Youngsters headed back to school now have some protection from the elements as they await their bus pick up in the morning. Eli Frashier has been on the board for the Village of Maunie for about 15 years and has served as the Village Clerk for the past few years. WROY/WRUL News caught up with Frashier to learn a bit more about the new Whistle Stop Bus Stop. Despite it’s reputation, Maunie still has good folks that call it home…Frashier is a life-long resident and the Frashier name goes back more than a century.
Maunie has never really lived beyond its reputation as a rough river town. It still kind of is. It was established in 1901. It was known for it’s musseling and of course being there on the railroad and on the river, there was always a certain kind of individual that could frequent Maunie. But it’s a good place to live; got a lot of nice families and nice, down-home people. The Whistle Stop Bus Stop became a necessity for the kids. When I was a kid, the school bus driver would come around from house to house and pick us all up individually. Here in the last few years though, because the size of the town has shrunk some, the kids all congregate at the park in town and that’s where the bus picks them up from. So it necessitated us providing a place for the kids to get out of the elements. We needed a place to keep them out of the rain, wind and snow. The town purchased the piece of property; it used to have a gas station sitting on it. And we all decided it would be a good idea to shape that into a building the kids could use to stay out of the elements while waiting for the school bus.
The latest census numbers put Maunie at just over 90 people. Frashier says on any given day, there will be 10 – 20 youths taking advantage of the bus stop.
It only takes one person to spark an idea, but a community has to come together to help pull it all together.
This was absolutely a community effort. We had several individuals within the village that volunteered their time and effort to paint the building, install windows, clean the building in the first place. There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. And even outside the community, we had an outpouring of donations financially to help the village put this project into motion. There were people from all over southern Illinois and even southern Indiana. Folks that lived in the village before, or had grandparents that lived in the village so they had some kind of a tie to it. We had several people that donated and that was really heartwarming.
Frashier says the 2023/2024 Carmi-White County High School shop class built the benches and the 2024/2025 class is planning to build a few more. In a cooperative move, the village purchases the materials and then students learn a useful skill while building the benches.
Maunie gets it’s fair share of dissidents, malcontents and is sometimes treated like the proverbial red-headed step child of White County. Occasionally, some activities there, some would argue warrant that. The Whistle Stop Bus Stop is proof that some bad apples don’t necessarily spoil an entire basket.
Historically, Maunie was a rough little river town and in many ways it still is. Like every community, we have our share of ne’er do wells, but we also have many good people living in the village. There are people who don’t have much, but they’d be glad to give you what they do. Aside from the several families that call Maunie home, we have two churches that are passionate about their community ministry and helping where they can. It’s always been a little river town on the Wabash famous for it’s mussel trade, the watermelons, and being the garden spot of the world and what Maunie lacks in finery, it makes up for in heart. It’s home to the last post office on the Wabash before it empties into the Ohio. And it’s also the place where we’ll treat you so many ways, you’re bound to like one of them.
