Electric saws and nail guns are setting the beats of progress in Ellsworth, where businesses are expanding or locating. Projects and plans since 2008 and continuing until 2015 will result in more than 200 jobs, representing a fortune in investment in the town of 2,817 people.
Nestled into the growth is the Ellsworth Childcare and Learning Center, which opens Monday.
The $575,000 center is sorely needed, said Mark Parsons, president of the nonprofit Smoky Hill Childcare Foundation, which owns the 10,000-square-foot building.
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Manufacturing and other industry is picking up in town, said Carol Kratzer, executive director of the Ellsworth-Kanopolis Area Chamber of Commerce.
“We’re the place to be,” she said.
Location has been a contributing factor for the city, Kratzer said.
Situated at the intersection of Kansas highways 140 and 156, Ellsworth is a 15-minute drive from Interstate Highway 70.
K-156, a diagonal highway from Garden City to the northeast, “has become a major route through Kansas,” she said.
The town is also situated in the hub of two wind farms — Post Rock Wind Farm, the latest, is about to go into operation.
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