The Legion's Ledger In Mapleton

Some of the best small-town history is kept in dollars and cents. When Mapleton American Legion Post No. 322 wrote its history for the borough's 1966 centennial book, it listed what the post had paid for, a few items down to the penny.

In the spring of 1948 the post began sponsoring the Mapleton baseball team, and its history says it had sponsored the team each year since. In April 1948 it also sponsored a junior baseball team in the Mount Union City League.

On Labor Day 1949 a new stone and bronze honor roll, arranged by the post to replace the old one, was dedicated. In the summer of 1957 it bought a new diving board for the swimming pool for $184.20 and gave it to the pool as a gift. That same year it sent $50 to the Mount Union Booster Club toward an electric scoreboard for the Mount Union High School football field.

The pool kept coming back. The post gave it $100 in 1958, $100 in 1959 and $200 in 1960. In March 1962, when the pool committee needed to borrow money, the post co-signed for $2,500. That July, when the committee wanted to hold a chicken barbecue to raise money, the Legion bought the chickens, $220.15 worth, and let the committee use its kitchen for the side dishes.

Other entries were small and particular. In 1958 the post bought all new flags for the new Mapleton Area Elementary School, and in May 1960 it gave $140 to help start a Little League. In February 1966 Congressman J. Irving Whalley gave the post a flag that had flown over the Capitol, and the post passed it on to the elementary school.

In March 1966, with the centennial coming, the post made one more promise to the pool: $150 toward a new bathhouse, which it was paying at $25 a month.

Checked 2026-10-31 · County histories and primary sources, read in full

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