The Penn's Grove record., 1904-06-10
AN OHIO TOWNS BOOM
ATEN DOLLAR PRIZE BROUGHT MANY
IMPROVEMENTS.

The Citizens Woke Up, and Every
body In h Community Took a
Hand In the WOrk-What Was Ac-
compIished In n Short Time.
ut took just a ten dollar gold piece to
start our town booming" said the resi-
dent Of a pretty little Ohio town re-
Gently, "and, although we have spent
hundreds Of dollars on the boom since
then, money was never put to better
use."
"Who started the work. he was
asked.
Zone Of our enterprising merchants,
and it was the best move he ever made
in his life. We all give him full credit
for the results, and his business has
grown enormously in consequence.
about three years ago." he contin-
ued, "our town was steadily losing in
population. 1t is fairly well situated,
has four fine churches, three good
schools and a number of fine residences;
but, taken all in all, it was not the
sort of place to attract outsiders seek
ing a change Of residence. Among
other things-things that will keep any
town doWn-Our streets were badly
paved, and little attention was paid to
keeping them clean; our public build
ings badly needed painting and repair
ing, and our citizens were very careless
in regard to the appearance of their
yards and residences.
Zone spring." continued the Ohioan,
"this merchant I spoke Of inserted a
notice In the local paper calling at
tention to the way things were being
neglected and offering a prize Of a ten
dollar gold piece to the boy or girl who
should show the prett1est front yard
during the summer. This started the
york with a rush, and every child in
the town set out to win that coin or die
IN tbs. attempt. OF course 1t caused
a1pt of-talk, and it wasn't long before
we all got the village beautiful fe-
yer. Seeds were purchased and plant
ed, pnsightly fences were taken down,
lawns were cut and trimmed, houses
repaired and painted, and there fol-
lowed a general cleaning up from one
end Of the community to the other.
There was a great deal Of rivalry In
the matter, too, and no one would let
his neighbor get the better of him in
the work Of improvement.
1.-THE results were marvellous. In a
short time you wouldn't have known
the place. A village improvement 30
ciety was organized that summer, and
It did and Is doing splendid work. Our
streets have been repaved, public
buildings improved 100 per cent, and
the town has walked up to the fact that
1t pays to be alive. Our next census
will, / think. show a large increase in
population, as a number of families
have moved in during the past two
years, and new ones are coming In all
the time.
sour local papers also deserve q lot
Of praise in this matter. They took
up the work from the start and have
given the boom their closest attention.
The names Of those making improve
tnents have been published, and this
has done much to keep the boom alive.
When John Jones reads that Joe
Brown has had enterprise enough to
fix up his premises so that they are a
credit to the town, Jones is going to do
the same.
YES" concluded the Ohioan, "a ten
dollar gold piece started the boom, and
one of us regrets the money he has
spent in following it up. 1t has raised
the price of real estate considerably,
proved healthful and instructive to the
children and has been a good thing all
around. Having begun to realize the
benefits of such a boom, W. propose to
keep 1t up, and next summer will see
more improvements going on In our
town than ever before"
A. b. LEWIS.