HOISINGTON — What was it used for? is the big question Hoisington Community Historical Society members are asking about the big, red banner they recently received from Becky Jamison of Canon City Colo.
The banner will be on display at the Hoisington Library along with class reunion books during the Labor Day weekend.
“We would like to know if anyone knows where or how the banner was used,” said the historical society members in a news release.
The museum will also be open Aug. 31 from 1-3 p.m. and Monday from noon to 4 p.m. The public is invited to see the donated items from this past year.
“(Becky Jamison) found the banner three months ago,” in her father’s possessions after he passed away, said Lon Palmer, HCHS member. Jamison then got on the Hoisington historical society web site and became interested in returning the banner.
Jamison contacted historical society members  and decided to send it back to its Kansas home. “She shipped it out to us,” Palmer said.
Jamison’s father was Ernest Margheim. He graduated from Hoisington High School in 1940.
Becky’s granddad was John L. Margheim, a custodian at the high school. The 1948 yearbook was dedicated to him.
Jamison is a native of Great Bend. She writes in her blog at www.genealogywise.com, “My family recently had occasion to visit my home town of Great Bend, Kansas. I lived there from 1947-1986 and moved to Colorado in 1987.
“I returned to Great Bend at the time of my mother’s death in 1997 and then again in 1998 to move my father to Colorado to live near me and my son,” she writes. “What I found when I returned to Great Bend in July pleasantly surprised me. It’s a town a bit larger than where I currently reside, but the difference is like night and day, just as it was those many years ago.
“It’s a beautiful town. We commented many times over a period of three days how well manicured the landscaping was, how clean the properties appeared, showing evidence of great pride and hard work. Many businesses I was familiar with in the 1970s and 1980s are gone, but have been replaced by thriving businesses, updated and attractive stores, shopping strips, and modern enterprises. This is totally contrary to the town in which I currently live.”
“When my brother and I were born, my parents bought a lot at 22nd and Jefferson and built this basement house. They were popular in the post-war days. When my dad re-married in 1951, he and my step-mother Phyllis built a home above the basement house. The basement was then used as a rental.
“From 1949-1952 we lived in Hoisington with our grandparents while our dad was a single parent. Grandpa and Grandma Margheim lived on East 6th St.  In about 1950, Grandpa built two bedrooms onto the house as a second story: And at the back of the lot was a garage and “shop” for tools and storage.”
“Upon our recent visit, we found the property sadly in disrepair. The garage blew away in the tornado of 2001. The neighbor told us the second story bedrooms have mold in them, so they are uninhabitable. The house, now a rental that has not been properly cared for, is currently unoccupied.”
Jamison’s blog and her father Earnest’s blog can be found at www.beckyjamison.com.
Anyone with information about the banner should speak with Lon Palmer or any other member of the historical society.