Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1907-04-25
DOOMED THEIR TOWN
How Mark Twain's Boyhood Vii
lage Became a Lively City.
COMMERCIAL CLUB GOT BUSY.

Story of Hannibal Proves That the
Average Community Can Profit by
Taking Advantage of Opportunities.
Business Men Must Get Together.
What a live and active commercial
club can do for a town is indicated in
the case of Hannibal, Mo. Hannibal is
chiefly known afar as the early home
Of Mark Twain. For many years the
town was content to rest with it's lau-
rels as the boyhood home of the great
est American humorist. Mark Twain
himself had made it famous in his
writings, such as Tom Sawyer and
"Hucklcberry Finn" in which books
the Hannibal of sixty years ago is
described. But that Hannibal was only
a village, a small, struggling collection
of houses lying in a valley between the
hills that rise north and south from
the bank of the mighty Mississippi.
Even row somebody occasionally re-
fers to Hannibal as a village.
AS a matter of fact, Hannibal grew
considerably after Mark Twain left
there. So did every other western
town which time and change blessed
with a railroad or two. Hannibal got
to be a city of about 10000 people, but
that was its limit in the natural order
Of things. 1t had grown up to just as
big a town as the agricultural country
lying back of it could support. That
country was all cultivated and devel-
oped, so there was no natural economic
reason why Hannibal should grow Just
Of itself beyond it's little old $4,000 or
so, which it maintained with scarcely
a f%uctuation through several decades.
Less than ten years ago Hannibal
began to wake up. A commercial club
was organized. Some of the leading
business and professional men got to-
gether and said to themselves: I'VE
have here a beautiful old town, with a
fine climate, several railroads and one
river-the biggest ever. Why don't we
grow? We have grown to the limit as
a farming community, and what we
need now is factories-just factories.
Let's reach out and get a few
That wSs good stiff talk. Hannibal
was tired of being known only as the
somnolent village where Sammy Glenn
ems whitewashed the fence-or bribed
the other boys to do it. So the bust
ness men reached out.
The first thing that came H%annibars
way was a shoe factory. 1t did not
ONE without pulling. Other good
towns wanted it too. But Hannibal
wanted it so badly that special induce
ments were offered. Hannibal got it.
With the shoe factory came an in
crease of population. Many skilled
workers were required. Besides this,
many Of the local young folks who had
been merely hanging to the ragged
edge of existence-out of jobs most of
the time-soon found profitable en-
ployment and grew to be skilled work
ers. Thus the shoe factory worked
both ways. 1t brought new people,
and it put new life into the old people.
OF course 1T helped business generally,
for the weekly payroll was large, and
the people spent it right in Hannibal.
The next thing was a whole lot big
ger than a shoe factory. 1t was a regu-
lar ten strike. For some years a rocky
region south of the city had been sus-
pected of being guilty of portland ce-
ment. The Commercial club of Han
nibal induced experts to visit the place
and examine the ground. After much
fuss and furore a big company was or
ganized, q cement plant costing more
than a million dollars was established,
and in n large lump about 5000 popu-
lation was added to Hannibal. The
town grew SO fast that you could al
most see it expand.
New business blocks in brick and
ingS appeared. New hotels With pri-
vate baths were built. Only four years
ago Mark Twain went to Hannibal to
see if he could find any old boyhood
friends. He stopped at the biggest
hotel in town and asked the clerk for
a room with a bath. The clerk stared
at him in amazement. Nobody had
udleu SuSA q pAcpOolelOuS Suggestion
in the history of Hannibal. But if
Mark Twain should 60 there now he
would find a hotel with private baths
and private telephones. The CONNER
cial club did it.
Hannibal is now a thriving city with
about 10000 people. 1t is still reach
ing out after factories, because every
factory means a considerable increase
in the population. ALI increases mean
more business for the butcher, the bak-
err and the builder, not to speak of the
banker.
The country is full Of just such towns
as Hannibal. which have within them
selves the possibility of much larger
growth. The right kind of commercial
club or board Of trade can do the bust
ness.
Beauty the Approaches.
The approaches to a civ mr. town