REMINGTON ROCK MARKS HISTORY
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By STEVE SMITH
Eldorado Times Staff Writer
WHITEWATER:
It is a project that has been in the works for several years,
Nick Toews said, and the idea was to devise a " guided tour on paper
which people could follow through the countryside."
It would start at the location where Toews, who is
secretary, and other members of his group were about to conduct an
unveiling ceremony and from that starting point, he said, the thinking
went along the lines of placing a marker to commemorate the forming of
the school district on whose property that marker would be located. |
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-► CLICK HERE The Landscaped Rock |
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" It went from there," he said, " and it just snowballed from there's
youngsters from the modern era played football on the field at
Remington High School Monday evening, members of the Frederic Remington
Area  Historical
Society were gathered around a marker still shrouded in a covering
waiting to be lifted and when it came off the entirety of the "
Remington Rock" became visible for the first time.
The idea behind the " tour on
paper," said Ted Regier, president of the Remington Historical Society
committee and a member of the committee which coordinated the rock
project, was to point out the historical sites around the neighboring
community. Those include the old cemeteries and the
farms which have been worked for generations, as well as the places
where schools and churches were.
Think also, Regier said, of little towns like Plum Grove, north of
Potwin, which is gone now. The " Remington Rock" will be the starting
place for the tour, Regier said, and it will also be a way to mark the
formation of what is now Remington Unified School District 206.
" Eventually," he said, " we want to be able to give people a
brochure and a map" pointing out the various historical locations
around the area.
Other locations could be marked with something like a numbered stone or
cement pillar, he said, and visitors " could follow the roads and see
where these places were."
Regier said the " Remington Rock" is the beginning of what will be an ongoing project.
" This is basically the start," he said, adding he has stopped at
other museums around Kansas where all the different historical sites
around the county are talked about. " We want to do the same thing here" for
northwest Butler County and for Remington USD 206, he said, adding
tourists coming through the area and having an interest in finding some
local historical places will have a guide.
" We have a lot of information gathered," he said. " We just have to
make it concise in a map and a brochure." Also, he said, permission to put up markers will need to
be obtained from landowners on whose properties places of historical
interest are located or once stood.
Members of the " Remington Rock" committee included
Ted Regier, Nick Toews, Betty Baker, Agnes Harder and Marilyn Umbach.
Milton Claassen, Elwood King, Gary Sommers and Lyman Spencer were
instrumental in first getting the project launched. Members of the USD 206 school board which
gave approval for locating the rock at RHS are board chair John
Klaassen and board members Jayne Carey, Doug Claassen, Calvin Klaassen,
Jim Klenke, Tom Sommers and Jeff Toews.
Jim Johnson is USD 206 superintendent, and James Regier is RHS principal.
Former architect Stan Regier drew several designs to show what the prepared stone might look like when it was finished.
J.L. Unruh donated the three-ton rock; and RHS teacher Susan Hanzlicek
wrote the paragraph which is inscribed on the rockšs 30-inch by 30-inch
plaque.
Mike Talbert is owner of the stoneworks business in Newton which
ordered the plaque and prepared the stone for its insertion. Committee and historical society members
said they are also appreciative of the funding provided to the society
each year for upkeep and projects.
UBP Eldorado Times
Steve Smith Eldorado Times Staff Writer |
