Newton City Hall Fountain - MS - Fountains on Waymarking.com

Newton City Hall was originally built as Central Baptist Church. Ground breaking for the wood and stucco church was held in November, 1908. Church members used a number of ingenious schemes to raise money for the church and furnishings. In addition to the more mundane money raising plans such as serving dinners, the youth of the Central Baptist church picked cotton for 50 cents per hundred pounds. Church members received turkeys as donations, and turkey dinners were given at the opera house in order to raise money. Another money making project was an “identification quilt”. A person could have his name sewn on a square if he or she contributed a dime. When the quilt was finished, the quilt was auctioned off, after which it was given to the minister. In 1912, the building was sold to the town and the structure was converted to the City Hall. Major remodeling was done in 1964 to add a second story, new roof, doors, and windows, new lighting, air conditioning, and plumbing. The auditorium was located where the library had been and was enlarged to seat 100. Newton is located on I-20 approximately 70 miles east of Jackson, at the intersection of I-20 and Hwy 15. Newton is on the main East-West railroad corridor for Kansas City Southern Railroad. Newton is a rapidly growing city with a population of 3699 (2000 census) and a wide base of industry. From the City of Newton web page.