Siouxland Life - July 2016

The secrets behind Thomas Jefferson

Who’s behind Floyd Monument?

A home amid a city park

A GUIDE FOR LIVING IN SIOUXLAND

THE INSIDE STORY

WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT FAVORITE LANDMARKS

ARE YOU OVERDOSING ON SODIUM?

JULY 2016

SIOUXLAND LIFE IS ON THE WEB! VISIT WWW.SIOUXCITYJOURNAL.COM/SIOUXLANDLIFE

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Siouxland Life

CONTENTS July

2016

If you’ve visited some of the recognizable landmarks and tourist attractions in Sioux City, you may have had some questions about their operation, their contents or their “story.” This month, we go behind the scenes (and up on the catwalk in the Orpheum Theatre) to give you another look at places you may have taken for granted. While you may not get the same access, you will get a different perspective – and appreciation – for the sites that draw people.

37 SAVING THE CABIN

Members of the Girls of ’68 make sure the Bruguier Cabin is ready to whisk visitors back in time.

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THE COLLEGE BEGINS Charles City Hall isn’t in Charles City, but Sioux City. It also has a storied history with education in the area.

ON THE COVER Theater technician Joe Mahaney II stands on a catwalk surrounding the dome above the ceiling in the Orpheum Theatre. Photo by Tim Hynds.

FEATURES 4 HOME built to sell 12 INSIDE STORY the Orpheum secrets 16 INSIDE STORY collection points 18 INSIDE STORY a walking tour 20 INSIDE STORY the Floyd Monument 24 INSIDE STORY a peaceful place 26 INSIDE STORY moving history

29 32 35 37 40 47

INSIDE STORY favorite food INSIDE STORY living in a park INSIDE STORY educational start INSIDE STORY an early home HEALTH too much sodium?

PARTING SHOT

PUBLISHER Steve Griffith EDITOR Bruce Miller EDITORIAL Dolly A. Butz, Tim Gallagher, Earl Horlyk, Ally Karsyn PHOTOGRAPHY Tim Hynds, Jim Lee, Justin Wan EDITORIAL DESIGN April Burford ADVERTISING SALES Nancy Todd ADVERTISING DESIGN Kayla Fleming

26 WHAT MAKES LEWIS & CLARK

©2016 The Sioux City Journal. Siouxland Life is published monthly by The Sioux City Journal.

For advertising information, please call (712) 224-6281. For editorial information, please call (712) 293-4218.

RUN? There’s a new animatronic in town and he’s state-of-the-art. But how do the Interpretive Center staffers get so many performances out of those characters?

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HOME built

to sell

BUILT

TO SELL 4

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Text by Ally Karsyn | Photographs by Tim Hynds

You won’t find a dream home here. When the Haugens build, they’re not thinking of themselves. They’re thinking of resale value and ticking off wow-worthy features that’ll be appealing to the next homeowner.

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WHISPERING CREEK HOMEOWNERS GO MODERN FOR THE FIRST TIME

“WE BUILD AND SELL,” Jen Haugen said. “That’s why this is not one of my favorites. We’ll be out of this one by next November. It’ll be time to move.”

Her husband, Nick Haugen, owns a construction company that specializes in custom homes while she works for the Mercy Medical Center Foundation. They’ve been living in their new home for less than a year and went with a more modern look, departing from her personal taste, decorating in Southwestern style, which is known to be cozy and warm with earth tones and rugged appeal.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “I’m just not a modern girl. We have to build according to what’s in style. I’ve been able to put some of my touches on it to make it funky and fun.”

Even though they don’t plan to stay long, certain features of the home are set up for how they live, focusing more on entertainment than family since the kids are grown.

1. This was the first time Jen Haugen dipped her toe into modern decorating. She used the color orange to get started. The terra cotta cousin adds the warmth she wanted to the modern design. Completing the look, she got a lot of items from secondhand stores, Goodwill and Gordmans.

Many of the orange accent pieces were spray-painted for a cohesive look.

2. A large, LED lighted window pane doubles as wall art in the hallway, bordering the living room.

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3. An oversized island is designed to comfortably seat eight at barstools around the counter. While there is room for a dining table, too, they’ve turned that space into a conversation area (not pictured) with four low-profile chairs that lend themselves to an unobstructed view of the lush green hills and valleys outside.

4. Sliding barn doors are a trendy feature that have been showing up in more homes in the past couple years.

Some variations look like the doors truly just came out of a barn while others put modern slabs on the sliders, making them a transitional feature, easy to add to any home with enough wall space.

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“Again, I wanted something different.

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JEN HAUGEN 5. Just because the home was built with resale in mind, didn’t mean Jen Haugen couldn’t put a personal touch on it. She commissioned this painting of Jesus and the Holy Spirit from a high school student, Abby Krei.

“Again, I wanted something different.

I didn’t want to go in and see the same picture that everybody has from Gordmans or HOM Furniture or wherever,” she said. “That’s probably my favorite piece in the house.” That’s one that she’ll hang onto through each and every move.

6. Installing a shallow trench under the sink and filling it with smooth, black stones gives that master bathroom a spa-like feel that makes you want to lie down for a nice hot rock massage at the end of the day.

7. The artwork in the master suite was one of her secondhand finds when she went searching for funky, modern furnishings with a ’70s feel without paying full price.

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8. Jen Haugen salvaged an old whiskey barrel from the KD Station, which was built in 1915 as a meatpacking plant and later turned into a shopping center.

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3 Keys to Building the Perfect home If asked to describe your dream home, you might initially focus on its size, features and appearance. But how about its location?

Many believe that location is among the most important, if not, the most important characteristic of a home. Conveniently located homes – especially new homes with modern amenities – continue to be in high demand, as countless consumers dream of living in the ideal locale where they’d benefit from quick commutes, excellent schools and accessible shopping.

A recent study from the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) found that 64 percent of all home buyers say that proximity to retail space is desirable, if not essential, and almost 40 percent want easy access to public transit.

However, finding the perfect home to buy in the perfect location can be quite challenging.

Often times the existing homes built in these sought-after, typically urban locations are older and unlikely to meet the needs of modern homebuyers.

As the amount of developable land in urban areas dwindles, more consumers are choosing to buy older homes in desirable neighborhoods with the sole intent to tear them down and replace them with new construction.

Nationwide, an estimated 55,000 single

family homes were built in 2015 on properties where a previous structure once stood, according to NAHB. If you’re seeking the amenities of a new home, but are drawn to the charm of an older and more established neighborhood, a teardown project could be a very exciting and rewarding proposal.

To help ensure your new home enhances the character of the community, take into account the following tips:

1. Be mindful of the architecture. Maintain

on the original home, have it inspected and save anything that can be re-purposed in your new home to add to its character. Better yet, donate anything that might be of use to others.

Non-profit donation centers accept all kinds of new or gently used furniture, appliances, housewares and building materials. Proceeds help families in your community, and you even get a tax credit for the donation while also cutting down on refuse. If the home is in acceptable condition, you could also sell the home and have it moved, or donate the moved home to a charity.

an open dialogue with your builder and The key to a successful tear-down project the architect. Discuss which elements of is to acknowledge the community’s homes, its the surrounding community you like the history and – most of all – the people that make most, and together, look for opportunities it great. To find a builder in the Siouxland area, to integrate those features into the home’s visit www.siouxlandhba.com/members. design, while also maximizing its livability.

2. Be neighborly. Meet your future neighbors before work begins. You don’t want their first impression of you to be the (unavoidable) noises associated with demolition and construction. Briefly introduce yourself and show them you are someone who is genuinely invested – emotionally and financially – in the community. Even sending them a brief, handTodd written letter in the mail will go a long way Hagaman to building positive relations from the very President beginning.

712-255-3852 Todd Hagaman 3. Be charitable. Before demolition starts siouxlandhba.com Construction

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INSIDE STORY the

Orpheum secrets Theater technician Joe Mahaney II stands on a catwalk surrounding the dome above the the ceiling in the Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City.

CURTAIN UP: BEHIND THE SCENES AT SIOUX CITY’S HISTORIC ORPHEUM THEATRE

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Deb Lang, director of development and events, is shown in the Patron Lounge. The lounge is adorned with leather furnishings, a bar and artifacts of Sioux City’s past.

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Text by Earl Horlyk | Photographs by Tim Hynds

JOE MAHANEY II MAY NOT BE THE Phantom of the Opera, but he sure knows every hard-to-reach crevice, catwalk and crawl space inside the Orpheum Theatre.

“Bet you’ve never seen the theater from this perspective,” said Mahaney, a lighting technician, standing on a shaky catwalk surrounding the dome above the historical theater’s ceiling.

“It’s awesome.”

If a light bulb goes out on any of the theater’s 238 fixtures, Mahaney has been the Orpheum’s go-to guy for more than a decade.

“In fact, I see quite a few lights out right now,” he said, glancing at the Orpheum’s 1-ton grand chandelier.

“Joe is all about the details,” said Deb Lang, the theater’s director of development and events. “He knows about every chandelier and he knows about the colorful history of the Orpheum.”

SIOUXLAND LIFE

That’s good to know since the 528 Pierce St. theater has a colorful history going back to the days of vaudeville and silent movies.

A THEATER GRAND ENOUGH FOR THE ‘GREAT PROFILE’ Constructed in 1927, the Sioux City Orpheum Theatre was developed by local businessman Arthur Sanford. The largest theater in the state of Iowa at the time, the Orpheum was considered a risky venture. The initial construction cost was approximately $1.75 million.

Still, the opulent theater – boasting a 2,690-seat, six-story auditorium complete with a Wurlitzer pipe organ, half-circle boxes, hand-carved detailing, gilded ornamentation and a handpainted ceiling – made for a breathtaking sight.

In addition to being the place where Sioux Cityans could see the latest Buster

The 1-ton grand chandelier is a centerpiece of the Orpheum.

VARIETY AND INTIMACY THE KEYS TO ORPHEUM’S SUCCESS

A portion of the Mighty Wurlitzer organ.

Lang said well-known performers, Broadway shows and the Sioux City Symphony call the Orpheum home.

“Many performers prefer the Orpheum over the Tyson Events Center because it is a more intimate setting,” she said.

That’s also why the theater has been used for graduation ceremonies, holiday programs and other types of events.

However, no visit to the Orpheum would be complete without a tour of its colorful backstage “Hall of Fame.”

“Fluffy” (aka stand-up comic Gabriel Iglesias) actually was there. Theater technician Joe Mahaney II talks about some of the celebrities who have signed the backstage wall.

Keaton feature, they also were wowed by performers like Fred Astaire, Katherine Hepburn and John Barrymore (aka “The Great Profile”) on the Orpheum stage.

“Check out the eyes,” Mahaney said, pointing to a framed photo of Barrymore in the theater’s patrons lounge. “If you look only at John Barrymore’s eyes, they’re the same as his (actress) granddaughter Drew Barrymore.”

Once vaudeville died, the Orpheum became simply a motion picture theater.

Eventually, it was remodeled and turned into a one-story movie house.

Fluorescent lights were added and a projection booth was moved into the mezzanine balcony.

When the Orpheum Theatre was split into two theaters in the 1980s, the entire box section of the balcony was removed along with the half-circle boxes.

Even the chandeliers and the architectural detailing was covered over false

ceilings.

“You know, those beautiful chandeliers?” Mahaney asked, shaking his head. “They were considered too oldfashioned.”

That is, until 1989, when the Orpheum Theatre Preservation Project, LTD, was established as a way to raise funds to renovate it back to its former grandeur.

A GRAND REVIVAL It took more than a decade – as well as $15 million raised through grants, foundations and private donations – but the Orpheum was restored.

Some of the surviving chandeliers were restored while others were replaced. Likewise, the half-circle boxes, terrazzo baseboard, mahogany handrails and original drapes and fabric wall coverings made a long-awaited curtain.

On Sept. 15, 2001, the Orpheum had its grand reopening.

‘SIGN’ OF THE TIMES Two backstage walls are dedicated to hundreds of autographs, doodles and messages from people who’ve stepped foot on the Orpheum stage.

“We had ‘Jersey Boys: The Musical’ sign the name,” Mahaney said, “but we also had the original Jersey Boy (Four Seasons’ lead singer Frankie Valli) lend us his autograph when he played here.”

Mahaney said many of his favorite performers have signed the wall of fame.

“There’s (blues guitarist) Joe Bonnamassa, The Righteous Brothers, Willie Nelson,” he said, pointing out his faves.

“They were all cool.”

However, many politicos have also signed the wall. That includes President Barack Obama, whose signature is secured under Plexiglass.

In addition, Bernie Sanders, Ben Carson and Donald Trump have also added their John Hancocks to the Orpheum wall.

“We like it when people limit their signature to one brick,” Mahaney said.

“Somehow, Trump used 12 bricks.”

Walking behind the velvet rope at the top of the Orpheum’s grand staircase, Lang can’t help but feel like the belle of the ball.

“So many people have memories of the Orpheum,” she said. “We’re happy to see the Orpheum have a colorful future for many years to come.”

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INSIDE STORY collection

points

Larry Finley, director of the Mid America Museum of Aviation & Transportation, shows a Wampus Cat propeller from the 1920s that was found along the Big Sioux River.

WHAT’S THE OLDEST THING IN YOUR COLLECTION?

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Text by Dolly A. Butz | Photographs by Tim Hynds

DEPENDING ON YOUR BELIEFS, the oldest artifact in the Sioux City Public Museum’s collection – a piece of iron ore – could be between 4.6 billion and 541 million years old.

The dark brown chemical sedimentary rock came from the Mesabi range in northern Minnesota. It found its way into the Sioux City Public Museum in 2015, and like many items, it remains in storage.

Tom Munson said the museum averages around 250 to 300 donations a year and can’t possibly display them all. Some artifacts simply don’t fit with the museum’s focus – human cultural history since the 1930s.

“One of our qualifications to be accepted at the museum is that it has a Sioux City connection. Granted this (piece of iron ore) has a pretty weak Sioux City connection, it is a neat piece,” he said.

Buildings of the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style were constructed in the 1880s of Sioux quartzite, a pink stone from the same era as the piece of iron ore which has a much stronger connection to Siouxland. Sioux quartzite is found in Northwest Iowa, Southeast South Dakota and Minnesota.

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Tom Munson, Sioux City Public Museum archival clerk, displays a daguerreotype from Sioux City’s Tackaberry family.

“It is incredibly hard and was used in many, many buildings here in Sioux City,” Munson said. “Sometimes you’ll see this stuff crushed up and used as aggregate in concrete for streets and alleys.”

The museum’s oldest artifacts go beyond natural things: Celt – A Native American tool or weapon that is about 3,500 years old. A local archaeologist and collector likely found this ax, club or hammer in a river valley or a creek bed along the Little Sioux River in eastern Woodbury County.

Daguerreotype – This early form of

SIOUXLAND LIFE

a photograph was made between the 1840s and 1860s. The museum has a daguerreotype of a member of Sioux City’s Tackaberry family, which ran a wholesale grocery company from 1878 to 1924.

1865 land partitioning – Sioux City was platted in the winter of 1854 by Dr. John Cook. The museum has a document that divides the land that would become downtown Sioux City between Cook, James Jackson and Milton Tootle.

1700s dress – A two-piece dark brown faille dress features a jacket fitted with two pleated flaps and trimmed with two rows of metal buttons down the front.

The sleeves have lace cuffs. The skirt has two overskirts. The museum received the dress in 1964 from Beatrice Viken, the wife of the late Andrew Viken, a boilermaker.

There are other artifacts at different locations throughout Sioux City.

13TH CENTURY GRIFFIN A sandstone griffin that once likely decorated the outside of a cathedral or large architectural building in Europe during the late Gothic period – 1250 to 1275 – is popular with children who visit the Sioux City Art Center.

The mythical creature with the body,

Matt Anderson, Sioux City Public Museum curator of history, displays a dress dating from the late 1700s.

Tom Munson, Sioux City Public Museum archival clerk, talks about an American Indian celt – a type of ax head – at the museum’s research center.

tail and back legs of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle sits perched on a pedestal and encased in glass in front of the Community Gallery just feet from the visitor services desk where Beth Love works.

“They recognize that it’s a griffin,” she said of the Art Center’s young visitors.

“They think it’s super cool and they wonder where it came from.”

Time has worn away the griffin’s face and one of its front paws. It’s the oldest and most unique piece in the Art Center’s collection.

“It beats everything in our collection by centuries,” said curator Todd Behrens.

The griffin’s exact origins are a mystery, according to Behrens. Before the Sioux City Art Center was established in 1938, the Sioux City Society of Fine Arts held exhibitions, lectures and classes

throughout downtown Sioux City beginning in 1914. Behrens said the group began to amass an art collection. The griffin was one of the pieces in that collection.

“Most of the works that were donated through the society are late 19th, early 20th century paintings. This is the one truly unusual piece that came about,” he said. “We don’t know who it was from the community who had collected this and then turned it over to the Society.”

1920S WAMPUS CAT PROPELLER The oldest non-World War I piece of memorabilia on display at the Mid America Museum of A circa 1250 stone griffin, the oldest item in the Sioux City Art Center’s collection, came from a building in Europe.

Aviation & Transportation is a Wampus Cat propeller, which dates back to 1920.

The propeller was found on the banks of the Big Sioux River years ago and donated to the museum. Executive director Larry Finley calls it a “rather unique” find.

The Wampus Cat, a rather strange craft, looks like a Curtiss JN-4D Jenny without wings. Powered by an OX-5 engine, the Wampus Cat floated in the water during warm weather. In the winter, it was equipped with skis to traverse ice. It could travel up to 30 miles per hour on skis and 10 miles per hour floating.

“The Wampus Cat itself was used out on the Big Sioux River between Iowa and South Dakota up until about 1923,” Finley said.

SEE COLLECTIONS on page 44

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INSIDE STORY a

During a downtown walking tour, Tom Munson, the archival clerk at the Sioux City Public Museum, talks about the history of City Hall, which was formerly the site of the federal building and post office from 1895-1933. In 1948, the building became City Hall. It was completely rebuilt in the 1990s using the stones from the original building.

walking tour

Two buffalo head sculptures can be seen on the backside of the Woodbury County Courthouse, which opened in 1918. The building is an example of Prairie School architecture.

ROAMING THE STREETS OF SIOUX CITY WITH

TOM MUNSON

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Text by Ally Karsyn | Photographs by Justin Wan

ON A 94-DEGREE DAY in June, six history buffs gather outside the Sioux City Public Museum waiting for the downtown walking tour to begin. They point to a white building across the street, asking, “What’s that? Is that the Williges Building?” There’s a sign on a street-level window that says Century Plaza Apartments.

Like a walking encyclopedia, Tom Munson rattles off the facts.

It was built in 1902 as an annex to the T.S. Martin Department Store.

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“This was the home of their mailorder business,” Munson says. “What is special about this building, in addition to having lasted 114 years, it is a pretty rare style of architecture in the city’s history.”

The latest walking tour put on by the Sioux City Public Museum catches the attention of Ted and Susie Rudberg, who live in a rural Dakota County home listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Her great uncle built the farmhouse in the early 1880s, and her mother’s

SIOUXLAND LIFE

99-year-old cousin was the last family member to live there.

The house went up for auction. Other bidders would have bulldozed it, so the Rudbergs moved from Arizona to Nebraska to save the family farm. They bought the property in 2006, committed to making the necessary renovations in their retirement.

To say they have an appreciation for historic preservation would be an understatement.

It was their first time going on a guided walking tour with Munson, the archival clerk for the Sioux City Public Museum’s research center. They’ve picked up the brochures to go on independent tours, but instead of reading a blurb about each building, they get the full scoop.

Walking a block north of the museum, up to 520 Nebraska St., Munson launches into another history lesson.

“I have given modified versions of this tour to groups of 9- to 11-year-olds,” he says. “I love to play this joke on them.

The building behind me, raise your hand if you think you know the name of this building?”

A man calls out, “Motor Mart.”

The kids usually say “Commerce Building” because it’s written in bold white letters on the green awning down below. But if you look up to the tippy-top, Motor Mart is engraved in stone, calling back to an earlier era.

Built in 1912 for Ralph Bennett’s automobile dealership, the four-story building was outfitted with a 10-by-20-foot elevator, designed to hoist automobiles from floor to floor. Bennett sold Moon and White automobiles.

“They didn’t do so well. Neither did he,” Munson says. “In 1919, the chamber of commerce moved into this building.

Above: Tom Munson, right, the archival clerk at the Sioux City Public Museum, leads a downtown walking tour, talking about the architecture and historical significance of several buildings along Nebraska, Sixth and Douglas streets. Right: The Woodbury County Courthouse features sculptural work by Alfonso Iannelli, an influential ItalianAmerican modernist artist who briefly worked with Frank Lloyd Wright.

That’s why it is called the Commerce Building.”

A fifth floor was added in 1921 and housed Tom Archer’s Roof Garden. It later became a music hall and dance club called the Skylon Ballroom. Lawrence Welk and his band performed there in 1939 before he signed with Decca.

Someone asks, “Anything going on in the ballroom these days?”

“I haven’t heard much,” Munson says.

“Is it pretty well rented out?”

“This building is actually pretty full.”

The group moseys along Sixth and Douglas streets, stopping outside the War Hotel, city hall, the federal building, municipal auditorium, Woodbury County Courthouse and the Warnock Building, another former auto mart.

With all the questions from his small band of followers, Munson’s walking tour goes 30 minutes beyond the hour.

That’s the thing about encyclopedias.

They’re an open book.

DETAILS Hosted by the Sioux City Public Museum, the next guided walking tour will explore Grandview Park, focusing on the fascinating history of the park and its many landmarks and secrets.

Meet by the Abraham Lincoln statue at the park’s entrance at 10 a.m. July 9.

Self-guided walking tour brochures can be found at the museum, 607 Fourth St., or online at siouxcitymuseum.org/ walking-tour.

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INSIDE STORY the

Floyd Monument

The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City marks the grave site of Sgt. Charles Floyd, the only person to die during the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

FLOYD MONUME

k

Text by Tim Gallagher | Photographs by

Tim Hynds and Tim Gallagher

Sioux City native Keesha Graham stands at the Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City on a June morning with sons Jaxon Graham, 5, and Jayce Graham, 8. The family resides in St. Petersburg, Florida, where Keesha works as a third-grade teacher.

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JULY 2016

KEESHA GRAHAM REMEMBERS climbing the stairs at the Sergeant Floyd Monument as a student attending Joy Elementary School years ago.

In June, she retraced her childhood steps, and brought her sons to do the same. They came from St. Petersburg, Florida, where Graham has lived for 16 years. She’s now a third-grade teacher and thrilled to share local history.

“I brought my sons back to see the history of where I grew up,” Graham said as Jaxon Graham, 5, and Jayce Graham, 8, took pictures of the country’s first national historic monument, a 100-foot obelisk that serves as the fourth and final burial site for Sgt. Charles Floyd, the only man who died on the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

Modern-day medical professionals believe Floyd likely died of appendicitis on Aug. 20, 1804. His body was carried to the highest bluff in the vicinity and he was buried with full military honors in a

SIOUXLAND LIFE

service led by Capt. Meriwether Lewis.

The burial site washed away in an 1857 flood, meaning that officials had to collect his remains and bury him again in May 1857, about 600 feet from the original burial site.

“We have record of his skull, shoulder blades, a full set of leg bones, a partial set of leg bones and some vertebrae,” said Bev Hinds, a Sioux Cityan who serves as president for the Sergeant Floyd Tri-State Chapter, which operates under the umbrella of the Lewis & Clark Trail Heritage Foundation.

“We do programs and have obtained grant funds that purchase the 15-star, 15-stripe U.S. flag at the monument, a flag that matches the one flown on the expedition,” Hinds said.

Hinds also flies that flag at her home.

Sergeant Floyd’s journal was found in 1893 and published in 1894. One year later, Sioux City leaders asked about the site of his burial. After locating the grave, his remains were placed in two earthenware urns, which were buried again on Aug. 20, 1895, the anniversary of his death.

Clockwise from top left: Workers finish the 100-foottall Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City. It was dedicated on May 30, 1901; a groundbreaking ceremony is held for the Sergeant Floyd Monument atop a hill overlooking the Missouri River in Sioux City in 1900; men take a break for a photo during construction of the Sergeant Floyd Monument. The monument’s foundation was laid May 29, 1990, and the capstone placed April 22, 1991. A memorial dedication was held May 30, 1991.

Historical photos provided by Sioux City Public Museum

MENT

“After that third burial, John Herr Charles decided there should be a monument for Sergeant Floyd,” Hinds said.

John Herr Charles, who was president of the Floyd Association (which no longer exists), began raising funds to erect a monument. It took five years to raise $20,000, an amount that triggered the start of the monument with the pouring of a concrete base in May 1900. Workers then dug up the urns containing Floyd’s remains and buried them for a final time on Aug. 20, 1900.

“He’s been buried three times on Aug. 20,” Hinds said. “He is under the monument.”

Workers advanced on the monument some 55 feet into the air that summer and then finished the 100-foot structure in 1901. And since that time, thousands of visitors have trekked to the site, a small park that is maintained by the Sioux City Parks Department and overseen by Hinds, who changes out the guest registry every two weeks or so.

“I estimate that one or two out of every 10 people there stop to sign the

registry,” said Hinds, who also does programming at the Sergeant Floyd Welcome Center on Sioux City’s Riverfront.

“Someone from Micronesia signed in May. We’ve had visitors from Japan, Germany and Holland in recent months.

Last year, we had someone from Belarus stop by.”

Hinds begins each new registry with her name, her city (Sioux City) and a comment about the day of her visit, often something like, “Beautiful, but windy.”

“I leave a comment so that people can follow suit,” she said.

They do. Recent visitors from all over Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and the rest of the U.S. have written comments that vary from, “I love Iowa,” to “Awesome,” to “Beautiful sunset.”

“Big front,” wrote a guest who listed their name as “Storm Gazers.”

It really offers one of Sioux City’s prime vistas, allowing one to peer miles into the distance from a bluff that overlooks Interstate 29, Lewis Boulevard and parts of Sioux City, Sergeant Bluff and South Sioux City, Nebraska – areas that

A plaque is shown on the west side of the Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, marking the gravesite of Sgt. Charles Floyd.

the Lewis & Clark Expedition experienced for the first time in 1804 as soldiers commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to find a route to the Pacific Ocean through this vast, new territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase.

Visitors still wind their way along that route and find themselves stopping here to remember a young soldier who gave his life in the service of his young country.

An annual program at the Sergeant Floyd Monument recreates that solemn service. It always takes place on the Saturday closest to the date of Floyd’s death, Aug. 20.

This year, that date falls on a Saturday.

Hinds will be there, joined by dozens of others and, perhaps, several out-of-state guests and history seekers. The program begins at 6 p.m.

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INSIDE STORY a

peaceful place

A shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe provides a quiet space for prayer and reflection at Trinity Heights.

TRINITY HEIGHTS RUNS ON STRENGTH

v

OF VOLUNTEERS Text by Dolly A. Butz | Photographs by Tim Hynds

VISITORS HAVE COME FROM all over the world to Trinity Heights to admire 30-foot-tall steel statues of Jesus and his mother, Mary, to light a candle in the Divine Mercy Adoration Chapel or to view a hand-carved wood sculpture of the Last Supper.

Terry Hegarty, executive director at Trinity Heights, said most visitors travel from Kansas City, Missouri, and Lincoln, Nebraska, after hearing about the unique destination that blends art, nature and the teachings of Christianity.

Surprisingly, Hegarty said many Sioux Cityans have never strolled through the peaceful, manicured gardens nestled on the city’s north side.

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JULY 2016

“You just wonder how they’ve missed it,” he said. “Getting the word out isn’t easy. You almost have to rely on word of mouth.”

The Rev. Harold Cooper dreamed of creating a place where visitors could experience the peace that Jesus Christ gives.

In the mid-1980s, Cooper, then pastor of St. Joseph Church in Sioux City, and the nonprofit corporation, Queen of Peace Inc., set out to purchase the 80acre property perched atop a hill at 33rd Street and Floyd Boulevard.

Trinity Heights, which welcomed its first visitors in 1992, is entirely dependent on donations and the help of volunteers to keep 16 acres

SIOUXLAND LIFE

The 30-foot-tall steel Sacred Heart of Jesus statue sits in the peaceful grounds at Trinity Heights in Sioux City. The grounds were founded by the Rev. Harold V. Cooper on the site of the former Trinity Catholic College and High School.

of landscaping, more than two dozen shrines, and buildings in pristine condition. The names of benefactors are recognized on plaques scattered throughout the grounds.

Hegarty said one full-time staff member and volunteers are constantly mowing and trimming. Trinity Heights has 25 different garden areas with shrubbery, plants and flowers that need to be maintained. More than 800 sprinkler heads keep the grounds watered.

“We have volunteers that come in and they’ll take a garden area and they’ll maintain that garden area,” he said. “We have different volunteers that come in and say, ‘I’d like to mow this area.’ So they’ll come in every week and mow that area.”

An 86-year-old man cuts the grass around the gift shop with a push mower. Hegarty said the man has been volunteering since Trinity Heights was established. When his hand mower needed to be replaced two years ago, Hegarty said the man bought a new one and donated it.

The Immaculate Heart of Mary Queen of Peace statue stands on the grounds of Trinity Heights.

IF YOU GO WHAT: Trinity Heights WHERE: 33rd Street and Floyd Boulevard WHEN: Grounds are open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Buildings are open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 4 p.m.

Sunday.

MORE: People of all faiths visit Trinity Heights, which is Catholic in theology, but ecumenical in intent and appeal.

Call 712-239-8670 for more information.

“He put a receipt on the desk and he said, ‘I figure I have two more years of mowing. I wasn’t going to do it with that old mower, so I bought a new mower. I’ll just donate it when I leave,’” he recalled.

“We’ve said to him, ‘We have three riding lawn mowers.’”

Preferring the look of a hand-mowed lawn, the man faithfully returns to Trinity Heights every week to hand mow.

“We’re just very blessed that way.

They just divide areas up,” Hegarty said of the volunteers.

The statues are weather resistant,

so Hegarty said they require very little maintenance. Every five years, the steel is cleaned with a power washer.

Dale Lamphere, the nationally known sculptor from Spearfish, South Dakota, who created the Immaculate Heart of Mary Queen of Peace, has come to Trinity Heights to inspect his work. The statue, Hegarty said, can be entered through an access door.

“He actually came with his welder and went inside to visually inspect all the welds to make sure they’re in good shape; and they were and they are,” he said. “The maintenance involved around it is the base, which is made out of marble and brick, and then all of the concrete that slopes up to it.”

Jerry Traufler’s “Last Supper” – a lifesize rendition of Jesus’ last meal with his disciples – is another popular work of art displayed at Trinity Heights. Traufler, a postal employee from Le Mars, Iowa, and a self-taught sculptor, carved each figure out of basswood and pine with a chisel and mallet.

Two years ago, Traufler restained and revarnished the piece, which is housed in the temperature-controlled octagon room in the St. Joseph Center and Museum.

“It was in very, very good condition,”

Hegarty said. “The biggest key to the wood is not getting it to dry out because then it loses moisture and it’ll start to crack.”

Will Trinity Heights expand in the future? Hegarty said visitors frequently offer suggestions. A veterans memorial was dedicated in 2011, and new Stations of the Cross were installed in the outdoor cathedral in 2014.

“A year ago, we just did a brand new addition of a mural tribute to St. Joseph plus a directory wall up by the St. Joseph Center and those were not planned items. We just had somebody that really wanted to do something for their wife,” he said. “There are things that are still being discussed, whether or not they come to be, we’ll see.”

Hegarty doesn’t foresee Trinity Heights ever charging an admission fee, because when people come to Trinity Heights and see its beauty, he said they want to support it. He said Cooper and his brother, former longtime executive director Bernard “Beanie” Cooper, didn’t envision charging visitors, either.

“He thought as long as we keep the right theme and we continue to pray and offer it to people, they would provide,” he said.

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INSIDE STORY moving

history

Above: Facilities manager Mike McCormick works to frame an exhibit board in his shop at the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Sioux City. Left: Director Marcia Poole hangs out with an animated Thomas Jefferson exhibit.

HISTORY IN THE MAKING: LEWIS & CLARK CENTER GOES BEYOND CORPS OF DISCOVERY

a

Text by Earl Horlyk | Photographs by Tim Hynds

A FORMER NEWSPAPER JOURNALIST, Marcia Poole is continually on the lookout for “the second-day story.”

That was true during the the two decades she spent as a reporter and editor at the Sioux City Journal. It remains the same in her current role as director of the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center.

“We opened to a lot of fanfare in 2002 due to Lewis and Clark’s time in Siouxland as well the (2006) bicentennial of the Corps of Discovery,” Poole said. “But we needed to find ways to stay relevant beyond that.”

The Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center

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JULY 2016

– as well as the adjoining Betty Strong Encounter Center that was built in 2007 – comprise a private, nonprofit cultural complex that was built at 900 Larsen Park Road and is sustained by Missouri River Historical Development Inc. (MRHD).

While the cross-country expedition of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark continue to inspire broad and varied themes for the facilities’ programs and exhibits, Poole admitted to some creative “spin-offs.”

“Through Lewis and Clark, we’ve been able to explore everything from Native American culture to traditional

SIOUXLAND LIFE

games, natural resources, music, agriculture, the military – you name it,” she said. “Thanks to our Lewis and Clark core, we never run out of ideas for stimulating programs and exhibits.”

EXPANDING THEMES, CONSISTENT CORE Doing “sentry duty” on the center’s Missouri River grounds are life-size, bronze sculptures of animals – a bison, elk, grizzly bear, white-tailed deer, coyotes and a 1,000-pound buffalo that symbolizes wildlife encountered by Lewis and Clark as well as Native peoples.

In addition to the animal sculpture, a 14-foot-tall “Spirit of Discovery” depicts Lewis and Clark and a Newfoundland dog named Seaman, who became a mascot for the expedition.

According to Poole, this sculpture – by Loveland, Colorado-based Pat Kennedy – has become one of Siouxland’s most iconic photo ops.

That’s to say nothing of the center’s newest acquisition: a life-size animatronic Thomas Jefferson.

Dressed in dark green breeches and vest, a long-sleeved ruffled shirt, dark stockings and laced-up shoes, the “Sage of Monticello” greets visitors from an octagon stage in the Enlistment Gallery.

Facilities manager Mike McCormick said the animatronic Jefferson – first introduced in January – was designed and constructed by Life Formations of Bowling Green, Ohio.

Similar to the center’s animatronic Lewis, Clark and Seaman the Dog

sculptures, Jefferson’s eyes, head, arms and torso move, which McCormick said was both “fascinating” and “creepy.”

“I think it can go either way,” he said.

Still, Poole said many visitors have taken advantage of the nation’s third president.

“People love taking selfies with Jefferson,” she said. “I can totally picture ol’ Tom as loving social media. He was very progressive that way.”

THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX FOR SUMMER Poole said the center’s Stanley Evans Auditorium have become increasingly important. Over the past year, it has hosted music acts, science experiments, a program for Vietnam veterans and even a poetry “slam.”

“It all ties in with Lewis and Clark, when entertainment was presented in front of a campfire,” she said. “Our various programs continue to draw thousands of visitors every year.”

This doesn’t surprise Poole, who said Lewis and Clark have fans from around the country as well as around the world.

“But to be honest, we’re seeing more and more local people utilizing our facilities,” she said. “That’s very important.”

Over the past few years, Poole said, she’s seen an increasingly large number of families having fun at the riverfront.

“The riverfront truly is a jewel for Siouxland,” she said. “It’s so wonderful to see people using it in greater frequency.”

Poole is forecasting a very busy summer with programs on Alexander Hamilton, The White House, American musical instruments, baseball’s “one-hit wonders,” architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Plains Tribe and the Homestead Act, as well as a program of patriotic music.

“When we first opened our doors, I thought we’d see the bulk of our visitors as being out-of-towners,” she said. “Now, we’re becoming more of a community center and that’s very nice as well.”

Which is good news for Poole, who is always on the hunt for that perfect “second day story.”

“With such a rich history, we’ll never run out of ideas,” she said.

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Siouxland Life

INSIDE STORY favorite

food

RED HOT: GEORGE SERVES CHILI DOGS TO AT LEAST 3 GENERATIONS OF SIOUX CITYANS

h

Text by Earl Horlyk Photographs by Jim Lee

HOW FAR WOULD YOU travel for a chili dog with the works?

If you’re Donald Solomon, 79, you’d drive more than 700 miles for a Double Dog from George’s Hot Dog Shop, 1419 Hamilton Blvd.

“I only make it back to town a few times a year,” said Solomon, a Sioux City native. “But during each visit, I need my hot dog fix at George’s.”

This is something that George Demetroulis hears all the time.

“We have customers from all over the country,” he said. “As soon as they come back to Sioux City, they come to see me because my hot dogs remind them of home.”

“I like that,” Demetroulis added. “It makes me feel good.”

A native of Greece, Demetroulis opened George’s Hot Dog Shop with wife Mary in 1975.

“We figured it would be a good business,” Mary Demetroulis said. “Everybody likes hot dogs, right?”

That’s certainly true at George’s where Demetroulis grills all-beef hot dogs, drowning them in some truly decadent chili and chopped onions.

“If a person orders a Supreme, I’ll top it with mustard, chili, onions, relish, jalapenos, you name it,” Demetroulis said.

George Demetroulis prepares an order of hot dogs at George’s Hot Dog Shop.

George’s Hot Dog Shop in Sioux City.

SIOUXLAND LIFE

JULY 2016

29

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Siouxland Life

In fact, he will even “supreme” a hamburger. That’s exactly what he did for Charlie Hardness.

“Normally, I’m not a fast food guy,” Hardness said, taking a bite out of the massive burger. “But this is not your typical fast food.”

A Sioux City native, Hardness moved to Tucson, Arizona, many years ago.

“I was back in town for a wedding when I drove past George’s,” he said.

“George had already closed for the day when I rapped on his window.”

“I never let down a customer,” Demetroulis said. “As soon as I saw (Charlie), I knew it was time to get back to work.”

Hardness always remembered the hot dog man’s kindness. That’s why he’s been a return customer every time he’s back in Sioux City. On this occasion, he also brought along his 7-yearold granddaughter, Lola Reinert.

“How do you like your hamburger?”

Hardness asked her.

“Boy, this is really good,” Lola said, between bites.

Demetroulis said business has remained good but it can always be a bit better.

“There is so much competition for a shrinking dollar,” he said. “When I opened the shop, there was much less competition. Today, there are at least nine food places within a few blocks of my store.”

George Demetroulis offers one of his famous hot dog meals.

DETAILS WHAT: George’s Hot Dog Shop WHEN: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Saturday WHERE: 1419 Hamilton Blvd.

PHONE: 712-255-4725 “That’s too much,” he said.

Still, Demetroulis makes a go of things by stressing good food at fair prices. This also includes his wife’s famous potato salad and homemade baklava.

“We gotta stress our Greek heritage,” Mary Demetroulis said with a grin. “Plus

my baklava happens to be excellent.”

Once the lunch trade slows down a bit, Demetroulis stops for a moment to take stock.

“I’m lucky since many of my customers are regulars who come several times a week,” he said. “If they move away, they’ll also come back. They’re just happy we’re still around and that the hot dogs are just as good as they remembered.”

Mary Demetroulis nodded her head in agreement.

“When people come to George’s, they become a part of our family,” she said.

“Customers come back because we treat you like family.”

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INSIDE STORY living

in a park

Brody Osterbuhr, 22, and his wife Nikole Klemmensen, 24, are the new caretakers of Latham Park, at 1915 S. Lemon St. Both grew up in Sioux City and recently returned to the area, eager to take on this role.

CARETAKERS LIVE RENT-FREE IN LATHAM PARK

a The home in Latham Park was built by brothers Elbert and Leslie Latham. Their sister, Clara Latham, lived here until she died in 1937, leaving the .94-acre property to the community.

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JULY 2016

Text by Ally Karsyn | Photographs by Jim Lee

A COUPLE IN THEIR early 20s occupy the second and third floor of a 1916 prairie farmhouse with a wraparound porch and peeling paint, a piece of Sioux City history nestled among a sanctuary-like setting of blooming flowers, bushes and trees and a bubbling fountain that can’t be missed.

Brody Osterbuhr, a tenderhearted 22-year-old with thick-rimmed glasses and a scraggly beard, and his wife Nikole Klemmensen live in Latham Park.

He holds a romantic view of the privately-owned public park as many do who grew up in the area and threw pennies into the fountain or exchanged vows in the quaint, green estate of the late Clara

SIOUXLAND LIFE

Latham that covers nearly an acre, one block off of Morningside Avenue.

His grandparents lived in a yellow house across the street for 40 years. His family moved into that same house 11 years ago.

“When I was growing up, I’d always come over and visit Grandma and Grandpa. We’d walk through the park. I was here all the time,” he said.

The quiet retreat exists because of Clara Latham. When her parents retired from farming south of Moville, Iowa, in 1899, they moved to Morningside. Her two brothers built the family home, at 1915 S. Lemon St., and she lived there until she died in 1937.

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Memorial funds from the estate of Cecil Vander Weil went to renovating an outbuilding in Latham Park, called the “summer kitchen.” Vander Weil was the new caretaker’s grandpa.

Before she passed, she established a trust, now managed by Security National Bank, to preserve her home and surrounding property for public use.

By 2002, money in the trust fund was running out, and the Friends of Latham Park formed to rectify the situation. Contrary to popular belief, the city does not own or maintain the park or make financial contributions to it.

Park maintenance requires an annual operating budget of $25,000-$30,000, according to Jill Swanson, co-president of the nonprofit association.

Some of the biggest expenses arise from the century-old home.

In recent years, grants and donations – monetary and in-kind – helped to remodel the kitchen, install a new furnace and central air conditioning unit and replace the roof, gutters, windows and doors. New insulation, wiring and siding are next on the list.

An outdoor stage recently arrived in a 1,500-pound package, a purchase made possible thanks to a $10,000 grant from Missouri River Historical Development.

The portable stage and sound system will be used for weddings and other special events, including a live family-friendly music festival in the spring featuring local musicians.

“Anything we do, we have to raise the funds for,” Swanson said. “We don’t get any help from the city or the state or the federal government. It’s all private donations and grants. To be able to continue this park, we have to be continually reaching out to the community, getting in a younger demographic …

The median age of our group of volunteers is probably 62.”

Eager to use social media to promote the park, Osterbuhr and Klemmensen are a big part of energizing community

outreach initiatives. They’re at least half the age of past caretakers, a job that comes with a rent-free residence but no salary.

For that matter, it’s not just a job. It’s a lifestyle – a welcome one.

They moved into the Latham home in April after a stint of living in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he worked as a train conductor for BNSF Railway. It was a grueling work schedule.

“I’d be home for 10-12 hours and gone for 36. That’s not the work-life balance that I really wanted,” he said. “I’d much rather do this for the rest of my life than do that for five years.”

While volunteers do pitch in to help, they’re responsible for a better part of the upkeep, which includes mowing, weeding, planting, pruning and fall cleanup.

They’re also expected to be on site to oversee all events whether it’s a wedding or the annual pancake breakfast.

Their motivation for maintaining the park isn’t money but a memory of a man.

Osterbuhr smiled as he recalled his boyhood playtimes, hiding in the perennial elephant ears that towered 7 feet tall. But the fondest times were spent walking the park’s paths with his grandpa, Cecil Vander Weil, the unofficial supervisor of the neighborhood.

That’s why Osterbuhr wanted this job.

His grandpa loved Latham Park.

Vander Weil died in August and dedicated memorial funds to Latham Park. The money went toward updating the “summer kitchen.” The open-air structure in the southwest corner of the park got a fresh coat of paint, new shingles and soffit and a wheelchairaccessible sidewalk.

If his grandpa were still alive, Osterbuhr thought the watchman would approve.

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Siouxland Life

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INSIDE STORY educational

start

CHARLES CITY HALL LINKS THREE COLLEGES

c

Text by Tim Gallagher Photographs by Tim Hynds

CHARLES CITY HALL, ON the campus of Morningside College, is older than the college itself.

The place also served as host to President Barack Obama, who made a campaign stop at Morningside College on Sept. 1, 2012.

The three-story structure, made of a purplish Sioux quartzite, was constructed for the University of the Northwest, which lasted from 1890 to 1894, a boom period in Sioux City’s history, an era featuring the lavish Corn Palaces, expansion and speculation.

This building, in fact, WAS the University of the Northwest. The hall housed classes and had students sleeping on the top floor each night. It was, it appears, the original “one-stop shop” in education.

“The classrooms were in the building, the lunchroom was in a classroom,” said Tim Orwig, a Morningside College graduate who penned a history of his alma mater for its centennial just over two decades ago. “Students stoked the furnace in the basement and slept upstairs.”

Above: The cornerstone of Charles City Hall, on the campus of Morningside College, was put in place in 1890.

Left: The building predates the founding of the college.

In 2016, students might still be sleeping upstairs at times, although on a napping level rather than overnighting. A couch serves as a welcoming mat of sorts for students who reach the third floor hallway, an area separating one classroom and the offices of four professors.

For decades, Charles City Hall was home of Morningside’s Conservatory of Music, where students participating in the programs of legends such as Leo Kucinski and Paul MacCollin perfected their craft.

Dr. Rudy Daniels taught history here, a class that a young Tim Orwig, a 1977

West High graduate, took. Orwig ended up teaching for 12 years at Morningside. He left the college in 1999 and now teaches architectural and art history at both Northeast University and Boston College.

Orwig notes that the cornerstone for Charles City Hall was laid on July 4, 1890, making this building 126 years old.

“A Methodist bishop spoke (when the cornerstone was laid) and the land around the building was prairie,” Orwig said. “The bishop said how proud he was SEE CHARLES CITY, CONTINUED ON PAGE 43

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35

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Q: Hey doc, I’ve been working on the house over the weekend, drywalling and mudding. My low back and shoulders are really sore, any chance you could give me a quick adjustment and have me back to normal again?

A: At our clinic we get questions like this a lot as the summer approaches and we start working outside more, and start opening the windows and doing some spring cleaning. Let’s talk about what you did to get here: all of the bones and joints in your body need the same thing as your house: regular maintenance. If you find that you’ve got a leaky roof, you typically get up in the attic, and decide what’s to be done: do we re-tar, re-shingle, or replace the roof? Our goal is always to protect on of our biggest monetary assets: the house. For you, now that the drywalling is done, and the roof’s fixed, it’s time to worry about the next biggest asset (if not your bigger asset) – your body.

When was the last time that you did some simple stretches to keep those joints loose? Are you doing something simple every day to keep those shoulders tuned up? Sometimes when these patients come in, it is a simple job to tune them up. Much more commonly, instead of being a simple “fix the leak”, it’s a “re-shingle the roof” type of job. Typically they have noticed the slight aches and pains and ignored them, which makes a small job – a big job to correct.

Whether it’s a small job, or a big job, or you don’t know where to start, MultiCare’s got the blueprints to keep your body up and running at full health. We’ll let you know what it’s going to take to get you back to your growing projects – and keep your body off of that list. As always, stay safe out there Siouxland!

Call 276-4325 today for an appointment 3930 Stadium Drive. (Between Wal-Mart & Explorer Stadium)

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

ask a professional Dr. Joel Pistello, DC

Q: Hey doc, I’ve been working on the house over the weekend, drywalling and mudding. My low back and shoulders are really sore, any chance you could give me a quick adjustment and have me back to normal again?

A: At our clinic we get questions like this a lot as the summer approaches and we start working outside more, and start opening the windows and doing some spring cleaning. Let’s talk about what you did to get here: all of the bones and joints in your body need the same thing as your house: regular maintenance. If you find that you’ve got a leaky roof, you typically get up in the attic, and decide what’s to be done: do we re-tar, re-shingle, or replace the roof? Our goal is always to protect on of our biggest monetary assets: the house. For you, now that the drywalling is done, and the roof’s fixed, it’s time to worry about the next biggest asset (if not your bigger asset) – your body.

When was the last time that you did some simple stretches to keep those joints loose? Are you doing something simple every day to keep those shoulders tuned up? Sometimes when these patients come in, it is a simple job to tune them up. Much more commonly, instead of being a simple “fix the leak”, it’s a “re-shingle the roof” type of job. Typically they have noticed the slight aches and pains and ignored them, which makes a small job – a big job to correct.

Whether it’s a small job, or a big job, or you don’t know where to start, MultiCare’s got the blueprints to keep your body up and running at full health. We’ll let you know what it’s going to take to get you back to your growing projects – and keep your body off of that list. As always, stay safe out there Siouxland!

Call 276-4325 today for an appointment 3930 Stadium Drive. (Between Wal-Mart & Explorer Stadium)

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Siouxland Life

INSIDE STORY an

early home Marvis Hendrickson talks about history at the Bruguier Cabin, Sioux City’s oldest structure, in Riverside Park. The cabin is maintained by the Girls of ‘68 club.

GIRLS OF ’68 OVERSEE BRUGUIER CABIN

m

Text by Tim Gallagher Photographs by Tim Hynds

The Bruguier Cabin was built in 1849.

MARVIS HENDRICKSON LAUGHS when asked to recall a question that may have stumped her while conducting tours and informational programs at the cabin of Theophile Bruguier in Riverside Park, on Sioux City’s western edge.

The log cabin was built in 1849, five years before Sioux City was incorporated, making it Sioux City’s oldest structure on record. It was discovered in 1933 by workmen reclaiming wood from old homes. After learning it belonged to Bruguier, who came to Siouxland to settle as early as 1847, officials had the structure moved to its present location in 1934.

Hendrickson and people like Jackie Warnstadt, both members of the Girls of ’68, work to preserve the history of this

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A detail of the tongue-and-groove construction is shown at the Bruguier Cabin, Sioux City’s oldest structure.

cabin while telling the story of Bruguier, a French fur trader from Canada who befriended Chief War Eagle and eventually married two of War Eagle’s daughters.

The question Hendrickson gets: “Do you live here?”

While the answer is a “No,” one gets the idea Hendrickson likely could envision herself in this cabin long, long ago, about the time settlers moved west and made this trapping and emerging industrial center their home base.

“Can’t you just see Bruguier and War Eagle sitting together right here?” Hendrickson asked on a recent June morning.

“This is where our history took place.”

Bruguier’s cabin contains photos of himself, as well as others, including Dr. John Cook, who is credited with surveying the city for the U.S. government before platting the town. Cook also gave Sioux City its name 152 years ago.

Bruguier was the first white settler on this land. The Canadian trained as a lawyer, but left the trade after the death of his bride-to-be. Rather than practice law, he immersed himself in the trapping industry for the American Fur Company.

He eventually bought furs from the Sioux Indians and sold them to small fur companies. While in this line of work, Bruguier became friends with Chief War Eagle, of the Yankton Sioux.

According to Warnstadt and Hendrickson, War Eagle was never a chief. He did come with 40 followers to settle this area, but he was never formally recognized as a chief by the tribe.

“His name was Little Eagle,” Hendrickson said.

The Girls of ’68 help maintain and preserve the stories and history surrounding this cabin and the lives of War Eagle and Bruguier. The group opens the cabin to the public from 2-4 p.m. on the second Sunday of each month, from May through October. This site is also a popular draw for some 1,500 Sioux City fourth-graders each year.

“They come here as part of their Iowa 38

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Jackie Warnstadt, a retired teacher, talks about the cabin’s history.

Left: Historical photos and certificates. Right: A painting and framed piece of Girls of ‘68 memorabilia.

history project,” said Warnstadt, a retired teacher who, in 2006, earned the Iowa Teacher of the Year award. She was Sioux City Teacher of the Year in 2005.

The Girls of ’68 reportedly evolved from a birthday club formed in the 1890s.

That, or the group arose as its members were all wed to men who formed the Boys of ’68 group at that time. The name may have had something to do with a 50year Sioux City residential requirement asked of members long ago. Members are now asked to be a Sioux City resident for at least five years before joining.

“We had a membership of more than 1,000 women at one time,” Hendrickson said, noting the group now consists of 51 members.

The Girls of ’68 worked more than a decade ago to renovate this historic cabin, which is modeled after a French style of tongue-and-groove architecture. The $30,000 effort helped protect the building from the elements, a necessity when

SIOUXLAND LIFE

considering the structure has met and withstood nearly 170 winters.

Bruguier’s home isn’t the only Sioux City attraction to which he is attached.

He was initially buried at St. Joseph Cemetery in Salix, Iowa, after his death in 1896. But, in 1926, the Junior Pioneers deemed that he should be buried with his Indian wives, Flaming Cloud and Dawn, and their children.

After reaching an agreement with family members, the city and officials within the Sioux City Catholic Diocese, had his body disinterred, as well as that of his third wife, Victoria Turnott, and brought to the bluff overlooking the Missouri River on Sioux City’s west side.

It is there, at War Eagle Bluff, that Bruguier found a final resting place, along with his first two wives and two infants.

“Bruguier had his children speak French to him, native language to their mother and English to their doctor,” Warnstadt said.

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HEALTH t oo

much sodium?

Allison Rossow, registered dietician at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s.

Rossow says the FDA’s goal to reduce the amount of sodium and salt in commercially prepared and packaged foods is a step in the right direction.

p

SIOUXLAND DIETITIAN:

NEW FDA SODIUM GUIDELINES ARE A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION 40

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

Text by Dolly A. Butz

Photographs by Tim Hynds

PUT DOWN THE SALT SHAKER. Chances are, like most Americans, you’re consuming too much sodium or salt, a practice that’s linked to high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke.

Allison Rossow, a registered dietitian at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s, said some people salt their food before they even taste it. She said heavy salters who cut back on their sodium intake often complain their food doesn’t take good anymore. She said people can find

other ways to make their food tasty without salt.

Opt for fresh foods over processed foods. Chose garlic or onion powder instead of garlic or onion salt. Read labels to find canned foods with no salt added.

“Generally we recommend looking for sodium-free seasonings like Mrs. Dash,” Rossow said. “They have Table Blends that you can put on meats and vegetables. They have seasoning packets for tacos, chile, fajitas and marinades. That’s a good place to start.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 90 percent of Americans consume too much sodium.

Average sodium intake in the United States is around 3,400 milligrams (mg) a day. Dietary guidelines released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Agriculture advise people to consume less than or equal to 2,300 mg (a teaspoon) of sodium per day, although our bodies need just 500 mg to carry out normal functions.

About 75 percent of total sodium intake comes from processed and commercially prepared foods. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently released new sodium guidelines for food companies in effort to get them to voluntarily reduce the amount of sodium they put in commercially processed, packaged and prepared foods.

The FDA’s goal is to reduce average sodium consumption to 3,000 mg per day within two years and to 2,300 mg per day within eight years. Rossow said meeting the new guidelines might be challenging for manufacturers, but she said the change is doable and a step in the right direction.

“A lot of patients I work with are surprised. They say, ‘Well, I don’t salt anything,’” she said. “People really need to be aware of those nutrition facts labels and then using that 2,300 mg as a reference point to make good choices.”

Rossow uses a box of clear vials filled with sodium to show patients how various food compare. Three ounces of pork chop has dramatically less salt than the same amount of processed ham. Three ounces of ramen noodles beat out the ham and 14 baked potato chips.

“The majority of the sodium is in that seasoning packed,” she said of the ramen noddles. “I tell patients, especially ones that live alone or are trying to eat on a budget, even if they can only use half of the seasoning packet or throw away the seasoning packet and use their Mrs. Dash and maybe add

Allison Rossow, registered dietician at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s displays the nutrition facts panel from a box of macaroni and cheese. Rossow says the FDA’s goal to reduce the amount of sodium and salt in commercially prepared and packaged foods is a step in the right direction.

“A lot of patients I work with are surprised. They say, ‘Well, I don’t salt anything.’

People really need to be aware of those nutrition facts labels and then using that 2,300 mg as a reference point to make good choices.”

ALLISON ROSSOW r egistered dietitian at UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s

the rest of the day and meet that recommendation.”

Restaurant food can be a huge hidden source of sodium, according to Rossow. For example, ordering a burrito bowl – a seemingly healthy option – at a popular Mexican-style restaurant chain typically contains more than 1,000 mg of sodium.

“That kind of makes it hard to meet that recommendation for the day if that meal has over half of the amount that you need for the day,” she said. “If people can cook at home, that generally is a lot better because you can control all of those factors, where as if you eat out it makes it a lot harder.”

some vegetables it makes it a little bit more sodium-friendly and a little bit more balanced.”

Rossow said reading labels can be confusing. She advises patients to first look at the serving size. She said a lot of people aren’t aware that all the information on the nutrition facts label is for one serving. Any product that’s labeled low in sodium has to have 140 mg of sodium or less.

“If they eat multiple servings, they’re getting a lot more (sodium) than they think they are,” she said. “If I’m looking at a product and it’s got 1,500 mg per serving that makes it hard to fit in SIOUXLAND LIFE

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CHARLES CITY, FROM PAGE 35

that this would be a college that would educate both men and women.”

The structure was completed in 1894, when it became the core of the newly formed Morningside College, which replaced a defunct University of the Northwest.

“The idea, like Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, was that the University of the Northwest would be financed by land sales in the suburb surrounding the college,” Orwig said. “That worked fine until a bust hit.”

When Bishop Wilson Seeley Lewis came to the college to take it over in 1897, he found this building in the middle of a field, corn planted in all directions. He challenged himself and his staff to work to make the school viable.

Lewis Hall, which stands just south of Charles City Hall, is named for President Lewis, who served the school for 11 years. The foundation of Lewis Hall matches the purple Sioux quartzite found at Charles City Hall.

How, then, did the name come to be Charles City Hall?

“Charles City College (in Charles City, Iowa) was founded by German Methodists,” Orwig said. “There were a number of German-speaking Methodist congregations that needed ministers. Charles City College formed in 1891 and in 1914 it

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign stop at Morningside College on Sept. 1, 2012. The president and White House staff members used Charles City Hall, the college’s oldest building, both before and after the speech.

closed and merged with Morningside.”

When it closed, Charles City College boasted 63 alumni. They immediately became Morningside alumni. The legacy of Charles City College lived on in 1958 when this hall was completely renovated and renamed after the alums of the college in northeast Iowa.

“What’s funny is that many times I’ve heard people say that building was dismantled from Charles City, Iowa,” Orwig said. The story lacks one key ingredient: The truth.

“The story makes me smile and take a break before I explain it to them,” Orwig said.

Charles City Hall was gutted by a fire in 1914, but was rebuilt, as the

durability of the Sioux quartzite became apparent. This site, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was restored in 1989 and now houses classrooms and offices for the departments of history and political science, philosophy, religious studies and theater.

It also housed a sitting U.S. president just over four years ago. In fact, it became “headquarters” for White House staff traveling with President Obama, who entered Charles City Hall that day through a covered entry on the east side of the building, perhaps taking the same steps future leaders took on their way to history class, making local history some 126 years ago.

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The Illustrated Atlas of the State of Iowa from 1875 is shown at the Wilbur Aalfs Library.

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In 1923, when the old iron bridge that connected Riverside to what is now North Sioux City was replaced, the Wampus Cat was used as a ferry to get from one side to the other. It could hold up to six passengers.

Finley said he doesn’t know what happened to the actual body of the Wampus Cat that the propeller came from. Historical information provided to the museum states that when the Wampus Cat quit running it was dumped along the banks of the river.

1875 ATLAS The Illustrated Atlas of the State of Iowa, which dates back to 1875, is the oldest book in the Sioux City Public Library’s possession.

Although the atlas, which the library likely obtained by donation, is included in its catalog, Jessi Wakefield said no one has asked to look at the book during her first year as library historian.

“We do keep it locked in a different room that does have a little temperature control,” she said. “They would have to ask if we had something like this.”

But don’t judge the book by its worn black cover.

The atlas contains 590 pages of detailed illustrations of places of interest in Iowa’s 99 counties, biographical sketches of prominent government figures, an extensive appendix and maps of Iowa and the world. You can view a list of post offices, census data and life expectancy.

“Work was definitely put into this thing,” Wakefield said, as she gently turned the atlas’s yellowed pages on the Wilbur Aalfs Library’s second floor.

The illustrations were done by A.T. Andreas. More than a thousand other people contributed to the atlas and their names take up many of its pages.

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SIOUXLAND LIFE

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Siouxland Life

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PARTING SHOT By

Bruce Miller

AHHHHH, TO

l

BE COOL IN THE SUMMER

LIKE A LAWN THAT has not been watered, I don’t do well in heat.

Oh, sure, I love to crank the thermostat in winter and pretend it’s warm. But I am not one to invite sweating. Blame my North Dakota roots. There, if we got above 70 we sounded a global warming alarm.

Here, I start turning on the air conditioning somewhere around March and don’t let it go until at least October. I’m so wary of being too hot, I’ll push it to the point where you can see your breath – and then I’ll get a blanket.

I love air conditioning and used to seek out places that advertised they had it: “In airconditioned comfort!” “A hot movie in an icy cool theater!” “Come in!

We’re cool!”

That was a big pitch when window units were as good as it got. As a kid, I created a fort out of fans, just to make sure I wasn’t sweating. (And, yes, they do work outside.

Trust me.)

Now, of course, everything has air conditioning and people complain if it’s too cold.

My sister, for example, is the last person to visit on a hot day. She balks at kicking it on when it’s more than 100 degrees outside.

She has been known to go full summers without it. And when she does decide to use it, she’ll set it at 80, just in case it might get too cold.

“I’ll just close the drapes. That’ll keep the house a lot cooler,” she says. It doesn’t and it also makes it impossible to find anything when you’re stumbling around in the dark. In the afternoon.

I’ve stayed in one of her second-floor bedrooms on a hot summer night and can attest that heat rises. “Don’t open the window,” she says. “You’ll never sleep with all that noise outside.”

Trust me, I’d rather deal with a 24-hour jackhammer squad than be locked up in a 90-degree room with a 4-inch thick comforter on top of me.

Even with Ambien I can’t sleep under those conditions.

(Throw in a stray fly and you might as well get up and help the construction workers supposedly lurking.)

In my house, the air runs so consistently you need an industrial-strength phone just to hear if someone’s calling.

Sure, the TV may need to be a “little” loud but that’s so you can hear it above that pleasant whir of the outdoor fan.

Condensation can be a problem on some mirrors but it’s just a case of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.

Damp basements occur with overly air-conditioned homes, too, but as long as you have a dehumidifier, you’re good.

The joy comes when you can drive in an airconditioned car, get out in a slightly warm garage and make a quick entrance into an equally cool home. There, you can sip on an iced drink, enjoy a cool summer salad and take a nap under that four-inch comforter.

It doesn’t get much better than that, now does it? Bring on the jackhammers.

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