PARKER — Marilyn McCall says she hated history when she was in school, but the Parker woman is just a few weeks away from having a book published on the subject.

"From Boom to Bust: The Making of 'The Smallest City in the USA'" will be published next month. The 260-plus page reference will focus on the history of Parker, where McCall serves as president of the city's revitalization corporation.

The book focuses on geography, earliest inhabitants, and the oil boom and its effect on Parker's eventual decline in the 20th century. Close to 300 maps, photographs and illustrations are included.

"I gathered as much as I could find in every area to tell our story," McCall said.

Having grown up in Parker, McCall and her husband, William, now the city's mayor, returned to the area for retirement in 1999 and got involved in the Parker community after having spent 26 years living in Washington, D.C.

"We realized we didn't have any history of Parker written since the early 1900s," she said.

To gather information, McCall put notices in local newspapers and posted fliers asking residents to share historical information they had about Parker.

"A lot of books totally overlooked Parker," she said of the difficult research. "Some just mention it in passing."

While McCall received a number of historical items and information from many people, including interviews conducted 10 years ago with now-deceased residents born in the early 1900s, she acquired "an extraordinary amount" of information from two Parker residents, Enie Hottel and Betty West.

Hottel, a resident of Parker for more than 60 years, said she gave McCall pictures of how the city looked years ago and photos of different people.

Hottel said she always had been interested in the city since first moving there as a young bride.

"There's history overflowing here," Hottel said. "I'm just glad to be able to help get the history back in the hands of the people who want to read it."

Besides the historic information she received from Parker residents, McCall also visited a number of libraries and historical sites, including the Drake Well Museum and Library, the historical societies of both Clarion and Butler counties and libraries in Oil City, Franklin, Clarion, Butler, Foxburg and Kittanning.

"Where we are located is right where four counties come together, so I knew I had to go and look at the history of all of them," McCall said.

Taking her between a year and a half to two years to complete the writing process, she said it took her longer than she thought it would.

"Every time I thought I was done, people would give me something else interesting, such as newspapers from the 1800s," McCall said. "It lengthened the book and the time it took (to write) — but it was worth it."

While the process was grueling at times, McCall said the most frustrating part was finding conflicting information, then determining the truth through finding some of the facts in multiple places.

"But there were still some places where the information was so conflicting that I had to leave it up to the reader to decide what they wanted to believe," McCall said.

Besides authoring the book, she also plans to give a speech at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at the Parker City Volunteer fire Department and Community Center, talking about the highlights of the book.

McCall plans on using pictures from the book and spending most of her time talking about Parker's role in history, especially the city's role in oil history.

Besides the 45-minute to one-hour-long speech, she will have a draft copy of the book at the event if it is not yet published and a sign-up sheet for those interested in purchasing a copy, which has not yet been priced.

Once published, it will be available at Mechling Bookbindery in Chicora or online through the Mechling Bookbindery or Parker City Web sites.

McCall said she plans to do a book signing in the future.

Book proceeds will be donated to the Parker City Revitalization Corporation.

<B>WHAT: </B>A talk by Marilyn McCall on the history of Parker and her book "From Boom to Bust: The Making of 'The Smallest City in the USA.'"<B>WHEN: </B>7:30 p.m. Sept. 27<B>WHERE: </B>Parker City Volunteer Fire Department and Community Center, 204 S. Wayne Ave.