It’s been busy spring at the Marion Heritage Center! At the beginning of the month, on Sunday, May 10, our own Sam Dillion gave a presentation entitled “Marion’s Train Past into the Future.” (His wife Jo ran the projector.) Sam, who grew up out East, has loved trains since early childhood. He was thrilled when...

Charlie Carrington wasn’t the first popcorn man in Marion’s City Square Park, nor was he the last. But he was there through the Depression and World War II, continuing a tradition that began in 1914. For twenty-two years, every afternoon from April into November, Charlie came to his little white stand, on the NE corner of the park; a shed...

A primary benefit of membership in our Historical Society is access to our library. From early editions of the “History of Linn County,” to Marvin Oxley’s diaries, and virtually every issue of the Marion Sentinel … the Heritage Center Library is a community treasure. Unique among its features is the collection of select documentation assembled by Pat Klopfenstein on dozens of subjects...

Bill Reed was a 1934 Marion High School graduate who achieved the status of true American Hero fame and died 10 years later. Now, almost 80 years later, representatives of the Marion Historical Society have been asked to present the case for memorializing Flying Tiger Ace Bill Reed by designating and naming the runway area of the Marion Airport as “Lieutenant...

In 1914, members of the Women’s Relief Corps dedicated a statue in City Square Park commemorating the sacrifice and victory of the Union soldier after the American Civil War. The statue was one of thousands produced and erected in cities across America – at least in the North. Given the fact that more than 100 years have passed and the Civil...

Many people today have fond memories of Cira’s Grocery Store across Seventh Avenue from City Square Park. They talk about the ice cream on a stick made by Mike Cira’s brother-in-law, Charlie Gallo. This unique confection was made of ice cream “wrapped” on a stick and dipped in chocolate which immediately became hard. Jack Larson says the “lollipops” were made for...

This bicycle built for six was a sensation when it visited Marion in May of 1896.

Credit Governor Theodore Roosevelt with signing the first bicycle side path law into effect in 1899. Learn why it would take another 60 years before bicycle trails were supported in Iowa.