Regan`s Centennial Celebration | Video

Michelle San Miguel | 7/14/2012

The town of Regan is seeing more people this weekend than it`s probably seen in all of the last decade.

"It`s usually a whole lot quieter than it is right now," said resident Jim McCullough.

What began as a railroad town in 1912 hasn`t become much more than that over the past 100 years. Most Reganities have left for bigger places.

"What most prairie kids do. You move on," said former resident LeAna Jose Hug.

Hug hasn`t moved far, she only lives about a half hour away in Baldwin. She watched one of the school houses in Regan be built.

"At that time we had outhouses, so we were excited about the new school because it had indoor plumbing."

No students are taught in Regan`s classrooms anymore, but Hug`s high school senior portrait still remains.

"I graduated from Regan back in 1961, and not with honors I might say, but I graduated," said John Hruby, who served on the Regan Centennial Committee.

Hruby spent his childhood and teenage years in Regan. When he realized Regan was turning 100-years-old this year, he knew he wanted to do something big to mark the occasion.

"We had to raise some money so I said, `Let`s sell the town off. Sell the town off because there`s nothing here anyway.`"

For $20 people can get their hands on three square inches of land in Regan. Just don`t ask where it is.

"You might be standing on some right now," McCullough said.

Hruby calls it the "Elusive Land Grab." Elusive because no one knows what three square inches of land they own. And for those who try to find out, Hruby says they`ll be fined.

"I never heard of anything so silly in my life, but it worked."

So much so that 700 people from dozens of states and even countries like Indonesia and Australia have purchased land here. Those who have, like Reganites Jim McCullough and LeAna Jose Hug, have their names permanently etched in granite on a rock monument.

This centennial celebration is being regarded as a last hurrah for many who`ve called this tiny community home at one point or another. They know towns like Regan aren`t the only ones who will soon fade off the map.

"Because of my generation being where we`re at we`re all in our mid to the upper 60s and we`re all falling in that same category. I think they all felt the same way- yeah, let`s do one last rodeo," Hruby said.

McCullough said, "Our generation went and organized it, but we think down the road the younger generation, the teenagers now I don`t know when it comes time for the next one if they`re gonna be around to do it or not."

If this community does eventually fade away, these locals are happy to know a piece of them will always stay.

The celebration in Regan ends Sunday with brunch at 9:30 and a church service at 11:00.

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