Marion's Ghost Block

Marion's Ghost Block, on the south side of 7th Avenue beginning at 11th Street and going east, was a major retail and industrial area from the town's earliest years. Over time it housed the original Baptist Church, the Marion Hook and Ladder Company fire department, the C.M. & St. Paul Depot, and multiple groceries, tailors, drugstores, and offices. In 1924, a major fire swept through businesses on 11th Street between 6th and 7th Avenue, and a defective chimney caused more than $50,000 in damage, forcing rebuilding. By April 1925, businesses had rebuilt and were moving back into the area. The block's businesses benefited greatly from Marion's railroad industry, with the C.M. & St. Paul Depot at the south end of the block and the roundhouse a few blocks east, encouraging businesses that served railroad workers and travelers. In the 1970s and 1980s, retail declined, and the block was razed for a strip mall next to City Square Park. In 1988, the buildings, including the old depot, were torn down and Marion Square Plaza was built.

Marion, Iowa · United States