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A JOURNEY IN TIME AT REMSEN MUSEUM
By Bob Fitch
Take a step back into yesteryear at the Remsen Heritage Museum during the city’s Oktoberfest celebration on Saturday, October 26. The museum will be open from 9 a.m.-noon. It is located at 231 South Washington Street in the heart of downtown Remsen. The museum includes a substantial amount of town memorabilia and many photos, along with other novel items that help showcase the story of Remsen. The goal of the museum is to preserve the memories of the town and to share that history with current and future generations. Regular tours by school classes help accomplish this goal.
A few settlers may have been in the Remsen area as early as the 1860s. The township was platted in 1876 and permanent settlement began to accelerate in the late 1870s and into the 1880s. The first school classes were taught in the R.E. McCaustland residence in section 34 in 1880. Remsen Township was created in 1881.
According to museum board member Donna Kendall, the township and later the town were named for Dr. William Remsen Smith, a pioneer physician in Sioux City. He was an extensive landowner in the area and a friend of John I. Blair, the man in charge of construction of the Dubuque & Sioux City Railway Co. Blair suggested the townsite be called Smithville in his honor, but Dr. Smith thought the world had enough towns named Smithville and that Remsen would be better. The railway established a station in section six of the township and that’s where the town began to form.
The early settlers were from multiple ethnic groups, including Germans, Luxembourgers, Danes, Irish, Swedes and Swiss. The Luxembourgers and Germans were the largest groups. Museum board member Karen Harnack, “No matter their background, the people liked to have fun with good food and music.” Donna said Remsen was known for its beer parlors for many years. “There were 12 or 14 here at one time. Today, there’s only three.”
Karen and Donna said immigrants often had a sponsoring family member and a job lined up before they moved to the United States. After getting their feet on the ground, then many would start a farm of their own or enter another trade; and send for the families from the old country.
North of the town site, the first business in the area was Winchel & Alline, a farm with scales where grain was purchased and shipped. A Le Mars businessman bought and shipped cattle and hogs from this site, too. Frank Miller opened the first general store in the town in 1881, followed that same year by a hotel called The Blake House. Economic development occurred quickly then with the addition of a farm implement dealership, hardware store, grocery store and lumber yard. The first bank opened in 1887.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church and Roman Catholic Church were the first two religious institutions in Remsen. The Catholic Church’s first building and the town’s first schoolhouse were both destroyed by a cyclone in 1885. The second building of St. Mary’s Catholic Church was used as an opera house, roller rink, auction house and VFW post after St. Mary’s moved to a third building. The first school classes in town were taught by Miss Mary Alline and held in the depot and later in a room above the hardware store.
Town bands were formed as early as 1880. At one point, Remsen had a “clown band” that toured and played in the area. Some of their uniforms can be seen at the museum. Town team baseball was an extremely popular pastime. Beginning in the 1930s, the Avalon Ballroom became a popular spot – many couples met their future spouse at the Thursday or Saturday night dances. The ballroom was playing host to performers into the 1960s and the building is still used for events such as wedding receptions and funeral dinners today. The museum also includes a projector which was used in Remsen’s Vogue movie theatre until the 1970s.
Remsen’s most famous mile marker in time is the great fire of July 4, 1936. The fire destroyed six blocks in town, including 15 homes and 38 businesses (in 18 structures). The fire’s start was blamed on fireworks. This incident was part of the impetus for the state law which banned fireworks in Iowa from 1938 until 2017. While many Iowa municipalities now allow the discharge of fireworks inside city limits, the practice is still prohibited in Remsen.
The Remsen Heritage Museum is located in one of the town’s earliest buildings, a survivor of the 1936 fire. In the past, the building was home to a restaurant and bar, plumbing and heating company and a travel agency. The desire for a museum was first put forth by the city council in 2008. Eventually, it was chartered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization governed by a board of local community volunteers.
