Wendell Leon Grant was born in Lake Creek Township in Williamson County, on January 26, 1893 to farmer Elijah Lodge Grant (1863-1943) and Sarah Ella O’Neal Grant (1867-1961). Leon Grant spent 54 years of his lengthy life in public service to his community and to his country serving in WWI and also as teacher and principle of the Washington School and principle of the Marion Junior High School. Continue reading
Category Archives: All Marion Content
The following post is a transcript of the Carbondale Free Press dated May 21, 1923. It is somewhat typical of the Klan’s approach to infiltrating its way into the good graces of local christian churches, as long as those churches weren’t Catholic, that is. This area during the early 1920’s, was wrought with bootleggers born out of prohibition, prostitution, gambling houses and gang warfare. Much of the system of authority and law enforcement were on the take and useless against these elements. Continue reading
Editor of Republican Sends Letter from Frisco in Two and Half Days
The first airplane mail letter to reach Marion arrived here Wednesday night (July 1, 1924). The letter was a message from Editor and Mrs. W. O. Paisley of the Republican-Leader mailed in California on Monday to the readers of this paper. Continue reading
What is believed to be the first initiation of the Ku Klux Klan within the confines of Williamson County since the days of the Bloody Vendetta, took place in a meadow south of Mission or Rascal Ridge schoolhouse shortly after midnight Saturday morning. Some 1500 to 2000 clansmen from Carbondale, Johnston City and other points had gathered to initiate two hundred candidates from various points in Williamson and Franklin County into the mysteries of the order. It is said that many of the candidates who took the oath of the Knights of the Flaming Cross last night are Marion residents, and that the roster of Marion includes many of the city’s most prominent citizens. Continue reading
The following post was printed in Footprints, the quarterly publication of the Williamson County Historical Society. It notates historical background on the old Williamson County Jail that was in use from 1913 to 1972 and now houses the Historical Society. The article was titled “This Old House” and follows:
This building that houses the Williamson County Historical Society has an interesting past. It was one of only five such buildings in the United States that combined the jail and sheriff’s quarters. As I look around at the beamed ceilings, pocket doors, leaded glass and other objects of beauty, I realize that this would have been elegant living in 1913. Continue reading