Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 112, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1915 — HOME TOWN HELPS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HOME TOWN HELPS

GIVES VIEW OF COMMUNITY

Plan of Chicago City Club Is to Develop the Neighborhood Spirit. In the small city or village nothing In particular is done ordinarily to stimulate the neighborhood spirit. That force grows and develops naturally In a small community. People come to know one another without effort fthd easily retain their friendships and acquaintanceships. Thus is provided a substantial foundation for community interest, which is another name for neighborhood spirit.

In a city of large proportions the community interest, the neighborhood spirit, is less apparent and less cohesive. There is such an excess of humanity all about that unnatural barriers are anxiously thrown up against the making of friends too readily. Even neighbors living in the same apartment building remain strangers for months on end. Yet a city like Chicago, if it is to establish the cohesive Interest that finally produces community interest, must develop somewhat in terms of the neighborhood spirit. Out of this comes the broader interest that embraces the affairs of the whole city. This situation gives special value to the neighborhood center competition that is about to be featured at the Chicago City club. The purpose, as announced, is “to bring before the public, in graphic form, the practical possibilities of enhancing neighborhood life In our cities by better, and especially better grouped, buildings and grounds for neighborhood activities.”

This object Is a particularly worthy one. It fits in well with the public properties exhibition at the City club. By this means an opportunity la given Chicago citizens to obtain a clear idea of what they own as a community—their schools, libraries, museums, streets, bridges, parks, playgrounds, baths, police and fire stations, and so on. The well-informed citizen should have definite knowledge of this “great community estate” in which he Is a stockholder. The exhibition and the competition, with their incidental meetings and discussions, should do much to establish a broader concept of these essential matters. —Chicago News.