The Warder Street Baptist Church was formerly known as the Free Will Baptist Church of Marion, Illinois. Continue reading
Category Archives: All Marion Content
When spring awakens the hibernating farms of Southern Illinois, look closely. A second force stirs amidst green pastures and black fields. Here live the imaginary figures of men in wide-brimmed hats and dungarees and women in flowing calico skirts and children in dusty coveralls who run barefoot over gardens. Continue reading
Coal miners rode the electric line to get to work and school children watched plays like “Peck’s Bad Boy” at an opera house on Union Street. Continue reading
One of the platforms Mayor Robert L. Butler ran on in that first election in 1963 was a promise to take care of Marion’s chronic flooding problem. It was to his advantage that just before the primary, the town’s streets filled with water after a storm. Water was four feet deep at the four-way stop and much of the city was drenched. Continue reading
It won’t occur many times, that we will get the opportunity to read an autobiographical account by a historical city leader. Mayor Robert Butler’s “tongue in cheek” account of his own life is one exception. Continue reading
