SAVONBURG — Color David Janssen a realistic optimist.
The Savonburg City Councilman was asked to peer into a crystal ball and eye the community’s future, say five or 10 years down the road.
On one hand, the future of small towns like Savonburg is bleak, Janssen admitted.
With an aging population, fewer and fewer quality homes to entice out-of-towners and an infrastructure that has well outlived its realistic life span, it’s easy to see why rural populations continue to decline, he said.
To wit, Savonburg’s population at the 2010 census was over 100.
As of 2022, that number had dropped to 75.
“If nothing happens, I can see the community going away,” Janssen warned, “and becoming unincorporated.”
But Janssen isn’t one to give up without a fight.
As one of a handful of participants in a community conversation Tuesday, Janssen said there remain glimmers of hope.
For one, the city is in the early stages of seeking a state grant that would cover some badly needed electric infrastructure improvements.
And what others often see as a negative — Savonburg’s distant location from regional population centers such as Iola, Chanute or Fort Scott —Janssen sees opportunity.
“‘We’re in a great location,” he said, with residents able to live quietly yet with access to any or all of those larger towns all within a 30-minute drive.
Heck, Savonburg students could realistically attend schools in any of five area districts, he added.
“I can see if things change here,” Janssen concluded, “you could see a population increase.”
If the infrastructure were upgraded, the multiple vacant lots around town would be enticing landing spots for big city folk to set down roots.
