The Connection Center

06/03/2026

Now selling Pike County 250th Quilt raffle tickets.....at The Connection Center.....

06/03/2026

06/03/2026

THE PIKE COUNTY AMERICA 250 COLORING CONTEST HAS BEEN EXTENED TO JUNE 15.

Coloring pages are available at Pittsfield, North Pike and Barry Libraries and at the following city halls: Barry, Pleasant Hill and Griggsville. We are looking for more high school and adult entries. The high school and adult coloring page is pictured below. Are you up to the challenge?

Prizes will be awarded at the America 250 Celebration on Friday, July 3 at 4:30 on the courthouse lawn in Pittsfield.

05/31/2026

Pike County America's 250: Celebration quilt to be raffled off.

05/29/2026

Final week to experience the remarkable Lucy McWorter dress, handcrafted by Mary Helen Yokem. This extraordinary piece will remain on display through Saturday, May 30.

Visitors are also encouraged to view the accompanying documentary, which explores both the meticulous construction of the dress and the history of the McWorter family. We extend our sincere gratitude to the Illinois State Museum for the opportunity to showcase this important work, and to Mary Helen Yokem for her continued support of AAHM.

05/28/2026

A solid individual from our neighboring Missouri.

On January 20, 1953, Harry Truman walked out of the White House and quietly disappeared.
No motorcade.
No security convoy.
No luxury office waiting for him.
No presidential pension.
At that time, former U.S. presidents received almost nothing after leaving office.
Truman boarded a train with his wife Bess and returned home to Independence, Missouri with one guaranteed income: his old World War I Army pension.
It paid $112.56 per month.
At that moment, America had largely decided he was a failure.
His approval rating had collapsed to around 32 percent. Newspapers treated his departure like the end of a bad chapter. People blamed him for war, inflation, and problems they wanted to leave behind.
So Truman did something almost no modern politician would do.
He accepted it.
That summer he bought a Chrysler and drove himself across America. He filled his own gas tank. He answered his own phone. He personally replied to letters. Reporters who followed him on morning walks struggled to keep up.
He never launched a campaign to repair his image.
He never attacked the next president.
He simply went back to being Harry Truman.
Then something strange happened.
Years passed.
People started looking again at what he had actually done.
He ordered the end of racial segregation in the U.S. military in 1948 despite enormous political pressure.
He backed rebuilding Europe after World War II through policies that helped shape decades of stability.
Decisions people once attacked slowly became decisions people later called historic.
America sent him home believing he had failed.
History quietly brought him back.
Harry Truman died in 1972 at age 88. Long after he left office, many historians would rank him among America’s most consequential presidents.
Story based on historical records. This post is for educational purposes.

05/28/2026

Did you know that despite the fact that she grew up in Texas, Bess Watson's parents grew up in Barry?Or that she graduated from High School in Texas when she was 14? Or that she went to Barry High School for a year because she was too young to get a certificate to teach or that she was on the Barry Library Board for 49 years? She was a long time Barry teacher.

05/22/2026

No bears here!!

When you reappear in people’s lives after inexplicably disappearing for several months…

Spring and early summer are periods of increased bear activity in many parks. Bears may be moving through habitat, asking about your car warranty, searching for food or protecting cubs. Visitors can reduce the chance of a dangerous encounter by staying alert, hiking in groups, making noise in low-visibility areas, storing food and trash properly and never approaching bears.

Visitors should check current park alerts before their trip and follow park-specific bear safety guidance. Bear species, terrain, food storage rules and bear spray recommendations can vary across parks.

Learn more ways to stay safe around bears at: https://www.nps.gov/subjects/bears/safety.htm

Image: Screenshot of a bear looking in a window with the text, “When you reappear in people’s lives after inexplicably disappearing for several months.”

05/22/2026

Come in and connect.......

05/21/2026

We should all have this same hope, right??

shortly after being nominated to run for president.

Source: https://ow.ly/thHi50Z2O2o