Will Small Towns Soon Be ‘Gone With the Wind’?

world worth working for, worth fighting for, worth dying for because it’s the only thing that lasts…”

Very wise words from one Gerald O’Hara (in the film version of Margaret Mitchell’s classic “Gone with the Wind”) as he scolds his daughter, Scarlet for having no pride in her home. But Mr. O’Hara, what if land, home, does not last?

It is around a three-hour drive to my hometown of Coleridge, a rural village in the northeastern part of the state, where I have lived in the same house for my entire life. Coleridge is made up of a whopping 500-some people, most of them being grandparents and farmers. It is home to three churches, a grocery store, a gas station, a bar (Lonnie’s – great food), a volunteer fire and rescue department and a bank – among other small, self-owned businesses.

Coleridge is also home to CHS – Coleridge Community Schools. Only two years ago CHS taught kindergarten through twelfth graders. However, due to gradual enrollment issues and a dramatic decrease in state aid, the school now only welcomes half of an elementary school and a “full” junior through senior high school. This year only 40-some students make up Jr-Sr High at CHS. I fear my school and the place I grew up in are on their last leg. Enrollment is at an all-time low and many serious changes are in store, starting with student activities.

Oct. 16 marked the last football game ever to be played in Coleridge. The Coleridge Bulldogs couldn’t muster up enough players to keep the football program running, thanks to the dwindling enrollment. Next season will most likely see a co-op with a neighboring school.

My main concern here isn’t really the sports, it’s what happens once sports have been removed from CHS. Sure they still have volleyball, basketball, track and three already co-oped sports (wrestling, golf and cross country) but small towns like mine rally
behind football. I’ll be honest, none of our teams are great, but at Coleridge that doesn’t matter--people are there for the love of the game and the community shared.

It is incredibly sad and hard to see the place where you grew up die. Imagine CHS closing. Where would that leave my little village? Without a school we lessen the chance of new people moving in. Families will move out, businesses will close, houses will sit empty. The school will sit empty. I can’t stand the thought of my school standing empty someday and not being filled with my favorite teachers. Worse yet I can’t stand the thought of Coleridge becoming a ghost town, or my house no longer being mine. It’s been my home for 20 years and suddenly…

Sure the answer seems obvious: graduate and move back home. But living in small towns is tough business. Working requires commute – it’s about nine miles to the next town, 40 miles to the nearest city. Opportunities are limited. What is logical here? Do you stay and try to rejuvenate a dying thing? It can’t be done alone. You have to convince others to try, too. So what does one do? Remember the good times, call up old friends and reminisce? Rally the crowds?

Wish for a solution? Definitely. Is it possible to get the citizens of Coleridge fired up about the future of the town? Yes! They are proud Nebraskans, after all – they love their land. Please, hope for the best for my little village and never, ever forget where you came from. Otherwise someday it may only be “a dream remembered, a civilization, gone with the wind…”