Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 65, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1911 — Did Anyone Ever Give Anything To Help Beautify Rensselaer? [ARTICLE]

Did Anyone Ever Give Anything To Help Beautify Rensselaer?

We have been wondering, if anybody ever gave Rensselaer anything. There have been, a number of InSeti make a fortune and make- it right here in Rensselaer or its environs and pass into the next, world, without leaving a copper for the improvement of Rensselaer. Many other towns and cities are made the benefactors of the success of some of the men who have been mindful of the town that helped them grow t 6 prominence, but Rensselaer has not been so fortunate. “We have always wanted to believe that Dr. W. W. Hartsell would have preferred the property which he accumulated to have been devoted to the c4y where he had grown and prospered instead of going to wealthy relatives in a distant land about whom ho did not care and who did not care for him. It would have been very easy for Dr. Hartsell to have made a gift to Rensselaer that would have helped to beautify the city and also have been a memorial to him. In a few years Dr. Hartsell will have been forgotten, but had he erected a hospital bearing his name, or provided for the beautification of a park or the erection of a monument his jpemory would have been perpetuated and those who recall him simply as a selfish man who lived for personal accumulation and passed away as selfishly as he lived would have had cause to recall the good deeds of his life. There are others who have died in the past few years who could have given pf their plenty something to recall the good of their lives and when w* see that other towns and cities have been remembered we wonder why Rensselaer has been forgotten. It is not only the dead but the living here that seem to have forgotten that money is for some other purpose than to hoard for self or relatives. So, we have been wondering if any one ever gave Rensselaer anything. Over at Kentland last week the town purchased of C. C. Kent lots for a new pumping station. And when the price of payment was tendered to Mr. Kent he said: “I do not want this money, but do want it expended in the beautification of the grounds around the station. Take it and use It for that purpose. George Ade, the author and playwright, had the .week before given a substantial sum for the same purpose and the railroad was appealed to and it generously agreed to haul two or more cars of dirt, whatever was needed, to fill the grounds. Milroy park should have attention this year 'and the general public should not have to contribute a cent toward it. Tl.ey helped to buy the grounds and they helped to contribute the funds for the erection of the monnment Much of the money spent for this monument and statue came from out of Rensselaer and our old friends were very liberal in this respect. But it needs to be improved and should have a cement coping around it, similar to that around the court house. It should be filled and flower beds and gravel walks established through it. There are a number, of men in Rensselaer who could take it upon themselves to do this work and establish a cause for the plaudits of an appreciative people as well as leaving behind a grateful regard that is worth more than great riches. There are so many things that Rensselaer needs and so many men that are well able to supply them that it would seem that some one would take the suggestion.