SAVONBURG — There’s a comfort to living in a town like Savonburg, where neighbors are friendly, and willing to lend a hand to those in need.
It’s the type of place where you can forget your keys dangling from your front door, and return to find them untouched that evening, joked Cynthia Martin, the city’s librarian.
Still, the community has plenty of needs, from infrastructure to lack of civic involvement, which were discussed at length Tuesday during Savonburg’s annual community conversation, hosted by Thrive Allen County.
A crowd of a dozen gathered in the Savonburg Community Center to talk about the community’s benefits and challenges, and prioritized items they’d like to see addressed in the near future.
MUCH OF Tuesday’s focus was on Savonburg’s isolation.
Savonburg is about 25 miles from Iola and Chanute, where folks would likely go to purchase groceries, or catch a movie, Mayor David Janssen said.
That is both a blessing, and a curse.
The environment is decidedly quieter, but at a cost.
And the equal distance between Iola, Chanute and Fort Scott gives resident both more and fewer choices on how budgets are spent.
Want to go to a restaurant? You have several towns to pick from.
Problem is, none of those towns are Savonburg, which can be problematic, for example, if you need a mechanic.
And with a population of 75 — down from 109 as recently as 2010 — the city lacks the population base to afford needed infrastructure upkeep without outside support.
It took more than six years to secure a nearly $700,000 state grant in 2025 for badly needed upgrades to its electric grid.
Now, the focus must shift to Savonburg’s sewer system, and its half-century old lift station, which Janssen estimated would cost a half-million or more to repair.
“Just to upgrade our pumps would cost $250,000,” Janssen said.
The city’s roads are in need of repairs as well.
