RURAL AMERICA 



F. Community Centers 



A term one sees in almost every number of every periodical 

 devoted to the interests of Rural America is " community 

 center." Again and again do editors and other writers empha- 

 size the need of the establishing of community centers in the 

 villages and open country. And the propaganda in the interest 

 of their establishment is bearing fruit. Of course, wherever 

 a consolidated school is erected, provision is made for com- 

 munity gatherings, and the institution is planned to take care 

 of all the many activities of the surrounding country. 

 Churches also make excellent meeting places for the people. 

 Unfortunately the cooperating or federating or unionizing of 

 the dead and dying churches of the different denominations 

 of Rural America has made such little progress that the Rural 

 Church is doing less than the Rural School in the work of 

 putting social life in the country on a higher plane. 



Often farmers bequeath beautiful, well-located properties 

 for the benefit of a whole neighborhood. There is a record 

 of a number of such cases, particularly in the Mississippi 

 Valley. The Chicago Tribune recently contained the follow- 

 ing interesting item: " With the purpose of making rural life 

 more comfortable, Jasper Thompson, banker, farmer, philos- 

 opher, and philanthropist, has turned over to the rural com- 

 munity in which he lives a community home. Four miles west 

 of Forest City, in Winnebago County, la., on a farm valued 

 at $100,000, the community home is located. In the front is 

 a valley of the richest agricultural land, fringed with oak, 

 walnut and box elder. The building is of artistic design, 

 built of brick and concrete. In the building are large halls, 

 comfort rooms, reception rooms, library, sleeping rooms, living 

 rooms, dining-room and kitchen. ' Sunnyside Farm ' is the 

 name given to this social center. It belongs to the people, and 

 it is theirs to build up a community friendliness that will 

 make for a more happy and contented people." 



But the largest number of community centers are found in 

 the little agricultural villages of the nation. A village, to- 

 gether with the contiguous territory, has enough people to 



