Effingham Daily News, Effingham, IL

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  • This is an inside view of the community center at Hidalgo. Amanda King

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September 3, 2010

Small but hopeful

Hidalgo hopes overdue update to community center inspires residents

Amanda King Effingham Daily News

HIDALGO — The village hall in this tiny town of 117 is more than a government building. At heart, Mayor Jason Kirby says, it’s a community center.

    But after more than 30 years of hosting Election Day polling traffic, Halloween and Christmas parties, weddings, family reunions and even the occasional church service without so much as a new coat of paint, the building is starting to show its age, and village officials are preparing to give it a facelift.

    Hidalgo recently landed a $20,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development Agency that will allow for an overhaul of most of the building’s interior.

    Plans currently out for bid call for new floors and ceilings as well as the installation of new doors and kitchen cabinets and upgrades that will make the bathrooms handicap-accessible. And if money allows, the village board even wants to slap on that new coat of paint on the building’s exterior.

    “We’d like for it to come out looking real nice,” village Treasurer Jim Hunsaker said Thursday as he pointed out the changes in store for the building.

    The village will chip in about $10,000 for the project, which will have an estimated final cost of just over $30,000, according to the grant agreement.

    But for village officials who decided to apply for the grant, the project isn’t about the money or even the renovations. It’s really about building up the community, they say.

    “We’re trying to get people more active in the community,” Kirby said. “We’re hoping this will be a motivator.”

    Like many small towns, Hidalgo is struggling with a shrinking and aging population, and it needs to attract young families to stay viable, he said. Revamping the community center is a highly visible way to make the village more attractive to newcomers and stir up a bit of community spirit among lifelong residents.

    It’s an aim that falls in step with the goals of the grant provider, the Rural Development Agency, which is dedicated to sparking economic development and improving the quality of life in rural America, spokesperson Joan Messina said Thursday.

    Village Clerk Donna Thompson did most of the legwork on the grant, working with the agency’s Effingham office to grab up one of 43 project grants given out in the state this fiscal year.

    The Rural Development arm of the USDA is predominately known for its rural housing loans, but it also furnishes grants to communities with populations under 20,000 to fund anything from fire trucks and storm sirens to improvements at medical clinics, day care centers, or, as in Hidalgo’s case, village buildings — all in the name of community growth.

    “If you don’t have good public services, you will probably not be able to maintain and sustain the rural community. And we want rural communities to grow,” Messina said.

    It’s a cause the leadership in Hidalgo can get behind.

    “This was a great little town at one time, and I think it’s going to come back,” Kirby said.

    Amanda King can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 138 or amanda.king@effinghamdailynews.com.

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