Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-01-31
BOOSTERS WHO ARE GONE

"How long have you lived In Mar
shalltown?" inquired one prominent
Marshalltown merchant of another at
the Marshaltown Club.
About twenty years." was the an
swer.
"Oh, you are one of the old residents.
aren't your? was the rejoinder.
II should say | was!" the other re-
piled. "A man becomes an old resi-
dent in ten years the way men die Off
and move away. Did you see that re-
port in the T.-R. about 143 stock
holders who bought stock in the buggy
company ten years ago? | was one or
them. The Retail Merchants Assoca-
ton put over that job and we sold the
leading business boosters of the town
in that day. They were established in
business here to stay then, but now
out of 143 twenty-one are dead ana
twenty-five have moved away, all in
ten short years. Did it ever occur to
you that the customers at our stores
and the entire community are all
changing that fast?"
sure" said the T.-R. man. Look
over that Marshalltown Illustrated
magazine which we put out for the Re
tail Merchants Association about ten
years ago. 1t was supposed to contain
the pictures of the representative men
who were doing things in Marslialltown
in that day. 1t looks like an old album
of departed saints Here it is. Let's
go thru it,
Here is page devoted to eleven
prominent churches. with pictures Of
: Of hn n y
ers are dead, all the rest but one have
moved away. and four Of the eleven
church buildings have been either
pulled down or abandoned. Four new
and better churches and the mag
nificent Y. NJ. G. A. have been erected
in their stead
and on the next page, devoted to
Banks and Bankers, the steadiest
things in any town. three of the six
bank presidents and cashiers whose
pictures were shown are dead, and of
the four banks one has since failed
and two new ones with fine new
bank building have come to town.
There is q group picture of Post
master Smith and thirty-one assistants
all under civil service. DO you know
that the postmaster and four others in
that group have died. while six others
have left the service?"
Take the big industries of that day
only ten years back. The boosters
were ambitious to get more factories
then. but they never dreamed Of what
would happen to the industries which
they had in the short space of ten years.
A full page in the magazine was given
10 ,ctr fbn fire
four of the big ones are gone. The
buggy company is closed down and the
four officers who gaze so hopefully
from the page have all left Marshall
town. The packing house is
closed down, one of it's two
managers is dead. two Of its eight
statesmen are dead, and two more have
left the city. The Shorthill Company
is busted and gone, and its manager
has moved away. The Lennox Ma
chine Company plant has burned down,
the factory is gone, and one Of the
two partners 1s dead. The Lennox
Furnace Company is here and has built
an immense new plant, but it's general
manager Of that day has left the com
pany, left the city, and then returned
again."
given the Letts-Fletcher Company
has lost it's second vice president by
death and It's general manager by re-
moval to California out of the five Of
flcers whose portraits are shown. The
Spences-Letts Coffee Company on the
next page, IS no more, but McCreeTy
and tho two Spencers have gone over
to the Western Grocer mills Of today.
The Marshall Oil Company is here and
| bigger than ever, but one Of the two
| able partners is dead. The Drop
Forge Company was ambitious enough
| in those days to occupy a full page
| in the booster magazine. 1t Is long
since gone and the three partners have
left the city. or the Marshall Vinegar
Company one of the two officers whose
pictures were shown. +. B. Garvin rs
now incurably insane. The Marshall
| Ice Mompany is still intact and has not
melted away. Likewise Fl. Willard Sons
& Co. the Central Iowa Business Col
lesc and the Marshalltown Syrup Com
pany, but the LeCirand Quarry Com
pany has been sold, it's owner is dead,
its general manager permanently in