Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-09-16
HOW TO MAKE
THEM ATTRACT
What Are We Doing to Make
Grand Rapids and Wood
County More Attractive.

What is it that makes town
worth living in? What excuse has
Grand Rapids for the claim that it
is good residence or good bust
ness town? True it is the center
of a large circle of good, fair farm
ing land still there are lots of other
sections with just as good farming
land We will assume that the ma
tural resources around Grand Rap
ids are ample. The soil is fertile,
the methods of farming and stock
raising good. the crops are uniform
ly fair. Under normal conditions
the town of such a rural district
should share it's prosperity. Here we
have a County Seat that partakes
of this condition. The visitor observ-
es that the houses are we'll built, the
grounds well kept, and the homes
attractive and artistic. He is i'm
pressed at once with the fact that
the value of the beautiful is appre
ciated by the citizen and that the
spirit of cooperation is abroad. And
he is liable to have a faint suspic-
ion that a Woman's Club is exercis-
ing an influence here.
1t will be found that in every pro-
gressive community a substantial
number of energetic public spirited
men and women have systematical-
ly gone about the improvement of
their homes; they have set exam
pies, they have devoted themselves
to fostering the spirit of local pride
of home town work. They have de-
termined to make their town most
satisfactory to live in, a place of
beauty, convenience, and health.
They have devoted their energies to-
ward making their town the real
heart of the surrounding country. 1t
may be a weak, inactive heart, or
it may be strong, enthusiastic, pull
sating heart, carrying the current of
its influence vigorously into the re-
hottest corner of the territory it dom
mates.
A good farming community buys
much. The people live we'll, and
raise a wholesome variety of products
but they buy through the year many
things. The average farmer spends
$527 a year for supplies. Some buy
more, some buy less. Now, this
means a large circulation of money,
perhaps, three hundred thousand dol
lars, in a circle extending out of
Grand Rapids eight miles, which is
the average territory that a good
trading point draws from. This a.
mount is expended annually. Is the
town itself such as to impress them
with the feeling that it is the real
heart of the community? Is it a
pretty town in which they cannot
but feel just pride? Has it we'll
kept streets and good roads leading
into it over which it is a delight to
drive either with alight buggy or
a heavily loaded wagon, carrying a
load of produce to market? Has it
shade trees and an attempt at least
at a public park to make it attrac-
tive? In short, is it such a place
as a man may be glad to visit, to
patronize, and to call his town, and
when as he retires in his latter years
from the active work of farm life
he may move or look forward to NOV
ing into and becoming himself a resi-
dent.
The young man living in Grand
Rapids, or any part of Wood county,
hardly realizes what it has cost to
fur traders country and dot it with
thrifty villages and cover it with
happy homes of the white man and
civilization.
What about the future of Wood
County? What are the attractions
for the young man in the prime of
life? What does the future offer
them?
The young or middle aged man who
comes to this county to succeed as
a farmer must realize the fact that
a revolution in agriculture is now TAX
ing place. Formerly men farmed
with their muscle. In the future
they will farm with their brain.
Heretofore many a farmer has been
simply the best animal on his farm.
be a man of trained mind and eX-
pert knowledge.