| Summary: | ORGANIZATIONS GREATER MARION ASSOCIATION The Greater Marion Association is an outgrowth of the Marion Booster Club, which was a club made up of the Marion businessmen. As a Booster Club some of the projects carried out were free outdoor movies and entertaining the farmers at a supper in the hall. This took place in the winter and one township was entertained at a time. Later this club was reorganized as the Greater Marion Association. At first the village officers served as the club officers. In 1935 the club, with Cliff Opsahl as president and C. A. Arduser as secretary, sponsored the growing of trees within the village. Each home owner was urged to plant two evergreens and two trees of another variety. At this time the club, working through F.E.R.A., set up a recreational council, which was to work with the Village Council. A playground was set up with tennis, volleyball and other miscellaneous equipment. A band project was considered at the same time with Supt. Sater in charge. Open air band concerts were given through the summer months. As time went on, the club became independent of the village board electing its own officers. Many worthwhile projects have been worked out among them: fall fairs, the Golden Jubilee in 1950, Christmas street lighting, new bandstand and picnic tables and Wednesday evening outdoor programs at which the businessmen give away prizes. At present, they are in charge of the Diamond Jubilee. It has always been the aim of the Greater Marion Association to creates fine feeling of cooperation between farmers and businessmen and to make Marion a better place in which to live. MARION VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT On February 7, 1912, in response to a call by Mayor C. H. Deyoe, 22 men were present for the purpose of organizing a Fire Department for the Village of Marion. E. A. Greenwald was elected Chief of the Dept. with Louis Baertsch as Assistant, J. C. Roti as Secretary and Treas., S. J. Provan. On March 5,1912, by-laws were adopted and signed. The first fund raising project was a basket social and dance held on May 17. This project netted a profit of $43.05. Within the next 5 months, the Dept. had 3 different Chiefs. Wm. Watts replaced E. A. Greenwald who resigned. The next Chief was P. Dykstra and in January of 1914, Emil Bassen was elected Chief until Aug. of 1917. Each year a delegation of 3 or 4 men were elected to attend the State Fireman's Tournament with all expenses paid by the Dept. A committee of 3 were appointed to obtain prices on steel towers for the bell and to see about leasing a lot for the fire hall. Today the fire hall is still on the same lot. The Village Board leased the lots to the Dept. for a period of 5 years. A 36 foot galvanized bell tower was ordered and the old tower was sold to E. Lange for $1.00. Ernest Lange became Chief in 1918. Changes in the by-laws were made which helped to strengthen and improve the department. Article 16, Sec. 1 of the by-laws referring to a fine of 50 cents on any member not present at a meeting was discontinued. A fine was levied against anyone who rang the fire bell when there was no fire. During Marion Fire Department L to R: Richard Waldie, Dean Mclnnes, Carl Opdahl, George Lillehoff, Fat Baeth, Charles Rodin (in asbestos suit), Kenneth Baeth, George Boom, Ronald Trapp, Asst. Chief,Lyle Rodin,Chief Chief Conrad's term (July 11, 1918 to Dec. 5, 1918) new smoke masks were purchased at a cost of $12.00 apiece. Chief John Kallander held office from Jan. 9, 1919 to Dec. 2,1931. Each year a special supper was put on for the members of the Dept. In 1922, the financial statement of the Dept. showed a balance of $127.80. Dues paid to the North Dakota Fireman's Association were $8.00 for the year. (By comparison 1975 dues total $40.00; $20.00 for the City and $20.00 for the Rural). Once again in July 1932, Emil Bassen was elected Chief. In the 1930's times were hard and the Village of Marion found itself in need of financial help. It was decided that the Fire Dept. would' loan the Village $50.00 with the understanding that the Village would return the money when it could. This was in 1933 and it was 1937 before any amount of money could be applied on the loan and then it was only $5.00. Cleo Flugga took over as Chief in 1939. Committees for fire drills and fire inspection were appointed. The Village once again paid $5.00 on their loan from the Dept. Chief Roy Sibley took over from 194042 when H. Meyer became Chief. Finally in 1942, the Village of Marion was able to pay back the balance of their loan of $40.00 to the Dept. The Dept. bought a $50.00 war bond which was left at the Marion State Bank for safe keeping. Cleo Flugga was reelected Chief in 1947. That same year a committee of 5 men were appointed to look into the cost of a new fire truck. The Townships of Sheridan, Greenland, Saratoga and Grand View were contacted and asked to help in this project in return for fire protection. In August, 1948, a 1946 Ford truck was purchased. Consequently, the old fire wagons were ordered disposed of. George Boom was elected Chief in 1950. Contracts between the townships and Fire Dept. were drawn up concerning fire protection. Assistant Chief E. L. Baertsch took over the job as Chief upon George's resignation and held this position until 1952 when V. M. Jorve was elected Chief. L. E. Martin was authorized to take the fire truck for use in refilling the train engine and a charge of $2.00 a trip was made to be paid by Northern Pacific Railway Co. In 1953, Harry Pederson took on the job of Fire Chief. It was decided to put a cement floor in the addition to the fire hall. Donald 51 Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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