townships. During the 1860’s and 1870’s James became the largest landowner in Johnson County, eventually owning thousands of acres in Johnson and Williamson Counties. Continue reading
Council Votes to Add Area West to Rt. 148
The Marion city Council Monday night accepted the grant of Egyptian Memorial Gardens Cemetery on Route 148 five miles from downtown Marion, and initiated steps to annex territory to include the cemetery and most of the Williamson County Airport nearby.
Councilmen voted to accept a deed to the cemetery property from Woodrow Dann, Carterville Rt. 2, who has operated for the last 17 years the perpetual care cemetery which was established in the 1930’s. Continue reading