1973, Gent’s Addition Series, Part 2 of 6

Marion Pastor Maintains

“Psychological walls” Mark Gent’s

The Rev. Robert Buchanan, pastor of the Bethel AME Church, Marion, doesn’t like the psychological walls around his home.

He lives on Monroe Street in the heart of Gent’s addition, but the barriers to which he refers don’t surround a circumscribed area. They surround a people. His people.

“Gent’s Addition is a ghetto. It didn’t have to be at first, but restrictions both inside and out have sustained the old ghetto way of life.

By a ghetto, the Rev. Buchanan means “a place where low-income people live in sub-standard housing without the aid other parts of the city receive.” Continue reading

1973, Gent’s Addition Series, Part 1 of 6

Gent’s Addition is the Heart of Marion’s Black Community

Is it a ghetto surrounded by psychological barriers?

This is the first in a series of six articles by Sandy Blumenfeld about Marion’s “community within a community,” Gent’s addition, the heart of Marion’s black community.

A community within a community, a fixed area within an expanding city. Continue reading

1874, News Clippings

The Marion Monitor (MM) and Egyptian Press (EP) were published during these next few years. The Monitor, published by Copeland and Alden on Thursday, was a Republican paper costing $1.50 per year. The Press, Democratic and published on Friday, was edited by William S. Washburn. The cost of a subscription was also $1.50 per year. Abbreviations indicate which paper these items were taken from. Sometimes different details were given and items were combined from both papers. Continue reading

1856-59, News Clippings

1856

July 10, 1856

100 sacks of salt just received – Norman & Sanders, Marion, Illinois

Elenor McElvoy Vs. John G. McElvoy, bill for divorce

Stop Thief! – Stolen from my residence on the 9th day of this month, a bright bay mare, five years old, supposed to be fourteen hands high, a long black tail and main turning to the left side; not a white spot on her, where the collar comes above, the mare is quite worn off. A liberal reward will be given for her by me in Jackson County. Jane Richert Continue reading