From the files of the July 11, 1957 Ellsworth Reporter.

LEGEND SLEEPY

HOLLOW COULD

CONCERN US

By George Jelinek

In recent years much has been said and suggested but very little done in promoting the welfare of our community. We have accepted the easy way out by trading dollars with little or no effort to get “outof-town” money to help our welfare.

Many towns have gone “all out” to attract tourists who spend freely for their entertainment. Cities have taken advantage of this opportunity by building attractions that stop the tourist. Abilene has the Eisenhower museum and now plans to spend several hundred thousand dollars to re-construct front street as it was in the cowtown days. Thousands of people have registered at the museum. Greensburg has a hand dug hole in the ground, advertised as the largest in the world and again thousands of people spend money to look down in the hole. Dodge City has a fake boot hill that attracted 234,000 people last year. Now they plan to spend $100,000 dollars to build the cowboy capital of the World shrine and museum. Ground is leased and work will begin soon. Larned recently reconstructed Old Fort Larned which is attracting huge crowds. The fort is worth a trip to see. In the western part of the state several business men built a sod house along the highway and again thousands stop to see this attraction. Lake Kanopolis, now the playground of Kansas, attracts several hundred thousand people annually.

And now to mention Ellsworth. A small spot on the map, literally surrounded with interesting attractions that are REAL, not man-made or faked, but true relics of the past. To us, who are so close that we can’t see the opportunity, they mean nothing, but to the visitor who is interested in history, mineralogy, folklore or nature, they are extremely attractive. I have conducted dozens of tours through our town and surrounding areas. Visitors from the east, south, north and west have enjoyed seeing the site of the real west. They have thrilled at the stories, walked the paths of the old western heroes,and have searched the grounds for relics of the past.

Their fine remarks far out-weigh all the criticism I have received and I am sure we are on the right track to provide Ellsworth with a small museum that would house many interesting items. Many people have already reported family keepsakes that carry a story and would truly be informative to our younger generations. It would not be necessary to go to Denver, St. Louis, Chicago, to see these things — We have them right here. Salina, almost too late, realized its mistake and now the city has a fine museum in their park which is attracting thousands of people. You need only to visit Salina and see for yourself. Must we here in Ellsworth remain a “Sleepy Hollow?” Remember, even Rip Van Winkle woke up to find that the world had changed!

In practically every case the common remark — “Why haven’t you people done something about advertising what you have to offer?” Or “Why don’t you put up signs to tell us your story?”

Since television made the old west popular, my desk has been covered with letters asking for facts and information about Ellsworth. Movie and TV script writers have visited Ellsworth to get the true background for their stories and in all instances the information has been given freely with the hope that it would be used and our name would appear before the nation. Abilene, Ellsworth and Dodge were the “big three’ in cowtown days, You have seen movies on Abilene and Dodge but none of Ellsworth. I have been informed that Ellsworth is ashamed of its past. — I have been severely criticized through anonymous mail for digging up the past — but Abilene and Dodge City have capitalized on their history and have outgrown Ellsworth by leaps and bounds.

Through the past several years, I have assembled at no little cost several collections of interesting items pertaining to Ellsworth history and have bought, begged, and borrowed to keep many relics in Ellsworth for museum display. Many of the items are already sought after by larger museums and collectors, and could easily be disposed of for a nice profit. Several years ago I had a fine rock and mineral collection consisting of over 1000 pieces which I attempted to place on permanent display only to have to pack it in boxes and store it in the attic. Recently, I had an offer and sold the collection, which would have been a credit to an Ellsworth museum. For many years I used it in connection with my teaching and many of the old pupils will remember seeing meteorites, septaria, etc., for the first time. Now this is gone as will all the rest of my relics since they are not very attractive packed in boxes in my attic, under the bed, in the kitchen sink and elsewhere where I may find room.

It is truly gratifying to me to spend time in the 90th anniversary headquarters where a part of the collections is on display. Nearly a thousand people have already visited the headquarters, a great many of them from out of town.

...

NEW BUILDING ON

INCREASE

Erection of new building in Ellsworth is on the increase, with a new parsonage, and a new addition going up at the same time.

The Gray Cooney residence on north Lincoln is rapidly taking shape. The residence will be a splitlevel house, with the kitchen, dining room and living room on the grade, or ground level; the two bedrooms and bath on a half-flite elevation, and the garage a half-flite down. The building will be of both frame and brick construction. The frame part of the building is almost completed and the brick veneer work will begin the first of next week.

Another residence building, the erection of which is rapidly getting underway is the Methodist Parsonage at the corner of 9th and Charles. This will be a one-story structure of CR brick construction with a tar and gravel roof. It will house three bedrooms, den, living room, dining room, kitchen, utility room, car port, and a masonry fireplace. The footings and foundation have been completed, and the laying of brick is expected to begin this weekend.

The third construction project of major proportions is the J. H. Robbins Memorial Library, to which an addition is being built, and an extensive remodeling job is outlined. The excavation for the basement is being completed this week and the pouring of the footings and foundation will begin by the end of this week.

...

LAKE IS FAVORITE

SPOT

The Lake Kanopolis reservoir was indeed, a favorite spot on the Fourth of July, when 12,000 persons visited the Lake, either as picnickers, fishermen, or sightseers. It is estimated that five thousand made a trip to the resort on a sight-seeing expedition: better than three thousand were picnickers; and another 1,250 enjoyed the day in recreational activities at the water front or boating. However, the happiest event to report from the site is that there were no accidents in this vast throng.

The reservoir measured 1,487.70 at noon Friday. While the level is 28.7 feet above normal, the reservoir is still estimated to be below half capacity.

Another huge crowd was expected to be on hand at the Lake during the weekend.

...

TO COMPLETE K-45

THIS WEEK

Weather permitting the final stretch of the sub-surfacing on K-45 will be completed this weekend, as the crew has moved to within five or six miles of the K-14 - K-45 junction south of Ellsworth.

The grading and surfacing has been done by “lifts” with a lift comprising a lane of traffic, or half of the highway. The lift as poured on the K-45 is a surface four inches thick, laid in two pourings of two spots on the highway, or areas where wear on the traffic lane is heavier, the thickness has been increased to five or six inches.

The historic items on this page appear as they did in the original publication.