THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



THE TOWN THAT DOES THINGS. 



Garden City, Kansas, Where There Is Always "Something 

 Doing" for Good. 



CITY: The Town That Does Things. 

 "Always Something Doing in the Good Old Town." 



These above two expressions have been applied time 

 and again by one of the publicity factors in behalf of 

 Garden City, Finney county, Kansas, to the capital of the 

 lower Arkansas Valley. 



Both expressions are pat and convincing. More than 

 that, they are susceptible of ample proof and demonstra- 

 tion. 



Garden City does things because it has town spirit. 

 The happiest possession any town can have is assurance 

 and confidence of ability to make good. Garden City 

 possesses these qualities. It is seldom it undertakes a 

 thing that it does not go straight to the end and accom- 

 plish the net result desired. 



three years it has been making good on this. It is hold- 

 ing in July, 1910, its third successful chautauqua assembly. 

 It has for two years successfully given a great entertain- 

 ment in the fall known as the Cattlemen's Carnival, when 

 sports and exhibitions of a most captivating nature have 

 pleased thousands of people. It entertained in May, 1909, 

 the grand lodge, Kansas Knights of Pythias. Get this, in 

 that connection: A town of 4,000 people entertained 1,000 

 people. That's worth considering. Garden City entertains 

 editorial conventions, teachers' associations, farmers' in- 

 stitutions, ministerial associations, state real estate agents, 

 Santa Fe Trail conferences, and valley commercial asso 

 ciations. 



Isn't that a record of which a town may properly be 

 proud? 



Garden City wasn't satisfied with the school building 

 situation. Having two fine ward schools, as sightly and 

 commodious as anywhere in western Kansas, it is now 

 completing a handsome $35,000 high school building. 



Garden City wasn't satisfied with its lack of public 



Interior Pumping Station No. 1, Patterson Ranch, California. 



The Industrial Club of Garden City is the principal 

 reason for this. Garden City's population is 4,000. The 

 membership of the Industrial Club is 227. Do you get 

 that? Does it soak in on you? A town of 4,000 popula- 

 tion has a commercial body to which every able-bodied 

 man of any affairs in the town whatsoever belongs, 227 

 in all. Besides, the membership fee in this organization is 

 $20, and the monthly dues, $1. These facts speak for 

 themselves. They need no elaboration. They form the 

 acme of town spirit, the agency by means of which any 

 town can make progress. 



Garden City never adopted a slogan. Most of its 

 citizens are not strong for the slogan. Some of them 

 believe the slogan to be a pest and that it should be 

 assassinated if it shows its head. Nevertheless, the pat 

 phrase, "Always Something Doing in the Good Old Town," 

 is not without especial significance. 



Boosters and town builders understand thoroughly 

 that there must be perpetual issues to keep a live town 

 alive. Garden City and the Industrial Club know this. 

 Hence the frequent use of the expression "Always some- 

 thing doing in the good old town," and the absolute fact 

 that a half dozen things are always going on. 



For instance, Garden City, a small town in western 

 Kansas, aspires to be a public entertainer. So for two or 



buildings, so it went after a government public building, 

 to house not only its post office, but its six other governmental 

 branches reclamation, forestry, irrigation investigations, 

 United States commissioner, live stock inspector, etc. 

 Congress gave it $60,000 for this purpose. 



Garden City isn't satisfied without good churches, and 

 various movements are now on. 



A town hall and a court house, a Masonic temple and 

 an Odd Fellows' building, are campaigns of the present. 



Garden City wasn't satisfied with good streets, wide 

 and fine, bordered with magnificent trees, with the emerald 

 of closely clipped lawns and shrubbery and flowers in the 

 background, so it was one of the very first towns in 

 Kansas to apply the King drag regularly to the streets. 



Garden City was the first small town in Kansas to 

 authorize by act of council a park commission, and this 

 agency has made the town famous. 



Garden City needed new business blocks; it promptly 

 built them. 



Garden City wasn't satisfied with its railroad rates, 

 and with the advent of two new railroads wanted more 

 territory in which to trade. Therefore. Garden City went 

 after the Atchinson, Topeka & Santa Fe railroad and got 

 a jobbers' rate that permits it to stand alone in extreme 

 western Kansas towns in this respect. 



