The year of 1876 saw the execution of Marshall Crain at the county jail located on S. Madison Street and the indictment and trials of others related to the “Vendetta” period, including a few Ku Klux Klan members who had been terrorizing local families.
See also, 1876, News Clippings, July thru December Continue reading
1875, was a rough year for this county. There was an influx in the first phase of the Ku Klux Klan formed in the post-Civil War reconstruction period which saw notices being served on numerous locals telling them they must leave the county or face consequences. This year also saw the murders and resulting trials of a number of county citizens related to the culmination of the “Bloody Vendetta” era. Continue reading
1875, was a rough year for this county. There was an influx in the first phase of the Ku Klux Klan formed in the post-Civil War reconstruction period which saw notices being served on numerous locals telling them they must leave the county or face consequences. This year also saw the murders and resulting trials of a number of county citizens related to the culmination of the “Bloody Vendetta” era. Continue reading
Boundaries often are stretched to include Barnett’s Addition
Gent’s Addition: In mid-Marion, yet separated
Even the name connotes separation. Something added on, a portion merely attached to the whole.
And yet, Gent’s Addition is located almost in the center of the city of Marion, a few blocks southwest of the Public Square.
The boundaries stretch from College to Boyton Streets north and south and from Van Buren to Court Streets east and west. But the boundaries often are stretched to include Burnett’s addition, the 700 block of South Liberty Street between Cline and College. Continue reading
Clara Kirk Sees Gent’s Addition as a neglected part of Marion
Words are easy to speak; songs are easy to sing. A popular song begins “Love makes the world go round, love makes the world go round.” Ministers preach these words. People’s actions often mock them.
Clara Kirk lives by them. Miss Kirk spent 41 years of her 69 years teaching primary grades. Before her retirement in 1969, she taught 30 years in Douglass School, Marion’s only all black school. After the school was abolished in 1965, she spent the last four years of the career at Washington School. Continue reading