Is it possible that Athy had the highest proportion of any town in Ireland of men per head of population to fight in the first World War?
More than 2,000 men from the Co Kildare town and surrounding area went to the trenches in the Great War and that was from a place where there wasn't even a large military barracks. And 102 did not return; they died in the trenches with 82 men from other areas.
This is even more surprising when one considers there were only 4,000 people living in Athy at the time, a figure that has remained more or less static.
Now they are remembered in the newly opened Athy Heritage Centre. Earlier this year there were major objections when plans got under way for a museum commemorating local involvement in the Great War in the former British garrison town, Tipperary.
Objectors claimed the proposal was insensitive and would glorify the British army. But the manager of the Athy centre, Mr Mark McLoughlin, says there has been no adverse reaction to the first World War display on show there.
He was also surprised to learn of the number of local people who fought in the first World War, but local historians can substantiate the figures.
"In those days Athy was a very loyal town. It was surrounded by large farms controlled by Anglo-Irish people, and that must have had some bearing on what was going on," he says.
The centre, which cost more than £380,000 and opened just days ago, is in the former Town Hall on Emily Square and concentrates on the development of Athy from an Anglo-Norman settlement to the early 20th century.
"We have a section of the display devoted to World War One which includes memorabilia and an account of the Victoria Cross-winning action of John Vincent Holland from the town who was one of the 2,000 from here who fought in the trenches. We have letters from the Front and what is called `trench art'. These were objects made by the soldiers from materials they found in the trenches or used in their everyday lives," says Mr McLoughlin.
But the Great War display forms only part of the story of Athy, home of the great Irish patriot, Lord Edward Fitzgerald.
"We have material on the development of the town as a military outpost in those days, the Confederate Wars, the 1798 Rebellion, the Great Famine and the Grand Canal. We are particularly proud that we have on display a sledge used by Sir Ernest Shackleton, the great explorer, which he used on his first expedition from 1907-1909 to the Antarctic," adds Mr McLoughlin.
The exhibition also features a display on the Gordon Bennett motor race which took place on a circuit based around the town in 1903.
Mr McLoughlin says there is also a great deal of interest in the diversity of religions in Athy down the years that has left the town with five churches.
"There was a very strong Quaker tradition in this area, and we are marking that passage of history. We will also deal with the founding and spread of the Kellyites," he adds. The Kellyites were founded near the town by an Anglican preacher called Kelly who broke from his own church in 1845. For 10 years he set up communities around the country. He died in 1855 but his legacy remains in the hymns he wrote including The Head that Once was Crowned with Thorns.
The beautiful stained glass windows from St Michael's parish church, Athy, dating from the 183Os, form the centrepiece of a room devoted to religious life in the county over the years.