PAGE4 THE POST EDITORIAL State seeks old barns ically significant structures. House Resolution 463 and Sen- ate Resolution 190 were spear- headed by the legislative board members of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. These resolutions call for the Department of Agri- culture and PHMC to inventory and catalogue historic barns in Pennsylvania and to report their joint findings to the General As- sembly no later than Nov. 30. The results of the inventory will be available to promote Pennsylva- nia’s agriculture and tourism in- dustries. All information should be mailed to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, 200 North Third St., Suite 600, Harrisburg, Pa. 17101 or e-mail info@ruralpa.org. For more information about the program, call (717) 787-9555 or visit the Web site www.rural- pa.org. Owners of Pennsylvania barns built before 1960 are encouraged to participate in a statewide in- ventory being conducted by the state Department of Agriculture, Pennsylvania Historical and Mu- seum Commission and the Cen- ter for Rural Pennsylvania. To assist with the inventory, the Center for Rural Pennsylva- nia is asking owners of barns built before 1960 to contact the center and provide their name, address and county of residence. Barn owners should also include the style or architecture of the barn, if possible, and indicate if the barn is being used for farming operations. Last fall, the state Senate and House of Representatives unani- mously passed resolutions recog- nizing the importance of the state’s historic barns and urging a statewide inventory of the histor- POST FILE PHOTO/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK MOMENTS IN TIME The History Channel * On May 31,1819, Walt Whitman is born in West Hills, N.Y. In 1855, he self-published a slim volume of poems called “Leaves of Grass,” which carried his picture but not his name. Whitman continued to issue revised editions until his death in 1892. * On June 2,1924, Congress passes the Indian Citizenship Act, conferring citizenship on all Native Americans born within U.S. terri- torial limits. The privileges of citizenship were largely governed by state law, and the right to vote was often denied to Native Americans in the early 20th century. ® On June 3, 1936, bestselling novelist Larry McMurtry is born in Wichita Falls, Texas. In the late 1990s, he began a massive attempt to turn Archer, Texas, into a haven for book lovers by buying abandoned buildings and filling them with hundreds of thousands of used books for sale. * On June 1,1949, Lawrence Welk's band begins a two-year stint as the house orchestra for the radio show “High Life Review.” Welk made the move to TV in 1951, and remained there until 1982. * On May 30, 1967, actor Claude Rains, best known for his role as the dapper chief of police in “Casablanca,” dies at age 77. Although he never won an Oscar, he was nominated several times, for “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” (1939), “Casablanca” (1943) and "“Noto- rious” (1946). * On May 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford vetoes a $5.3 billion jobs bill green-lighted by Congress that would have created some 1 million badly needed jobs. In its place, Ford moved to pass a bill that extend- ed unemployment benefits to 65 weeks. The jobless rate at the time was 9.2 percent. ® On June 4,1989, Chinese troops storm through Tiananmen Square in Beijing, killing and arresting thousands of pro-democracy protesters. Reporters and Western diplomats on the scene estimated that perhaps thousands of the protesters were killed and as many as 10,000 were arrested. (c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc. STRANGE BUT TRUE King Features, Synd. * |[t was a Dutch explorer named Peter Minuit who famously pur- chased all of Manhattan Island from local Native American tribes in 1626. In return for the land, the tribes received some cloth, beads, hatchets and other merchandise; totaled all together, the goods were worth about $24, which comes out to about $1 for every square mile of land. Not a bad deal - for the Dutch, anyway. Consider current real estate values in the area: In 2005, the cost of a single square foot of living space averaged over $1,000. * A bat flying at night is able to bounce a sonar signal off a single mosquito. * Noted humorist Josh Billings - often quoted in this column - was not only funny, he was an astute student of the human race. Another example of his wit and wisdom: “I don’t care how much a man talks, if he only says it in a few words.” * The name “Bethlehem” means, literally, “House of Bread.” * Have you ever heard of Worcester Polytechnic Institute? Me, neither - at least until recently. A few days ago | learned that WPI (as | imagine the Massachusetts school is known, since the full name is rather unwieldy) offers a useful new amenity to students: Wi-Fi wash- ing machines. Students who are washing their clothes can go online to check the status of their laundry on a dedicated Web page. * |f you're like the average adult resident of North America, here's an interesting exercise for you: Take your current weight and multiply it by 600. Studies show that the number you come up with is the amount of trash you'll throw away over the course of your lifetime. ® oo 0 Thought for the Day: “The only thing that experience teaches us is that experience teaches us nothing.” - Andre Maurois Tae POST TIMES©LEADER Community Newspaper Group + 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, Pa. 18711 ® 570-675-5211 thepost@leader.net Patrick McHugh PUBLISHER David C. Konopki EDITOR Erika Calvert ADVERTISING RE Filling the world again with the promise of new life, raindrops pour off these backyard plum blossoms. FOR THE POST/CHARLOTTE BARTIZEK Editor’s note: The following item appeared in The Dallas Post nearly 70 vears ago. We thought our readers would enjoy reading about other cities with the name Dallas that are lo- cated throughout the United States. If you know some unique his- . tory about your home- town, and ONLY vou would # with our readers, call editor Dave Konop- ki at 829-7248 or e-mail dkonop- ki@leadermnet. With the exception of a few minor changes, the story ap- pears as it did nearly seven dec- ades ago. Mr. and Mrs. Dallas, I want you to meet your family — the 15 other cities named Dallas that dot the map from Pennsylvania to Oregon and South Florida. Maybe you have never heard of them, but you can bet your boots that many of them have heard of you, read with special interest news accounts from your town and are interested in your progress. Although you have never been in them, the clerks in the Dallas post office know all about the eight that have post offices, for they are always getting their mail. The druggists or other post- card dealers in each Dallas can tell you the story of the tourist who stopped, bought local view cards and said, with a touch of pride in his voice: “I am from Dallas, Texas (or perhaps Col- orado or Oregon or West Virgin- ia) and I am going to send these to the folks back home to prove to them that I have discovered another Dallas." I'm sure you want to know something about your family, so let me introduce them to you in- dividually, in alphabetical order, according to states. COLORADO Dallas, Colorado, located in the heart of the Rocky Moun- tains, has a population of six! Not 600 or 6,000 but six people. It is located in Ouray County on the Denver, Rio Grande and Western Railroad and has no post office. The residents get their mail through Ridgeway, Col. Grover C. Huffnagle, postmas- ter of Ridgeway, writes: “Dallas, Colorado is only a side track and a switch on the Ouray branch of the Denver, Rio Grande and Western Railroad. “The land is all in acreage and being farmed now. There is only one house left.” FLORIDA Dallas, Florida is so small that no population is listed for it in the atlas. Itis located in the center of the state, in Marion County, on the Seaboard Airline Railroad and has no post office. The city’s mail goes through Summerfield, Fla. About 15 Years ago it was the junction between the Seaboard Airline Railroad and a logging road. At that time there was a de- pot, one or two stores, a post of- fice and a turpentine still. Now, there is nothing but a Seaboard siding. GEORGIA Dallas, Georgia, population 1,245, is located in Paulding County, on the Southern and the Seaboard Airline Railroad, 35 miles northwest of Atlanta. Here they have a cotton factory, gin- nery, knitting and planing mills, and a weekly paper called the New Era. IOWA Dallas, Iowa, population 717, is located in Marion County, 30 miles south of Des Moines. MLA. Goff of Dallas, Iowa, writes: “Dallas was laid out in 1857. It was first named Ohio Town. It was settled by people from Ohio. Two years later, the name was changed to Dallas. Some say it was named Dallas for a vice-president, while others say a man by the name of Dallas moved in and they named it after him. This is a farming and coal mining town. NORTH CAROLINA Dallas, North Carolina, pop- ulation 1,489, is located in Gas- ton County, on the Carolina and Northwestern Railroad, in’ the foothills of the Blue Ridge moun- tains and near the South Caroli- na state line. Dr. Carme Everett Phillips, pastor of the Long Creek Memorial Baptist Church, writes: “Abraham Lincoln’s uncle and aunt, Jesse Holland and his wife, Martha Hanks Holland — a sister of Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the mother of Abraham Lincoln — donated the land upon which the’ town of Dallas was established in 1846. Dallas was the county seat un- til the up-growth of Gastonia, four miles south of Dallas, caused the removal to that town in 1911. “Dallas, N.C., was named in honor of the Hon. George M. Dallas, vice-president during the James K. Polk administration,” writes Phillips. “Dallas is a town of 1,500 in- habitants. It has three cotton mills, a wood fiber and broom factory, and a flour mill that fur- nishes employment to most of the inhabitants — and others in nearby towns.” OREGON Dallas, Oregon, population 2,975, is located on the Southern Pacific Railroad, 35 miles from the Pacific Coast. This Dallas section of Oregon competes with certain sections of our own state in raising Angora goats in a big way. They have fruit packing houses, a machine shop, sash factory, sawmills, hop and fruit dryers and a tannery. Earle Richardson, editor of the Item-Observer of Dallas, Ore., writes: “Dallas, Oregon, located in the heart of the Williamette Valley, 15 miles west Salem (state cap- ital) and 65 miles southwest of Portland, takes its name from George M. Dallas, vice-president during the term of President James Polk. Polk County, of which Dallas is the county seat, was named for President Polk and was formed in 1845. The city dates back to 1851, when the first courthouse constructed in Cyn- thian. The city’s name was later changed to Dallas by legislative act. Wide streets were a wise pro- vision of the town site. Dallas is the center of the dried prune pro- duction of the northwest. Its principal industry is lumbering. Paul Launder, also of Dallas, Ore. and who ends his letters with “very truly yours, amen,” writes: Td “In 1873, a sort of commission for of government was adopted which was used until 1901, when the town was incorporated. The people of Dallas are favored by the proximity of the town to the beaches. Good roads, built in re- cent years, have reduced the dis- tance via highway to the coast to 50 miles. The average rainfall is rated at 41.7 5 inches annually. PENNSYLVANIA Dallas, Pa., population 1,188 is located in Luzerne County, on the Lehigh Valley Railroad, nine miles from Wilkes-Barre. The Dallas Post last spring suggested to the Texas Centennial that it make some gesture toward Dal- las’ kin cities scattered across the map of the United States. Dallas Township, Pa., was most likely the first Dallas. SOUTH DAKOTA Dallas, South Dakota, with a population 645, is located in Gre- gory County on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. The city is located in tall corn country. Here they have a weekly paper called The News. Editor EW. Grinnel writes: “The original town site of Dal- las, S.D. was ten miles southeast of its present location, on Ponca Creek. A year before the railroad was extended from Bonesteel west in 1907. Dallas was moved to its present location five miles west of Gregory, to a point on the railroad. Dallas lies in the center of the famous Rosebud country and was the point of registration and drawing for the Tripp Coun- ty land opening by the federal government in 1908. The surrounding country is agricultural and before the drought was famous for its pure- bred hogs. During the years pre- ceding the drought, heavy ship- ments of grain were made from four elevator companies doing business in Dallas. WEST VIRGINIA Dallas, West Virginia, popula- tion 125 is located in Marshall County. Postmaster E.L. Kim- mins writes: : “This village of about 150 pop- ulation has very little to contrib- ute to the general history of the ? United States although, as do many of the early settlements, it contains a great deal of local his- tory. It is located near the home of the famous scout and Indian fighter, Lewis Wetzel, and was founded at a time when his name was a password to the ‘home cir- cle’ of the Wheeling district. “In 1816, Thomas Haney planned and laid out the village, naming it Haneytown in honor of himself. In approximately 1825, the townsfolk expressed the desire to have a post office and the name of West Union p office was given to the village: This was one of the first post of- fices in what is now West Virgin- ia. “Under this name, the West Union Presbyterian Church was built in 1831 and remains today in use and in perfect condition. In the cemetery of this church may be found the graves of five of the wives of James Jamison, their bodies having been, laid side by side. “In 1864-65, the government again played a hand in naming the town. Due to the identical name of another town in a diffeg. ent section of the state, the p office was renamed Dallas.” WISCONSIN Dallas, Wisconsin, population 425, is located in Barron County on the St. P. and S.S.M. Railroad, in the northwest section of the state. Potatoes are the chief crop here and a Lutheran monthly publication, The Church Visitor, is published in tiny Dallas. : OTHER STATES In addition to the 10 other towns named Dallas, there is Dallas Center, Iowa with a pop- ulation of 827. The city is located in Dallas County. Dallas City, II- linois has a population of 1,200 and is located on the Mississippi River, across from Iowa. There is also a Dallas City, Pa., and Dal- lastown, Pa. E.A. Emmert, publisher of The Times in Dallas Center, Io- wa, writes: @® “The town of Dallas Cent Iowa, was named after George M. Dallas, vice president of the United States. The center fea- ture comes from the fact that the town is almost exactly in the center of the county. The land upon which Dallas Center is lo- cated was taken over from the government in the year 1842. The railroad went through here in 1869 when a few houses had already been built. The town was incorporated in 1880. N.C. Shermeyer, secretary of the Lions Club in Dallastown, Pa., writes: i “Dallastown was founded in 1837 and was named for vice president George M. Dallas. It is located approximately 90 miles north of Washington, D.C. Dal- lastown is an exceptionally clean town, proud of its industries. Dallastown has a population of 2,825. So now, Mr. and Mrs. Dall you have met all your family ® to you they send greetings and say: | “Come and see us sometime!” pla ame n
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers