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Community Comes Together to Celebrate 150th Anniversary

By Jim Bonebrake l Leader Reporter

The community of Gower came together at the city park on Thursday, September 3, to celebrate the town’s 150th anniversary with good weather, music, food and fellowship.

The Lions Club and Masonic Lodge joined together to sell hamburgers and hotdogs, and there was a vendor selling funnel cakes, snow cones, and hot dogs, giving the night a festival-like atmosphere. Kids could be seen in City Park trying to stack square hay bales, walking on homemade stilts, playing checkers on quilted checker boards, and participating in other activities that harkened back to the period of the town’s founding.

Also, for sale by the Sesquicentennial Committee were a sesquicentennial cookbook, a book about Gower’s 150-year history, Christmas ornaments, shirts and other items commemorating the city’s 150th anniversary.

Residents in Gower came out Thursday, Sept. 3, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the town. The night included music, food, old west games and much more, as the town paid homage to the living members of its founding family. (Right) Cecilia Gordon and Charlotte Richey devise a plan to get the last hay bale to the top of their stack on Thursday at the Gower City Park.

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Although the ceremonies were to start about 6 p.m., the evening was delayed for a half hour due to the Big Time Grain Co. - the evening’s musical entertainment – suffering a bus breakdown. They arrived around 5:20 p.m., unloaded their equipment and finally got the sound checks in, as well as a warmup song, which happened to be “A Burning Ring of Fire,” originally sung by Johnny Cash.

Seth Mason, who spearheaded the event’s organization with other volunteers, welcomed the crowd. Gower Mayor Chip Holman presented proclamations congratulating the town on reaching its milestone, including a mayoral proclamation in his capacity, as well as joint proclamation from 12th District State Senator Dan Hegeman and Eighth District State Representative Dr. Jim Neely.

With an amazing amount of research, Jan Schwarz presented the family history of the town’s founding father, Daniel Smith, who donated the land for the town. (The town’s namesake was Alexander Greenwood Gower). Upwards of two dozen living descendants of Daniel Smith were recognized and brought together for a family photo.

Big Time Grain Co. rocked the night away and a contest for the best braids and beards was held.

(Left) Chad Bourquin, the lead guitarist for Big Time Grain Company, rocked the stage last Thursday during Gower’s 150th anniversary celebration downtown. (Above) Downtown Gower was full of residents on Thursday for the sesquicentennial, including concert goers on Railroad Avenue and a ton of kids in the park, playing games from the time period of the town’s founding.

Pick up this week's Leader for more pictures from the Gower Sesquicentennial and  for the history of Daniel Smith Family!