The Iowan | September/October 2015 | Vol. 64, No. 1

Page 1

Touring the

GREAT RIVER ROAD page 26

ISU Football Legend

JACK TRICE page 50

RETHINKING THE ’BURBS

Can developers re-create small towns? page 42


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THE IOWAN | iowan.com


You’ll never look at quilting the same way again. Some of the many reasons you should attend QuiltWeek:

1.

Experience beautiful quilts in the first AQS Des Moines quilt contest!

2.

Attend amazing classes with quilting celebrities like Karen K. Stone, Joanie Zeier Poole, and David Taylor.

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Explore stunning exhibits like SAQA™ Wide Horizons IV and The WICKED™ Cherrywood Challenge!

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July/August 2015 | THE IOWAN

1


contents

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015

volume 64 | number 1 iowan.com

ON THE COVER The Great River Road in Northeast Iowa. THIS PAGE: The Mississippi River from Mt. Hosmer in Lansing. “Touring Iowa’s Great River Road,” page 26. Photographs by Dan Weeks


FEATURES 26

Touring Iowa’s Great River Road

Join us for a spectacular fall road trip down Iowa’s

scenic East Coast. Your tour includes a stop-by-stop

guide to 326 miles of some of the state’s best

views, attractions, and events.

42

Rethinking Suburbia

by Amber Barz

Some new suburban developments are starting

to look a lot like Iowa’s charming small towns.

Here’s where to find them — and what it’s like to

live in one.

50

Iowan Icon: Jack Trice

story and photography by Dan Weeks

by John Rosengren

In 1923 legendary lineman Jack Trice was killed

in his second football game for Iowa Sate. His name

is now famous — but it is his character we admire.

66 Photoessay: Iowa’s Country Schoolhouses

by Dan Weeks

Obsolete but still treasured, hundreds of these one-

room wonders still stand. Many are painstakingly

restored. Why do we love them so?

DEPARTMENTS

4

from the editor Lots of Great on Our Plate

6 letters

Heifer Pride; Bob’s Fans

iowa map

7

Points of Interest in This Issue

8

iowa travels

Day Trips

12

Plant Some Fall Color

16

iowa grows iowa tastes Ride. Eat. Repeat.

18

home in iowa

Buckingham Palace

62

from the archives

Capital City News

flashback: 1955

76

60 Years Ago in The Iowan

80 escapades The Haunting of Ham House


from theeditor

Lots of Great on Our Plate We have some great subjects in this issue. Iowa’s Great River Road, page 26, is great in more than just name. It's longer than the drive from, say, Boston to Montreal. It threads trade routes, settlements, and effigies that predate history. It takes us back to the Ireland and Germany and Scandinavia of our state’s Old World settlers. And it opens to vistas rivaling any on Earth. Visitors from afar call driving the road the trip of a lifetime. We call it home.

PROUDLY PUBLISHED AND PRINTED IN IOWA BY THE PIONEER GROUP Publisher Polly Clark

Editor Dan Weeks

Creative Director Ann Donohoe

Senior Graphic Designer Megan Johansen

Image/Photo Specialist Steve Seeman Copy Editor Gretchen Kauffman

Senior Account Executives Kimberly Hawn

Mike Kellner Account Executives Ronda Jans

Becca Wodrich

Jack Trice, page 50, the namesake of ISU’s stadium, was prophesied to become the best tackle in the country. He never got the chance: He died of injuries sustained in his first real college game. His character measures his greatness. Read his story — and his extraordinary letter, written the night before the deadly game — and I think you’ll agree. Iowa’s country schoolhouses, page 66, testify to the great goal of universal education and literacy. It was a project undertaken with more vision than resources. But within those buildings, countless Iowa teachers succeeded in nurturing the minds of generations of Iowans — including greats such as engineer and United States president Herbert Hoover and plant geneticist and humanitarian Norman Borlaug. Visit some restored examples of these schools in our photographs — or tour them in person with the information provided. To experience an abandoned school turned great private residence, see to page 18. Here’s something else we think is a great idea: suburbs that look, feel, and live more like Iowa’s charming small towns. Take a look at our story on page 42 to see if you concur. And, as always, Iowa offers a great variety of places to go and things to see and do in Iowa this fall. See Day Trips, page 8, for some of our favorites. Enjoy a great Iowa autumn!

Dan Weeks, Editor editor@iowan.com iowan.com/blog facebook.com/theiowan @theiowan

Jim Slife Twilla Glessner Accounting Manager Allison Volker CEO

Production Manager

The Iowan, ISSN (0021-0772), is published bi-monthly by Pioneer Communications, Inc., 300 Walnut Street, Suite 6, Des Moines, Iowa 50309. This issue is dated July 1, 2015, Volume 63, No. 6. All content © 2015 The Iowan/Pioneer Communications, Inc., and may not be used, reproduced, or altered in any way without prior written permission. Periodicals Postage Paid in Des Moines, Iowa, and at additional mailing offices. We cannot be held responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited material. POSTMASTER: Send change of address to: The Iowan, 316 W. 5th St., Waterloo, IA 50701. Prices: Subscriptions — Special rate when ordered direct or by mail: six issues per year for $24. International orders require additional postage. Please call for rates. Single copies — on newsstands: $4.95; current issue by mail: $4.95 plus $3.50 S+H. Please call for quantity discount pricing. Single past issues 2005 to present: $5.95 plus S+H, two for $9.95 plus S+H; prior to 2005: $14.95 plus S+H. New Subscriptions, Renewals, Gifts: iowan.com > SUBSCRIBE subscribe@pioneermagazines.com 800-765-1690 Change of Address: iowan.com> CONTACT > Address Change subscribe@pioneermagazines.com 800-765-1690 Past Issues: subscribe@pioneermagazines.com 877-899-9977 Mail Orders: The Iowan Subscription Services P.O. Box 2516, Waterloo, IA 50704 Advertising Information: advertising@iowan.com iowan.com Proudly printed in Iowa 10% PCW Paper Made in the USA facebook.com/theiowan

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July/August 2015 | THE IOWAN

1


letters A cowboy wrangles a heifer below decks. The stench in unventilated

iowacelebrates

Iowa’s Seagoing Cowboys

at sea. 1,400 had to be fed Yet the animals of hay daily, and four tons pounds of oats the ship’s manpower from the all hoisted by over the side was pitched hold. Manure saltwater every washed with the stalls were hardened seamen same way, and rough and the bats duty was often are drunk as two days. The members crew a rougher. (“The It made life on could be even in his journal.) one cowboy tranquil paradise. today,” wrote 160 acres of the farm look like shearing, and central Iowa the sheep needed that he protest his On Lord’s ship, it. Despite Lord to handle handed me a foreman asked shorn, “they a sheep being plunged. watched he pen merely had into an animal’s shears” and little time for pair of hand ships there was Heatwole, On many outbound scrawled Kenneth like dopes,” tic journal. reflection. “Working in his 1946 transatlan another cowboy,

two Iowa nture lured n organizatio ism and adve In 1946 altru d launch a relief year. sea. They helpe leted its 70th farm boys to that’s just comp by STEVE DINNEN

them” to “May God help they neared port. Many ships had of

give them,” anything we’d they’d beg for in Greece following “The little kids, Lord after landing remembers Howard everywhere.” a farm near “Starvation was World War II. 22-year-old from to help. The whose job Lord was there “seagoing cowboys” one of 7,000 to some of the Grinnell was and other livestock II. horses of World War it was to deliver the ravages hardest hit by world’s places

56

DWIGHT FARRINGER PHOTO COURTESY REISTE AND RICHARD

relief for hunger Heifer organization, A new model humanitarian

a then-new care for, and He’d heard that for men to handle, was looking — mostly International, long sea voyages as they made Victory-class feed the animals Liberty- and the World War II the cowboys; on hastily converted livestock and supplied the freighters. Heifer ships. supplied the on,” page 58) United Nations More Informati hand nal (see “For Rather than Heifer Internatio ions. organizat as breed from other relief was different could be used d animals that was a radical distribute it out food, al capacity. It a region’s agricultur stock to rebuild highly effective. proven chance the since by idea that’s was lured his fellows, Lord $150 for Like many of — and to earn for his fellow man help Wilma, to to travel, his fiancée, trip. He asked the four- to six-week travel to Greece. wedding, I could permission to time for the got home in and fellow Grinnell “She said if I Howell, a pal Lord and Charles to join 28 other go,” he says. News, Virginia, d to Newport for Greece. farmer, hitchhike and sheep bound a load of cattle baby goats, even cowboys and wrangled horses, lly pacifist Other cowboys from traditiona were , men the of Friends (Quakers) chicks. Many the Brethren, ties such as and to fulfill faith communi to serve mankind joined who es Some, like Lord, and Mennonit obligations. objector service studying conscientious college students were Others y composing. were farm boys. — even symphon medicine, journalism

s with violent ated cowhand seas incapacit animals bit and The crowded seasickness. their stalls went down in kicked; horses gave birth coaxed up. Mares and had to be

ships’ holds could be almost unbearable.

to be loaded are waiting These cattle bound for war-torn onto a freighter conditions of crowded lands. In spite en route. few were lost and rough seas,

s when the wreckage All that changed minefields and d by through live been devastate pick their way ports that had ships to reach leveled, Jewish half-sunken entire cities saw firsthand recently war. There many tion camps only d, concentra of on both sides ghettos obliterate in countries ked, and survivors liberated — for food, shell-shoc in rags, begging and dying. the conflict living I d, and still starving life. “Never have for wounded, disoriente of the cowboys es been so It changed many have my sympathi in one day nor Heatwole. learned as much beings,” wrote he my fellow human them.” Later aroused toward May God help Polish people. all they wanted “These poor have given them wish if I could only dirty faces. I added, “Oh, was tending washed their our ld Richard Reiste, them or even forgive 17-year-o clothed God County or have Dallas see — may Another Iowan, in America could his family’s 160-acre — and cows on every Christian the Brethren crops, pigs, the Church of Traveling heard through negligence!” — about a side of the world. farm when he on the other south of Perry a, Japan, of its church It was the same had killed their goats to Yokoham he was a member Farmers there carried milk where the entire horses to Romania. in a ship that es and now needed through cities shipment of to feed themselv Leach passed boiled, d, cremated, during the war cowboy Robert fields again. workhorses — “suffocate to plow their gave vanished ever had were n cowboys Many if they populatio “I thought that’d firebombing. replacements Reiste says. even by American out of Iowa,” or drowned” they could. Some “I’d never been they had to those with them. Orleans and whatever food on their ships be a great chance.” went to New orphans back return voyages, of 1946, Reiste board smuggled war cowboys on cowboys on In the summer duties for the od Victory. Thirty seen. They There were no where they SS Lindenwo on what they’d boarded the to Trieste, Italy, the time to reflect topics with as they steamed and many used social justice tended livestock political, and for Romania. American soldiers discussed religious, on ships with would be off-loaded Some rode back one another. ” dopes Heifer’s like of es. One “Working fresh from battle. ing experienc were eye-open and was The voyages on lower decks 335 mares confined of manure; 20-foot ships carried stalls reeked The animals’ 25 days at sea. 57 May/June 2015

THE IOWAN

iowan.com

HEIFER PRIDE

A FAN OF BOB’S

the 1800s, which in Iowa ranges from

Thank you for the feature on Bob Dorr

presettlement date (except for the

in the July/August issue. I really enjoyed

Dubuque area) to the verge of modern

it, and I’m not just saying that because

times. The significance of the article on

one of my photos was featured on

the assault of the Editor, for example,

page 50! I’ve been a fan of Bob’s music

would vary greatly depending upon

and radio shows for years, and I also

whether it occurred in frontier days

consider him a good friend. His friends

or after the state should have become

and fans have known he’s been an Iowa

“civilized.” I hope in the future the

Icon for years, and it’s wonderful of you

publication dates can be added.

What a pleasant surprise to see the

­­­­—R­uss Richardson

—Roger Burkhart via email

article about Heifer International in

Urbandale

Mr. Burkhart raises a good point.

to share his story with your readers.

The Iowan May/June 2015 issue [p. 56].

Yes, we can be more specific. Our

I grew up on a family farm in Kalona,

“From the Archives” pieces were

graduated from Iowa State, and have

originally compiled for and published

worked in Brazil with Pioneer Hi-Bred International for 40 years, but my Iowa roots are very strong. In 1965 I went to Bolivia as a volunteer with Mennonite Central Committee and worked at a Methodist agricultural school. We produced Duroc

BOB DORR:

in The Iowan from the late 1950s to

IOWA’S FAVORITE BLUESMAN

the early 1970s by the late Drake

page 46

11

University professor of history William

page 10

heading “The Iowa Record: Iowa News

PLACES TO MAKE A SUMMER SPLASH

D. Houlette. They ran under the

WHY THE WACKY WEATHER? page

of 100 Years Ago,” which would make

38

the articles cited from the late 1850s

hogs from Heifer Project stock that

through the early 1870s.

were passed on to small farmers. Their

—ed.

payment was the sows’ first offspring, passed on to another family — truly gifts that continue giving. Of course the follow-up and breeding program went along with the animals to maintain the program’s success. It really works! I returned to Kalona in 1968 and started a campaign to send dairy heifers to the Dominican Republic. Churches, civic groups, and individuals contributed; dairymen gave animals; WMT-TV and Bob Nance gave support. That November we trucked bred Holsteins from Kalona to Miami, then loaded them on a C-46 transport plane for the Dominican Republic. How exciting it was to see the faces of those who received those heifers. I was, and still am, so proud of the

MORE MURALS

AMAZED I am amazed every time see Bob Dorr perform at how talented he is. His low, gravelly voice is choice, and his ability to play rhythm is second to none. He appears intimidating on the stage but has no problem coming out into the audience either to play his harmonica or talk with individuals. If you have never seen Bob Dorr and the Blue Band

baseball murals in Norway. The Iowa Baseball Museum of Norway has three outdoor baseball murals and more indoors. Vinton has more, including one of our own Hal Trosky. We hope you can cover them someday. —Dan and Shona Frese Norway

—Carol Nickels Cedar Rapids

Iowa’s

MURALS springing Epic artwork is state. up all over the Why?

DATES, PLEASE

and sensitivity to help others wherever

articles [The Iowan’s “From the Archives”

they are. I am also grateful to all the

column, specifically “Adventures in

Iowa people who made it possible

Frontier Newspapering,” July/August,

through their gifts for those families to

page 56], but I was disappointed to

have milk. It was great to be an Iowan.

find that the date of original publication

iowan.com

page 34], but you missed some great

missing something special!

I enjoyed the reprints of early newspaper

6

May/June 2015 issue [“Iowa’s Murals,”

or heard Bob on KUNI, you are really

Iowa people, their values, generosity,

—Marlan Logan Santa Cruz do Sul, Brazil

Great job on the mural article in the

was not given with each. The only date indication was that they were from

by DAN WEEKS

That effort installed project for Iowa. . Lake buildings statewide ccording to Spirit murals in public n for opposite, Wood found inspiratiothe artist Jack Rees, from home to West Okoboji is his murals in a quote statesman mural the world’s largest 19th-century American tillage just “When artist — and he’s Daniel Webster: painted by a single By that other arts follow.” it. begins, — finishing has 28 the first artists logic, farmers are Nearby Rock Rapids rural life bring the The city and murals about murals — and counting. for and representation more each year process of creation wonder Iowa plans to add two no full circle. Perhaps the foreseeable future. ground for murals. Homstad is known was and is fertile Decorah’s Carl scale of Iowa’s He’s painted dozens Perhaps also, the Or as “Iowa’s muralist.” itself to big art. landscape lends across the state. of community here the Walldogs sense as known intimate the A group to capture and in 2006 and left is one people want descended on Keokuk an elegant mural Or the prairie heritage with orate. later, commem it, four days ents that followed early-20th-century and the achievem in the style of classic, of remembering. fond advertising. we’re wall ones ted are hand-pain In any case, we’re the 1930s have a Or all of the above. Perhaps not since here. artwork. Here are heyday epic a in such rich a state murals enjoyed — some old, some Wood, Iowa’s few of our favorites barely dry. That’s when Grant is t artist, headed the on which the paint most iconic regionalis (WPA) Administration’s Works Progress

A

May/June 2015

34

iowan.com

THE IOWAN

35


iowamap

IOWA s Movie

at the

MISSING MOVIE

, coming attractions Iowa’s best movies, . theaters, and more actors, film festivals,

Points of Interest in This Issue

I recently reread your January/

2015 | THE IOWAN

37

PHOTOGRAPHY © PHIL POOL OMNI

February 2015

January/February

47 37 60 31

19 28

50

issue. The article

42

41 43

25

29

“Iowa at the Movies” caught

my attention. We just showed the movie

15

The Final Season in our Central Park. It

34

20

is a great example of an Iowa-oriented

62

movie that could have been included in your article. As you might expect, this

5 23

11 58

54

39

40

2 46

3 8 17 56 59 21 44

30

32

movie was well-received by us Iowans;

9 55

57 4 12 49 1 48 16 33 35

45

61

51

6

26

53 14 52 38 1824

I recall the reviewers (usually from the East and West Coasts) did not rate the

7

13

movie well. How can we expect them

10 22

to understand that Iowans truly do care

27 36

about one another? Much of the movie plot centered on that. Keep up the good work with your great magazine!

32. Honey Creek— p. 8

1. Amana — p. 8

—Alvin Noehren Garner

2. Ames — p. 17, 50, 51, 52, 56

33. Iowa City — p. 16, 17, 42, 44, 46

3. Ankeny — p. 44, 45, 47

34. Jefferson — p. 8

Thanks for reminding us of this 2007

4. Atkins — p. 10

35. Kalona — p. 6

film based on the Norway High School

5. Balltown— p. 28

36. Keokuk — p. 34, 35

baseball team’s final 1990–1991 state

6. Bellevue — p. 30

37. Lansing — p. 2, 28

7. Bentonsport — p. 9, 76, 77

38. Le Claire — p. 32, 33

8. Bondurant — p. 10

39. Madrid — p. 9

9. Buckingham — p. 18

40. Manning — p. 9

championship winning season. The film featured Ottumwa native Tom Arnold and was shot in Shellsburg and Cedar Rapids. —ed.

STAY IN TOUCH!

10. Burlington — p. 34, 35

41. Marquette — p. 28

11. Cedar Falls — p. 69

42. Mason City — p. 9

12. Cedar Rapids — p. 6, 16, 17

43. McGregor — p. 28

13. Clarinda — p. 9

44. Mitchellville — p. 10

14. Clinton — p. 30, 31

45. Muscatine — p. 34, 35

The Iowan

15. Conrad — p. 77

46. Nevada— p. 17

300 Walnut Street, Suite 6

16. Coralville — p. 8

47. New Albin — p. 28, 34

Des Moines, IA 50309

17. Dallas Center — p. 13

48. North Liberty — p. 10

editor@iowan.com

18. Davenport — p. 32, 33, 44, 47

49. Norway — p. 6, 7

iowan.com > Contact

19. Decorah — p. 10

50. Orange City — p. 10

Facebook.com > The Iowan

20. Denison — p. 8

51. Orient — p. 9

21. Des Moines — p. 8, 13, 17, 44, 62, 63

52. Princeton — p. 10

READ OUR BLOG! iowan.com/blog features local characters, favorite places, littleknown facts, and other Iowa Discoveries every Friday.

22. Donnellson — p. 10

53. Sabula — p. 30, 31

23. Dubuque — p. 6, 9, 30, 34, 80

54. Sioux City — p. 8, 9

24. East Davenport — p. 32

55. Traer — p. 18

25. Elgin — p. 10

56. Urbandale — p. 6

26. Emeline — p. 74

57. Vinton — p. 6

27. Fort Madison — p. 34

58. Waterloo — p. 18

SUBSCRIBE

28. Garner— p. 7

59. Waukee — p. 8, 46

Like what you see? Don’t miss an

29. Guttenberg — p. 28

60. Wexford — p. 28

30. Harlan — p. 66

61. Winterset — p. 71

31. Harpers Ferry — p. 28

62. Woodbine — p. 66

issue! Subscribe at iowan.com

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

7


iowaxxx iowatravels

DayTrips Events worthy of an excursion

FRYfest

Pedaler’s Jamboree

Monarch Tagging

CELEBRATE EVERYTHING HAWKEYE!

PEDAL TO THE BEAT

DREAM BUTTERFLY DREAMS

Coralville, Iowa River Landing

Waukee to Jefferson Raccoon River Valley Trail

Honey Creek, Hitchcock Nature Center

Friday, September 4, 10 a.m. 300 E. 9th Street fryfest.com 319-337-6592 Festival: free, Concert: $15 in advance Billed as a day to “live, eat, and breathe our beloved Hawkeyes,” this festival includes a collector’s showcase, a blackand-gold fashion show, a former-player panel discussion and autographs — plus a pep rally, an outdoor concert by hard rock legend Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, and the world’s largest Hawkeye tradeshow. And (of course!) tailgating.

Saturday–Sunday, September 5–6, leave 7–9 a.m. Waukee Trailhead pedalersjamboreeiowa.com 573-234-4642

Grab your butterfly net and get ready to meet a monarch. Learn all about the

takes riders along the Raccoon River

beautiful butterflies — their life and

Valley Trail from Waukee to Jefferson

migration — while tagging them as part

and back — with a live sound track.

of a national research project. Preregister

Nonriders are invited to the many

by September 9.

musical stops along the way. Nearly every town on the trail provides entertainment and refreshments.

COME YE TO THE TOURNAMENT

Amana, Millstream Brewing Co.

4051 Dean Avenue dmrenfaire.com 641-357-5177 $16 adults, $8 ages 5–12, free ages 4 and under There will be merchants, jousting, artisans at work, and singing in the streets. There will also be a narrated torture chamber tour, complete with sound and visual effects, in a medieval castle. Dressing in Renaissance attire is encouraged, as is bringing a purse full of coin for shopping in the 16-acre Festival Park’s permanent village.

8

iowan.com

$6 adults, $5 kids ages 6–18

This weekend bicycle-and-music festival

Festival of Iowa Beers

Weekends, September 5–20, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.

27792 Ski Hill Loop pottcoconservation.com 712-328-5638

$60 adults, $25 youth 16 and under

Des Moines Renaissance Faire XIII Des Moines, Festival Park

Saturday, September 12, 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m.

DRINK UP Sunday, September 6, 1–5 p.m. 835 48th Avenue millstreambrewing.com 319-622-3627 $20 in advance, $25 at the door Taste the best beers made in Iowa at the state’s oldest brewery. Meet the brewmasters, quaff their suds, and listen to music of Fleetwood Mac (as well as Journey, REO Speedwagon, Steely Dan, and more) played by cover band Holiday Road. Proceeds go to the Iowa Brewers Guild to help keep the beer flowing.

Tri City BBQ Fest BREAK OUT YOUR BIB Denison, Uptown Friday–Saturday, September 18–19, Friday: 5–11:30 p.m., Saturday: 10 a.m.–11:30 p.m. Uptown Denison tricitybbq.com 712-263-6622 Festival: free admission; Concert: $20, $15 in advance, $25 two-day pass Des Moines, Omaha, and Sioux City bring their best BBQ and music to Denison for a two-day showdown. The winner gets a trophy; you get food, drink, and plenty of entertainment. With a car show, carnival, street vendors, and historical tours, you’ll barely have time for the BBQ and Iowa craft beers. The main stage features rock bands Fuel, Hairball, and The Verve Pipe.


Sioux City Orchestra 100th Season Opening Gala CELEBRATE WITH SONG Sioux City, Orpheum Theatre Saturday, September 19, 7:30 p.m. 528 Pierce Street siouxcitysymphony.org 712-277-2111 $75.50, $30, $15, student and group rates available Grammy and Tony Award-winning guest vocalist Audra McDonald celebrates the dawn of a new century for the Sioux City Symphony with hits from Broadway to Hollywood.

Cookin’ with Katie: Holiday Appetizers WHET YOUR HOLIDAY APPETITE

Country School Preservation Conference

Iowa Independent Film Festival

NEVER STOP LEARNING

SOAK IN THE SILVER SCREEN

Madrid, Iowa Arboretum Conference Center

Mason City, Historic Park Inn

Friday–Saturday, October 9–10, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.

Friday–Sunday, October 23–25, screening times vary

1875 Peach Avenue boonecountyhistory.org 515-795-3216

7 West State Street iowaindie.org 641-355-3218

Conference: $30, Friday night BBQ and program: $11, Saturday tour: $12

$30 three-day pass, $15 one-day pass

From how to preserve a country school

movie scene, you’re about to be proved

to comparing Common Core and country

wrong. More than 30 new videos;

school curricula, this conference offers

feature-length, documentary, and short

new insights to the country school

art films; and student productions hit

enthusiast and newcomer alike. Also

the big screen to showcase Iowa’s

included: a walking tour of the arboretum

cinematic talent in this annual three-day

and a trip to the Kate Shelley Railroad

event. Look for a few in-person celebrity

Bridge Museum — because every country

appearances as well.

school kid learned about Kate Shelley.

Orient, Henry A. Wallace Country Life Center

Oktoberfest

Tuesday, September 22, 5:30 p.m.

WEAR YOUR LEDERHOSEN

2773 290th Street wallace.org 515-243-7063

Manning, Hausbarn Heritage Park

Alice in Wonderland — Pushcart Players GO ASK ALICE Dubuque University of Dubuque Heritage Center

Saturday, October 10, 5 p.m.

Renowned for her creative use of locally

12196 311th Street germanhausbarn.com 712-655-3131

grown foods, Chef Katie Porter will fill

$10

you with holiday ideas, not to mention

You can’t get more authentic than

tasty tidbits, in this creative cooking

Oktoberfest in a real German hausbarn.

class. Enjoy the natural beauty of the

Built in Germany in 1660 and relocated

Country Life Center and dinner of local

to Manning in 1996, it hosts an evening

foods (included in the price). Preregister

of food, beer tasting, and dancing to

to reserve your spot — space is limited.

polka music by Barefoot Becky and the

$40

60th Annual Southwest Iowa Band Jamboree STRIKE UP THE BAND

Monday, October 26, 10 a.m. 2000 University Avenue dbq.edu 563-589-3432

Ivanhoe Dutchmen. Admission gets you in the gate; food and beer are extra.

TAKE A TRIP BACK IN TIME

Saturday, October 3, 9 a.m., 1 p.m.

Saturday–Sunday, October 10–11, specific event times vary

$7, group rates available With whimsical music, design, and direction, this nationally known children’s theater company brings Alice to life as she takes her journey of self-discovery. The SchoolBus Performance Series has group rates for school field trips, but the presentation offers entertainment

Bentonsport Riverfest

Clarinda, Downtown Square & Clarinda High School football field Downtown and 100 N. Cardinal Drive clarinda.org 712-542-2166

If you don’t think Iowa has an active

Bentonsport, Historic District

for all ages.

GET LISTED!

Field competition: $5, Parade: free

Downtown Bentonsport greefstore.com 319-592-3579

This is the king of Iowa high school

free

marching band competitions. Nearly 50

Live music. Pioneer games. Antiques,

bands compete in the parade marching

crafts, jewelry, food. The Riverfest has

competition downtown at 9 a.m. Around

it all, including an art festival by the

25 compete at 1 p.m. for the field

Van Buren County Arts Council. Historic

marching competition. It’s colorful. It’s

Bentonsport shines as part of the Villages

action-packed. And the music is great!

of Van Buren Scenic Drive.

Does your organization put on an event worthy of an excursion? We’d love to consider it for inclusion in Day Trips. For more information, email calendar@iowan.com.

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

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iowatravels

a-Maize-ing Mazes are carved out of cornfields

COURTESY PINTER’S GARDENS AND PUMPKINS

statewide. They’re a fun way for people of all ages to get out in the field and test their navigation skills and are often paired with playgrounds, pumpkin patches, and other outdoor attractions. Here are a few we’d enjoy visiting.

Atkins BLOOMSBURY FARM Open September and October Monday–Saturday 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. 3260 69th Street bloomsburyfarm.com 319-446-7667 $8.50, free kids under 2 Bloomsbury Farm has two corn mazes, a pumpkin patch, and a zip line that soars over cornfields, pastures, and Dry Creek.

Bondurant GEISLER FARMS

Donnellson

North Liberty

HARVESTVILLE FARM

COLONY PUMPKIN PATCH AND CORN MAZE

Open September 1–October 31 Monday–Saturday 9 a.m.–7 p.m. Sunday 11 a.m.–7 p.m. 1977 Highway 2 harvestvillefarm.com 319-470-1558 $6 ages 3 and up, free 2 and under A large maze, mini maze, child play area, and Moonlight Maze Saturdays in October.

Monday–Friday 4–6 p.m. Saturday–Sunday 10 a.m.–6 p.m. (Friday and Saturday: flashlight maze open 7–10 p.m.) 2780 Front Street NE colonypumpkinpatch.com 319-430-5672 $5 for the corn maze, $6 for the flashlight maze. Bring your flashlight! Also: hayrack rides,

Open weekends in September–October Saturday 10 a.m.–8 p.m. Sunday noon–6 p.m.

Elgin

5251 NE 94th Avenue growingfamilyfun.com 515-964-2640

Open August through Halloween; hours vary

Orange City

22580 A Avenue iowamaizemaze.org 563-419-1133

Open September and October Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–dark

$8 maze and hayride ($1 off admission with donated food item).

a playground, and plenty of pumpkins.

MAIZE MAZE PUMPKINLAND IOWA

$7 ages 12 and over, $5 ages 5–11, free 4 and under; group discounts available

4123 Jackson Avenue pumpkinlandiowa.com 712-737-8364

Decorah

The maze is near the Gilbertson Nature

$6 adults; $5 ages 5–12, free 4 and under

Center, petting zoo, fishing pond, and

A 7-acre corn maze plus a munchkin

PINTER’S GARDENS AND PUMPKINS

Hart Dummermuth Historical Home.

maze for little ones. Pumpkins, squash,

Find all 20 fence posts in the maze and win a slice of pizza!

Weekends September 19–October 25 Saturday 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Sunday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. 2475 State Highway 9 pintersgardensandpumpkins.com 563-382-0010 $10, free ages 3 and under; senior discount. Enjoy a pumpkin patch, wagon rides, pumpkin bowling, and a “jumping pillow” for bouncing fun.

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gourds, and apples for sale.

Mitchellville ALLSUP’S PUMPKINVILLE AND CORNMAZE

Princeton HAUNTED CARTER FARMS

Open daily August–October 10 a.m.–8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday nights in October 7–10:30 p.m.

618 Center Avenue S. pumpkinvillecornmaze.com 515-710-2843

28322 Great River Road hauntedcarterfarms.com 563-289-9999

$7 for the large maze; $1 for the mini maze; check for group rates

$12 (discount for military and/or donating 2 canned food items)

Allsup’s features two mazes — one is

Wind your way through 4 acres of

quite challenging, especially at night!

twisting paths plus an indoor 3-D maze.


This is ahh-mazing. Stroll through a tranquil garden that’s home to 90 varieties of roses. Find your groove at the nationally renowned Iowa City Jazz Festival. Explore the Midwest’s largest and most diverse collection of 1930’s Art Deco architecture. Meander among larger-than-life sculptures in the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park— one of the nation’s largest public collections. Extraordinary art and uncommon culture come together in Iowa. Discover unexpected trip ideas at TRAVELIOWA.COM.

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

11


iowagrows

PLANT SOME

Fall Color!

Bring the hues and textures of Iowa’s autumn to your yard by planting these flamboyant trees and shrubs. by DEB WILEY

PHOTO COURTESY MARIA ZAMPINI, UPSHOOT LLC, UPSHOOTHORT.COM

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To guide your fall planting this year,

‘BRILLIANTISSIMA’ ARONIA

we asked Andy Schmitz, director of horticulture at the

(Aronia arbutifolia ‘Brilliantissima’)

Brenton Arboretum near Dallas Center, to pare his long list

“Most aronias have great fall color,

of fall favorites to these eight.

but if you want one with consistent red fall color, try ‘Brilliantissima’,” says

RASPBERRY TART ARROWWOOD VIBURNUM

Schmitz. Fruits are too tart to eat

(Viburnum dentatum ‘Rastzam’)

straight off the shrub but make

Tough, versatile viburnums are staples in Iowa yards, but

antioxidant-rich juices and jellies.

many grow quite large. This compact shrub’s glossy green

Glossy green summer foliage turns

leaves transform to raspberry red in fall (opposite). At 4 feet tall by 5 feet wide, it provides cover for birds and produces blue-black fruits favored by cardinals, bluebirds, cedar waxwings, grosbeaks, and robins. ‘AUTUMN BRILLIANCE’ APPLE SERVICEBERRY (Amelanchier grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’) “If you want a small tree with three-season interest, plant ‘Autumn Brilliance’,” Schmitz says. “I want my landscape to be beautiful and to provide me with food.” At 25 to 30 feet tall by 15 to 25 feet wide and growing in full sun to shade, this small tree is adaptable to anything but wet soil. White flowers in spring

bright red in fall. Also called red chokeberry, it grows 6 to 10 feet tall and 3 to 5 feet wide in full sun to part shade. ‘TOR’ BIRCH-LEAF SPIREA (Spiraea betulifolia ‘Tor’) This foundation plant boasts exceptional fall color in shades of orange, red, and purple. “We have a whole circle of them at the arboretum, and I have them in my backyard,” Schmitz says. The dense, rounded mound reaches 2 to 3 feet tall and wide. It grows best in full sun.

become delicious edible fruits in June. Fall brings a show of

COMMON WITCH HAZEL

red-orange leaf color.

(Hamamelis virginiana) “What else is blooming in the fall?”

BEARBERRY

asks Schmitz rhetorically. He loves

(Arctostaphylos uva-ursi)

to watch the fragrant yellow flowers

This groundcover shrub

appear in October when the leaves

cascades over a retaining

also become a handsome yellow.

wall at the arboretum. “It’s

In full sun to part shade it reaches

like a waterfall,” Schmitz

15 to 20 feet tall and wide. “With

says. “It’s just gorgeous.” Slow-growing bearberry prefers dry, well-drained soils and sun to part shade. Only 6 to 12 inches tall, it spreads up to

those delicate petals and yellow leaves, it’s just gorgeous,” Schmitz says.

15 feet wide. Pink or white flowers become red berries by late

SPICEBUSH (Lindera benzoin)

summer. Glossy green leaves turn reddish purple in fall and

Its size, at 6 to 12 feet tall and wide,

hang on through the winter.

makes spicebush perfect for a larger SEVEN-SON FLOWER (Heptacodium miconiodes) This multistemmed tree introduced to the United States from China in 1980 deserves wider

yard where it can be massed or placed in a focal point. Enjoy “outstanding shades of yellow” and bright red fruits that ripen in September and October. Grow in full sun to part shade. The stems release a spicy scent when lightly bruised.

acclaim. “It should be a

For more information on these trees and shrubs:

focal point in the yard,”

thebrentonarboretum.org

Schmitz says. White fragrant flowers are borne on seven-tiered panicles from August into October. “The real show occurs in October and November when the calyces, or sepals, turn reddish. The effect is spectacular and long-lasting.” It grows best in full sun and

Deb Wiley is a Des Moines-based garden writer and regular contributor to The Iowan. Photos this page courtesy Rob Cardillo (2, 6 and 8), Deb Wiley (3 and 7), Mark Kane (4), and Bill Johnson (5).

reaches 15 to 25 feet tall, 8 to 12 feet wide.

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

13


Nobody works harder (or smarter)

to manage your risk.

“Our people make the difference” Excellent Service! Competitive Costs! INSURANCE AGENTS & BROKERS 300 Walnut Street Suite 200 Des Moines, Iowa 50309-2262 800-767-1724

www.reynolds-reynolds.com 14

iowan.com


FIGGE ART MUSEUM EXHIBITION

Ellen Wagener: Horizon Lines OCTOBER 3, 2015-JANUARY 24, 2016 Artist Ellen Wagener takes the quintessential Midwestern landscape—rows of corn receding to the horizon under ever-changing skies—as the starting point for her works. Working in pastel, and often in series and at large scale, Wagener uses sketches, photographs and her memory to create vivid evocations of particular weather patterns and times of day. Horizon Lines will feature several new series of works depicting the seasons and the rising sun, as well as earlier works, such as F5 Tornado from the Figge collection. Contributing sponsors: Scout Wolf, Xenotronics, Pappas Davidson O’Connor & Fildes, P.C. Ellen Wagener, Summer, 2014, pastel, courtesy of the artist.

Davenport, IA • 563.326.7804 www.figgeartmuseum.org

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

15


iowatastes

Ride. Eat. Repeat. Exploring local food by bicycle story and photography by DEB WILEY

It’s probably no surprise that a state that hosts the largest,

“The food movement in Iowa has really taken off,” says

longest, and oldest bicycle-touring event in the world would

Audrey Wiedemeier, an Ames native who started the Culinary

also give rise to a growing number of single-day bike rides that

Ride in Iowa five years ago.

pair bicycling with farms and local food. This year, RadTour (German for a bicycle ride with friends)

Wiedemeier and her partners, Kris Estergaard and chef Gaby Weir, volunteer their time to create routes that change

hosts Culinary Rides from Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and the

each year, find farmers to host a couple hundred bicyclists,

Quad Cities. Local Food Cycle sponsors a similar ride through

and ask chefs to showcase their skills using local bounty.

eastern Story County. (See “Will Bike for Food,” opposite.) It’s all part of a movement to connect people, pedals, places, and producers.

“Chefs get a local food subsidy from us but pay for anything that’s not local,” Wiedemeier says. “It’s a really good platform for promoting farmers and chefs.” No two years’ bicycle tours are alike.

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Bicyclists pay an entry fee, show up, eat, drink, and ride. The distance can vary from mileage in the mid 20s to the 60s, and the participants are limited to 150 to 400 riders. “We want to give you a ‘wow your bike socks off’ kind of ride that you never expected and is a total surprise,” Wiedemeier says. Many farmers live along gravel roads, so cyclists should be prepared to handle riding on almost any surface. Last year’s Local Food Cycle started in Ames with zucchini-chocolate chip and apple streusel muffins made with local produce. After a 5-mile ride to Onion Creek Farm, cyclists ogled the chickens that laid the eggs for their breakfast wraps replete with farm-grown leeks, onions, garlic, chives, ‘Red Opal’ basil, Italian basil, and parsley. Nine miles farther, almond-currant-date granola bars were served at a private wetland. After cranking another 8 miles, bicyclists noshed on quiche and two kinds of watermelon plus local craft beers at Red Granite Farm. It was a quick 3 miles to Mustard Seed Community Farm, where ISU Dining served sandwiches of capicola, sliced roasted beets, ricotta, and tapenade on pumpernickel paired with kale slaw. “A Culinary Ride appealed to us because we got to be paired with a farm, learn about them, and also get the chance to meet a lot of different people on the ride,” says Scott Bruhn, ISU Dining’s executive chef. “The passion with which people

ISU Dining Executive chef Scott Bruhn and his team served sandwiches with local ingredients and a side of kale slaw. ISU Dining will return to this year’s Local Food Cycle ride August 30.

grow and prepare quality products is strong here, and that makes for a strong sense of community.” The sandwiches fueled the longest stretch of the ride: 13 miles (including some gnarly gravel) to Fisher’s Flowers

WILL BIKE FOR FOOD

and Produce for a rewarding raspberry tart and honey-ginger

Join these Iowa culinary rides or contact the organizers

ice cream topped with fresh chocolate mint.

to learn how to host one in your area:

The last food stop, 4 miles away at Prairie Moon Winery, yielded two kinds of melon, wine, and a folk singer crooning from the winery’s corncrib gazebo, a peaceful interlude before the final 3½ miles back to the starting point. Bikers loved it. “It was well organized, the route was the right length, the farms were fun to see, and the food was AMAZING,” one rider raved to the Local Food Cycle organizers. Jessica Johnson, marketing coordinator for Prairie Rivers

AUGUST 30: NEWBO CULINARY RIDE starting at the NewBo City Market, Cedar Rapids culinaryride.com

AUGUST 30: LOCAL FOOD CYCLE starts and ends at the Story County Fairgrounds in Nevada prrcd.org/local-food-cycle

SEPTEMBER 13: QUAD CITIES CULINARY RIDE

of Iowa, says this year’s Local Food Cycle route is shorter: a

a fund-raiser for Freight House bike racks

choice of 34.5 or 26.6 miles. It will end with root beer floats,

culinaryride.com

a live ukulele band, and a hayride back to the start point.

SEPTEMBER 20: IOWA CITY CULINARY RIDE

Connecting people with farmers is important, but Culinary Rides also have their silly sides. Wiedemeier encourages riders

fifth annual ride, costumes encouraged culinaryride.com

to wear costumes; tutus and vegetables have been seen atop bikes. “Sometimes the local food movement and bike advocacy get a little serious for me,” she says. “It should be fun.” And easy: Eat. Ride. Repeat.

Deb Wiley is a Des Moines-based garden writer, regular contributor to The Iowan, enthusiastic bicyclist — and eater.

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

17


home iniowa

Buckingham Palace Jim and Linda Sawyer rescued, renovated, and live in a 6,000-square-foot, 1923 school in tiny Buckingham. Their friends quickly came up with a grand name for the place. story and photography by DAN WEEKS

There’s not a lot left of Buckingham, a town four miles or

on the facade that suggest heraldic shields, and just a hint of

so north of Traer in Tama County: a couple dozen houses, a

castlelike crenellation above the main entrance. It served as

grain co-op — and one landmark that almost didn’t survive:

the town’s seat of learning for more than 40 years, from 1923

Buckingham School.

until 1964, when Buckingham’s few remaining students were

The stately brick building is the grandest thing in town. It features ornamental brickwork, carved limestone plaques

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bussed to the North Tama County Community School District in Traer.


School’s out Forty years after that, in 2004, Linda and Jim Sawyer stumbled on the place while out for a drive. The building didn’t look so grand then. Some of the beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows had been boarded up. The roof was rotten and leaking. Inside, plaster was falling from the walls and ceiling. Earlier, others had made an aborted attempt to renovate and live there, eventually camping out around woodstoves after the aging furnaces failed. The last owners simply gave up and walked away. Linda Sawyer’s reaction as she stepped through the front door for the first time, took a deep breath of moldy air, and looked up the stairway to the second floor landing? “Gee, that would be a great place to put the Christmas tree!” The Sawyers lived in Waterloo at the time, where Jim had recently retired from Deere and Company and Linda had done office work for a series of phone companies and other organizations. They were “pretty handy,” says Linda, and had worked on all three of the modest homes they’d owned. Now they were looking for a place big enough to host large family gatherings — an old house (they like antiques) with a really big living/dining room perhaps. “But when we saw this,” says Linda, “there was the gym.” Yep. They have their own gymnasium — a huge, highceilinged room with a sunken floor and its own stage that takes up half of the first floor. That sealed the deal. There were other inducements. Aside from the roof, the place was rock solid with thick masonry walls. The original woodwork, doors, and details such as the water fountain on the second-floor landing; the velvety blackboards that adorned many of the rooms; and the stage in the gym were still in good

Simple, beautiful proportions are visible throughout, as in this view from the landing to the entryway. An antique-plaster paint treatment and walls of ancestral photos welcome family and visitors.

shape. Original bronze-painted lettering on doors glowed under multiple coats of varnish. Huge windows let in lots of natural light. Upstairs were four large classrooms; downstairs, two restrooms, a kitchen, and the gym.

Let’s get this party started But before the guests arrived, there was a bit of work to do. Eight years’ worth, in fact. The Sawyers dove right in, patching the roof even before they owned the place to prevent further water damage. Then they eradicated mold that had festered in the damp, unheated building with “gallons and gallons and gallons of bleach,” says Linda. They decided to keep the floor plan largely original with one major exception: They built a wall down the middle of Room 1 to create a master suite with a walk-in closet, a big bath, and hidden laundry area. Room 2 is a former geography classroom they refer to as the Library because of a wall-length bank of shelves and drawers salvaged from an old drugstore in Traer. Room 3 is a guest suite, and Room 4 houses Jim’s staggering collection of M&M’s memorabilia — a favorite

High ceilings, lots of natural light, and echoes of its classroom past grace the Library, which the Sawyers use as a living room.

September/October 2015

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home iniowa

The Sawyers’ cozy, elegant master suite answers the question everyone asks: Can a former schoolhouse feel like home? (left ) Even the master suite retains its chalkboard (above). “The kids love to write and draw on them when they come,” Linda says.

exploration place for the couple’s grandkids. A deck off the

Go for it

master suite completes the list of alterations.

Palatial nickname aside, the school was surprisingly affordable

But that short list doesn’t begin to describe the work

— if you don’t count the eight years of sweat equity that went

involved. Ripping out tacky faux-wood paneling glued on

into the project. The couple bought the place for the current

the gym by previous inhabitants. Replastering walls the size

price of a decent midsize car and spent “three or four times

of billboards. Drilling and chiseling through foot-plus-thick

that” on the renovation. Still, for the cost of a big RV, they now

masonry to accommodate all-new plumbing, electrical, and

own a genuine Iowa landmark, and they couldn’t be happier.

mechanical systems. The Sawyers did most of the work themselves with lots of help from visiting family and friends. The hardest part? “Living in a demolition zone,” laughs Linda. “You’d clean up all the dust

There are lots of closed and unused old school buildings in Iowa’s small towns and cities, but Linda and Jim say those needn’t deteriorate to unusable eyesores. Their advice for others who might be tempted to renovate

and debris so you could sit down and have a meal, and the

one? “Be realistic, but don’t be afraid,” Linda says. “Realize

next day you had to do it all over again.”

that the renovation will cost multiples of the purchase price.

The result was better than they had imagined. The Sawyer

Don’t do it halfway” or you’ll end up like the previous owners

family by tradition gets together “every holiday, birthdays,

of Buckingham School — walking away from a moldering hulk

whenever we can,” says Linda. Grandkids come for weeks at a

rather than enjoying a restored showplace. “But outside of

time during the summer, and “last Christmas, there were 45 of

that, if you have a positive attitude and determination, you can

us here from as far away as Salt Lake City and Dallas.”

make almost anyplace look and work wonderfully for you.”

The kids — and there are dozens of them, counting all the

And restore a jewel in a small town’s crown in the process.

grandnieces and grandnephews — love the place. “It’s old. It’s unique. We have few restrictions. They can run around and tear up the place,” says Linda. “It’s a school — if it hasn’t been hurt by now, it’s not going to be. We have lawn games in the schoolyard, board games in the gym. When my daughter got married here, we sat 100 people in the gymnasium. We can get quite a few in.”

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iowan.com

Dan Weeks is editor of The Iowan.


September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

21


Fall Harvest Friends Fall Festival

Scenic Drive Festival October 10–11, 2015

AVAILABLE TO RENT

Largest arts, crafts, antiques and flea market event in Southeast Iowa! Countywide event Spectacular Fall Foliage FREE admission

Hillview Recreation Area 25601 C 60, Hinton Iowa Contact Diana for details: 712-947-4270

ddowhower@co.plymouth.ia.us PlymouthCoConserv_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

April–Nov • Weddings • Parties • Corporate Events

515-729-8349 www.northrivercornmaze.com Corn maze Schedule for 2015

SEPT 25–OCT 30

Schedule a trip to visit our 3 corn mazes this fall. All ages welcome! Jumping pillow, barrel train, animals, hayrack rides, food and much more. Schedule a fire pit for your group!

October 10th, 2015 11am–8pm CRAFT FAIR ✺ KIDS GAMES BAKE SALE Halloween at Hillview 6–8pm

North River Adventures PARTY BARN

www.villagesofvanburen.com 800-868-7822

7/20/15 12:33 PM VillagesVanBuren_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

www.northrivercornmaze.com 2768 U.S. Hwy 65/69 Carlisle, Iowa 50047

515-729-8349

NRiverAdventures_SOIowan_2015.indd 1 7/15/15 9:40 AM

7/28/15 10:05 AM

38th Annual Creston/ Southwest Iowa Hot Air Balloon Days September 18, 19 & 20, 2015 Creston, Iowa

Over 50 Balloonists will compete in Hot Air Balloon Races over the weekend, Marching Band Contest, Night Glow, Flea Market, Car Show, Food & more

Call 641-782-7021 for more information www.crestoniowachamber.com 22

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7/7/15 1:42 PM

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION


Cherish Yesterday ~ Dream of Tomorrow ~ Live Today!

Your path to

at the

Fall Family

Farmall-Land-USA Museum in Avoca, IA

Fun!

A Great Getaway for a Day

Farmall-Land-USA is a 26,500 square foot museum which houses the personal lifetime collection of Jerry Mez— an incredible display of more than 250 IH full-size tractors, Cub Cadets, pedal tractors, toy tractors, artist's prints, and memorabilia.

Explore Amish Country & Historic Downtown Discover Crafts, Quilts, Furniture, & Antiques Enjoy Fine Dining, Yummy Bakeries & Chocolates Quilt Block Walking Tour & Barn Quilt Drive 10 min from Casino & Award Winning Golf

corn maze • corn box Travel back in time on our scenic back roads and get a sense of the rigorous days that comprise the Amish way of life. Tours take about 90 minutes. For more info on upcoming events & area attractions,

Kalona Area Chamber 319-656-2660

kalonachamber.com Farmall_SOIowan_201.indd 1

Sat 9-5:30 Sun 10-4

wagon rides to pumpkin patch

The museum is well-lit, climate-controlled, and handicap accessible.

Hours: Tues-Sat: 9 am–5 pm Sun: 12–5 pm Closed Mondays To arrange a group tour, call 402-490-1574 or 712-343-6354 Please visit our website at: www.farmall-land-usa.com

Sept 19 - Oct. 25

haunted attractions big slides • tetherball farm animals • goat walk giant jumping pillow pedal carts with track pumpkin blaster ball-zone • wiggle carts grain cart rides

6/26/15 12:03 PM

2015

The Bakery

Friday, Sept. 25 9:00 am - 9:00 pm

Saturday, Sept. 26 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Stroll through historic buildings, quilt galleries & museums, and enjoy old world demonstrations, antiques, craft festivals, good music & great food!

concessions available all day plus homemade fudge, cupcakes and seasonal treats

Iowa’s Best Kept Secret 4.5 miles west of Decorah, IA

715 D Ave, Kalona, IA 52247 319-656-3232 www.kalonaiowa.org

563-382-0010 • 2475 State Hwy 9 PintersGardensAndPumpkins.com for seasonal hours

September/October 2015

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15th Annual

ST. ANSGAR FALL FESTIVAL

Sept 12, 2015

Art, craft, vintage, antique, seasonal goods, food and other vendors. Local merchants will also have in-store promotions. St.Ansgar Community Chamber For more information call: 641-713-4698

little PRAIRIE

Lincoln Highway Arts Festival Sept 19, 2015 Downtown Mount Vernon, Iowa More than 60 artists, food, music and family fun.

GIRL

HOME GOODS & CLOTHING

→ 312 Main St.

Cedar Falls → 20428 160th St. Holland

319-240-5060

www.mvaac.org

er-

• Sh

ari

ng

7/15/15 4:17 PM

In

Iowa

Pompoen Harvest Festival 2015.indd 1

U-pick apples and pumpkins, hayrides, corn maze, animals, pedal tractors, corn pool, jumping pillow, bakery, farm meals, weekend festivals, and more! 32835 610th Ave Cambridge, IA 50046 515-383-4354

http://practicalfarmers.org

Barn Stahl Farm Offering Affordable Family Fun since 2007! Open: Wed–Sat 1–6pm Starting Sept 9: 1–7pm Wed-Sunday! Over 35 different Farm and Exotic animals ✦ Petting Zoo ✦ Corn, Bean & Hay Mazes ✦ Pumpkin Patch, plus a lot more!

www.centergroveorchard.com CenterGrove_SOIowan_2014.indd 1

OUTDOOR JUNK MARKET 224 Pearl St. Walnut, IA www.facebook.com/truejunk

Free Face Painting and Balloon Artist Like us on Facebook for special events throughout the season!

16519 185th Wellsburg, IA

iowan.com

7/16/15 4:25 PM

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Lucas County Hay Bale Art Contest September 22–November 1 Maps available

www.charitonareachambermainstreet.com

CharitonChamber_SOIowan_2015.indd 1 6/10/14 8:55 AM

TrUe JuNk

FALL FEST–Oct 17 & 18 1–7pm

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Pumpkin Harvest Fall Festival Sept. 25-26, 2015 PellaHistorical.com

tion

years

BarnStahl_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

Hosted by Pella Historical Museums

f

1985 - 2015

PRACTICAL farmers of Strengthening Farms and Communities

Pompoen Harfst

ma

Far m

We

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ing All LittlePrairieGirl_SOIowan_2015.indd lcom 1

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Junk-tober Fest Oct 2–3, 2015 10am–5pm

7/17/15 4:52 PM

Colony Pumpkin Patch a little country in the city

FALL FESTIVAL

Sat Oct 3rd OPEN: Sept 19–Oct 30 Mon–Fri 4pm–dusk Sat–Sun 10am–dusk

Located on S. Front St. North Liberty 319-626-6091

www.colonypumpkinpatch.com

6/9/15 9:12 AM ColonyPumpkin_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

7/8/15 4:06 PM

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION


www.naturallylouisacounty.com

DRIVE THE

Most Scenic Byway IN IOWA

ffice for Contact our o el guide your free trav mchsi.com neiatourism@ 4-1424 or call 800-82

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6/17/15 4:29 PM

September/October 2015

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s ’ a w o I g n i r u o T

GREAT RIVER ROAD

Join us for a fall road trip down the picturesque East Coast of Iowa. story and photography by DAN WEEKS

Iowa’s Great River Road offers plenty of vistas like these — plus historic river ports, parks and recreation areas, locks and dams, and 326 miles of relaxing touring.

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he Missisippi riverbank is our East Coast, where Iowa’s modern settlement began. And the Iowa Great River Road runs through it. It threads 326 miles of some of the state’s most spectacular scenery. In some places, you’d swear you were in Switzerland, Germany, Ireland. In others, you can be nowhere else but Iowa. The route is a favorite touring destination, especially during fall foliage season. Even then, the road is generally uncrowded and the towns and cities welcoming. Stay at local inns, hotels, and B&Bs or choose from dozens of campgrounds en route where you can drift off to the muted thrum of towboats churning past. In addition to the scenery, the road travels through great walkable small towns and historic cities with lots of antiquing, shopping, and dining options. Parks and overlooks with hiking and biking trails. River walks and locks and dams and museums to explore. And festivals, concerts, wineries, and river cruises to enjoy. It’s the trip of a lifetime. And it’s right on your doorstep, so it’s one you can afford to take every year. That’s good, for there’s more here than you can experience at one pass. Each stretch of the river has its own landscape, its own culture, its own character — and its own surprises. Join us for a photographic tour. Then plan your own trip with our detailed map, list of attractions, and Iowa Great River Road resources.

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NEW ALBIN TO BALLTOWN Start your trip in the top right-hand corner of Iowa: the driftless region the glaciers missed. Here the river is entrenched by limestone bluffs riven with steep valleys and box canyons — and topped by hardwood forests and burial mounds of ancient civilizations. The small river towns here are some of Iowa’s best-kept secrets. In these frontier ports, Scandinavians and Europeans stepped off riverboats to make a home in a faraway, yet familiar-looking land. Their farming, logging, stonecutting, and building transformed this stretch of the river into a little Europe. The towns’ wide main streets, elegant riverboat captains’ houses, and 19th-century brick and stone buildings often remain remarkably unaltered, just waiting for you to rediscover them. Take the spectacular Driftless Area Scenic Byway (northeastiowarcd.org/driftless-area-scenic-byway) through the fjordlike Upper Iowa River valley to New Albin with its picturesque town square, 14-sided barn, 1849 cast-iron obelisk marking the boundary between Iowa and the Minnesota Territory — and delicious smoked meat at City Meat Market & Grocery (563-544-4236). In Lansing (mylansingiowa.com, mainstreetlansing.com, 563-538-9229) enjoy the view from 450-foot-tall Mt. Hosmer, tour the historic downtown, bargain-shop at the grottolike New Albin

Clockwise from opposite top left: NEW ALBIN: With its blaze of maples and air tinged with freshly sawn oak from Konkel’s sawmill, New Albin on the Minnesota border is where Iowa’s Great River Road begins. The town hall is now a historical museum.

Driftless Area Scenic Byway

Lansing

ATOP MT. HOSMER: Lansing’s Mt. Hosmer offers a bird’seye view of the river — and the 1931 Black Hawk Bridge, the northernmost on Iowa’s Great River Road.

Harpers Ferry

WEXFORD CHURCH: Built by refugees from the potato famine just 13 years after their arrival, the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Wexford attests to their faith, craftsmanship, and success. This authentic Irish church overlooks a valley so lush it could well be in Ireland’s County Wexford, whence came its builders.

Yellow River State Forest Effigy Mounds

Marquette McGregor

GUTTENBERG HAUS: The Guttenberg Haus in Guttenberg was built of hand-hewn bur oak timbers and native limestone by German immigrants in the manner of a German town house. It is now a bed and breakfast. Blink and you’re in Bavaria!

Prairie du Chien

Pikes Peak State Park

IOWA Guttenberg

WISCONSIN MISSISIPPI Balltown

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Horsfall’s Lansing Variety, rent a kayak or houseboat, and take a sightseeing cruise. View massive barges at lock and dam #9 and cast for a dozen or so varieties of fish in the river and in 20 stocked trout streams near Harpers Ferry. Scenic hiking trails abound in Yellow River State Forest (iowadnr.gov, 563-586-2254) and in nearby Effigy Mounds National Monument (nps.gov, 563-873-3491 ext. 202), home to 200 prehistoric mounds. Marquette and McGregor (mcgreg-marq.org) offer charming, historic downtowns with shops, restaurants, B&Bs, and a casino. Nearby Pikes Peak State Park (iowadnr.gov, 563-873-2341) has one of the most spectacular views along the entire Mississippi, plus hiking and camping. Guttenburg (guttenburgiowa.net, 563-252-2323), named one of America’s 20 prettiest towns by Forbes, features a mile-long riverfront park, a 15-mile bike trail, lots of mid19th-century stone architecture, and a museum in the only remaining lockmaster’s house on the upper Mississippi. Balltown is a tiny place with two big attractions: a spectacular view (page 29) and Iowa’s oldest (1852) bar and restaurant, Breitbach’s (breitbachscountrydining.com, 563-552-2220), continuously owned and operated by six generations of Breitbachs.

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STREETSCAPE: McGregor’s Main Street beckons visitors to explore. Antiques shops, eateries, boutiques, and inns abound in Iowa’s river towns, offering resort amenities and ambience at small-town-Iowa prices. They fill handsome brick and stone buildings that recall the towns’ heydays as busy shipping ports before railway bridges and barge traffic. SWISS VIEW: Stop to enjoy this vista near Balltown in the heart of Iowa’s Little Switzerland region. The Great River Road takes to the ridgetops as well as the riverbank, offering some of Iowa’s loftiest views.


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DUBUQUE, BELLEVUE, SABULA, AND CLINTON Midway between the Quad Cities and the Minnesota border, Dubuque was a thriving mining and industrial city that’s reimagined itself as a center for technology, culture, education — and a tourist destination. It combines a historic downtown with a brand-new riverfront resort, waterpark, museum, and more. In Dubuque (traveldubuque.com) museums, casinos, resorts, dining, and outdoor recreation abound. Must-see attractions include Fenelon Place Elevator, Port of Dubuque and National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, the Dubuque Museum of Art, Mines of Spain Recreation Area, and 29 miles of paved trails. Bellevue (bellevueia.com, 563-872-5830) is a beautiful port turned low-key resort with lots of dining, lodging,

camping, and recreation options. Don’t miss the view from Bellevue State Park (iowadnr.gov). Sabula gives you an island vacation without leaving the state. Camp, boat, and swim at South Sabula Lake Park (mycountyparks.com), get a superb wood-fired pizza with a big helping of character at Bombfire Pizza (bombfirepizza.com, 563-249-8688), and relax and enjoy the view at quaint Castle B&B (sabulacastle.com, 563-357-5467). In Clinton (clintoniowatourism.com, 563-242-5702) you can view live theater on an authentic sternwheeler, watch logs get ripped into boards at a working sawmill museum, tour a lumber baron’s mansion, see more than 20 exhibits at the Felix Adler Children’s Discovery Center — and enjoy lots of parks, trails, and other outdoor amenities.

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Dubuque Mines of Spain

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PORT CITY: Nestled in the elbow of a river bend (above top), Dubuque has quietly won dozens of national quality-of-life awards and is one of North America’s least-known best small cities. RIVER OVERLOOK: The Mines of Spain Recreation Area (above bottom) is now a picturesque park — one of many in a city that likes to hike, bike, ski, and enjoy watersports. Spain really did own these lead-rich limestone bluffs before the Louisiana Purchase.


Clockwise from top left: RIVER MUSEUM: Dubuque — not Minneapolis, St. Louis, or New Orleans — is the site of the world-class National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, which interprets the natural history and culture of the river. RIVER WALK: It ties together the River Museum, Grand Harbor Resort and Waterpark, Grand River Event Center, and other riverfront attractions. The sparkling-new river-facing redevelopment is called the Port of Dubuque. Last year Dubuque’s was named the number 4 Best American Riverfront. FENELON PLACE ELEVATOR: Much of Dubuque retains its 19thcentury charm, with lots of elaborate brick homes, row houses, churches, and commercial buildings. The 1882 Fenelon Place Elevator was built to take wealthy residents from their work in the city to their mansions on the bluff. It remains a fun way to gain a great view. The elevator is the shortest, steepest railroad in the world. BOMBFIRE PIZZA: The driftless region ends at Sabula, Iowa’s only island city. Sabula’s Bombfire Pizza offers perhaps the best wood-fired pies we’ve ever encountered. A mellow, friendly, retro-hippie vibe draws diners of all ages and types. One diner says he detours up from I-80 “every time I cross Iowa.”

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COURTESY OF THE QUAD CITIES CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

DAVENPORT RIVERFRONT: Davenport’s riverside parks are the city’s front porch. Residents and visitors gather by the thousands for a steady stream of music and river festivals, baseball games, and other events throughout the year.

THE QUAD CITIES REGION Le Claire (visitleclaire.com, 563-289-4242 ext. 61135) is not officially one of the Quad Cities, but this small town just north of Bettendorf is where the region begins. Formerly a shipping port and home to riverboat pilots, Le Claire is now known for fine locally made wine and spirits; boutique shopping, dining, and lodging; riverboat cruises and soaring pelicans; and as the home of the American Pickers — and the Buffalo Bill Museum, where you can explore the last paddle-wheel steamer to navigate the Mississippi and the history of local boy Buffalo Bill. Start your visit to the Quad Cities proper (visitquadcities.com, 800-747-7800) at the Union Station Visitor Center. This beautiful restored train station is

IOWA Le Claire

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also where you can rent bicycles to tour the cities’ miles of riverfront and other bike paths; get information on watercraft rentals, cruises, and the cities’ water taxi; and take a Segway scooter tour. Adjacent Le Claire Park on the riverfront is the site of nearly nonstop festivals and events. Fall is a great time to visit because the world-famous Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival has been rescheduled this year to Labor Day weekend, and the Quad City Riverfront Pops follows on September 6. East-West Riverfest, a 15-day celebration of arts, cultural and heritage organizations, and events and businesses also kicks off in September; toward the end of the month, don’t miss the juried Riverssance Festival of Fine Arts amid the shops and restaurants of the picturesque village of East Davenport. Also downtown on the river, the 1931 Modern Woodmen Park is the first minor league ballpark to feature its own 105-foot-tall Ferris wheel and a 300-foot-long zip line. The Rhythm City Casino is right next door. From there you can walk the Sky Bridge to downtown to enjoy a 360-degree view of the riverfront and skyline. Downtown attractions include the century-old Figge Art Museum, the Putnam Museum/National Geographic Giant Screen Theater, Bucktown Center for the Arts, the German-American Heritage Center, and more. Wildcat Den State Park (iowadnr.gov, 563-263-4337) about 20 miles southwest of Davenport makes a great base camp for enjoying the Quads or a restful stop on the way out of town. There you can tour an 1800s grist mill and schoolhouse and enjoy hiking and primitive camping.


COURTESY OF THE QUAD CITIES CONVENTION & VISITORS BUREAU

Clockwise from top left: SKYBRIDGE AND CASINO: The Davenport Skybridge offers control tower-like views of the river and skyline — and access between the Figge Art Museum and downtown and the neon-lit Rhythm City Casino and Modern Woodmen Park baseball stadium on the riverfront. PLEASURE BOATS: From cabin cruisers to kayaks, the river is home to thousands of Iowa pleasure craft. These are out for an earlymorning paddle through the heart of the Quad Cities. Visitors can rent everything from houseboats to fishing skiffs to paddlecraft at many locations along the river — or take a sightseeing cruise or river taxi ride. STEAMBOAT PILOTHOUSE: This is the pilothouse of Lone Star, built in 1868 and the only surviving example of a wooden-hulled, western rivers steamboat. It retired in 1967 after 99 years of service and is on display at the Buffalo Bill Museum in Le Claire. The a town is past home to pilots who navigated steamers through treacherous rock rapids (now submerged) just downstream. BARGE TOW: Towboats and their barges offer a never-ending display of power and skill as they maneuver through Iowa’s locks. Overlooks such as this one near Davenport let you watch the multiton ballet. Each 15-barge tow is a quarter mile long and carries more than 225 train cars’ — or 870 semi trucks’ — worth of cargo, mostly food and farm products bound for worldwide markets.

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THE SOUTHERN CITIES Downstream from Davenport, the character of the drive changes. The road generally flattens, sometimes running straight down the floodplain, sometimes skirting the base of the bluffs at its western edge. And the sprinkling of northern port towns yields to long runs of fields punctuated by Iowa’s southeastern cities. Each city has its own monuments to a boomtown past — and lots going on in the present. Muscatine’s (visitmuscatine.com, 563-272-2534) colorful Victorian downtown includes the excellent Muscatine History and Industry Center that highlights the history of pearl button manufacturing in the former “button capital of the world.” At night the only LED-lit bridge on the river competes with the Mississippi Mist waterfront fountain for the best light show in town. Don’t miss the Biannual Boat Show (muscatineboatshow.com) September 4–6, which features vintage, antique, and new watercraft of all kinds — including some hovercraft that can skim over water or land on a cushion of air and soar, bank, and turn like aircraft in low, ground-effect flight. In Burlington (greaterburlington.com, 319-752-6365) stop at the Port of Burlington Welcome Center on the riverfront for the complete scoop on area attractions; admire (or cross) the graceful new cable-stayed Great River Bridge; drive down Snake Alley, the crookedest street in the world; and take in a riverfront festival or farmers market. Fort Madison (fortmadison.com, 319-372-5471) is where you can visit the Sheaffer Pen Museum (sheafferpenmuseum.org, 319-372-1674), see the largest swing-span double-decker bridge in the world, go on a selfguided architectural walk of some of the city’s impressive 19th-century homes, and take a weekend tour of a reconstructed 1808 frontier fort. Keokuk (keokukiowatourism.org, 319-524-5599) turned an old bridge deck into an observation platform — a brilliant idea. It overlooks the 1927 George M. Verity Riverboat and Museum at its permanent berth on the river front. From the observation platform you can also marvel at the mammoth and handsome 1913 Lock and Dam 19 and powerhouse — the largest in the world at the time it was built and just as impressive today. Here in Iowa’s southernmost city you can walk down Grand Avenue and ogle the mansions built by 19th-century industrialists and hunt for the world’s finest geodes at various nearby shops and mining locations. Dan Weeks is editor of The Iowan.

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Before You Go CHECK OUT THESE RESOURCES: For an interactive map, printable guide, and lists of interpretive centers, communities, cruises, restaurants, and overlooks: traveliowa.com/aspx/lifestyles.aspx?id=23 For a map of recreation, culture, and scenic view attractions: experiencemississippiriver.com/states/iowa For a 15-stop, 3-day self-guided tour: traveliowa.com/getaways?id=5 For detailed information on the New Albin to Dubuque section of the Iowa Great River Road: riverroads.com For a guide to Army Corps of Engineers recreation and other river facilities: missriver.org.

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Clockwise from top left: MUSCATINE STREETSCAPE: These brightly painted Victorian buildings look almost San Franciscan in the slanting fall sunshine. SHELLS AND BUTTONS: Muscatine was once home to a thriving industry that mined the river’s vast supply of freshwater clams and cut and drilled the shells to form mother-of-pearl buttons. Plastics and zippers replaced them in the mid-20th century. The Muscatine History and Industry Center downtown tells the fascinating story. BURLINGTON’S SNAKE ALLEY: You can drive down the crookedest street in the world in Burlington, according to Ripley’s Believe It or Not. Like Dubuque’s Fenelon Place Elevator, Snake Alley was created to speed access to bluff-top mansions. It ascends a hill too steep for horses to traverse in a straight line. Bricks set at an angle increase traction. CHIEF KEOKUK: A statue of the Chief surveys the Mississippi from atop a bluff in Rand Park in the city that bears his name. Perhaps he’s watching the bald eagles that make Keokuk their seasonal home. CITY GARDENS: Keokuk calls Rand Park “the city’s front yard.” Its elegant gazebo and formal plantings recall Keokuk’s boom days in the late 19th century, when millionaires outdid themselves building grand mansions on the river bluff, many of which still stand. A self-guided walking tour offers one jawdropper after another.

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Northeast Iowa in Clayton County

Welcome to life without stoplights

Visit www.claytoncountyiowa.com or call 563-245-2201 for a FREE brochure

40th Anniversary Fall Arts & Crafts Festival ~ Oct 3–4, 2015 24th Anniversary Leaf Arts & Crafts Festival ~ Oct 10–11, 2015 Original Arts & Crafts * Historic Town Live Music * Beautiful River To be held in Triangle Park Downtown McGregor, IA For more information: 563.873.2186

www.mcgreg-marq.org

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Paper Moon Books

The Ultimate in Therapy Shopping! Three floors to shop for unique treasures like: jewelry, toys, children’s books, greeting cards, home décor and more! 206 A Street, McGregor IA 563-873-3357

www.papermoonbooks.com

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BLOOMING BRANCHES Full service florist that offers unique gifts, home décor and a cozy coffee shop.

511 S. 1st St. Guttenberg, Iowa (563) 252-3800

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39053 Great River Road Guttenberg, IA 563-252-2665 www.promiselandwinery.com

River Park Place Conference center Vacation studio rentals

Landing A Riverfront Inn

For booking and availability contact

(563) 252-1615

www.river-park-place.com

Join us for a great weekend getaway in one of our riverview suites. We also feature a gas dock and fishing barge on the Mississippi River, boat rentals, bait, beer, tackle and supplies.

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Lori: 319-551-6171 Jeff: 563-880-5856 huknorth@yahoo.com

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Guttenberg Bed and Bath

Nestled beside the majestic Mississippi River Join us for casual comfort with Iowa hospitality. Spacious accommodations for two in historic downtown Guttenberg. guttenbergbedandbath.com 641-751-0977

Paradise Valley

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On the Great River Road

The

www.staycobblestone.com

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Located in the Southern hills of Guttenberg on the Great River Road. Taste the award-winning wines, enjoy a delicious pizza, browse our boutiques and listen to live music in the courtyard.

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Big City Quality, Small Town Values

LOCATED ON THE GREAT RIVER ROAD 100 North Street Marquette, IA 52158 563-873-8900

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Private Resort Summer Time Fun For The Whole Family! Located 7 miles South of McGregor, Iowa just off the Great River Road Seasonal sites, holiday events, 8 miles ATV trails, swimming & fishing ponds, play ground, convenience store Near Sny Magill trout stream & only ¼ mi. to Mississippi river access For seasonal information call Sandy 563-880-7300 or Shane 563-880-2426 Office 563-873-9632 19745 Keystone Rd. #2 Garnavillo, IA 52049

paradisevalleynews.net

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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION


Explore the Mississippi River in Clinton, Iowa www.clintoniowatourism.com

Find us on Facebook & Twitter at Visit Clinton, Iowa Clinton CVB_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

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2016 Season tickets on sale NOW!

Professional live theatre on the banks of the Mississippi. 303 Riverview Road Clinton, Iowa 52732 (563) 242-6760

563 242 0343 563-242-0343 www.thesawmillmuseum.org

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Handmade, Wood Fire Pizza

Felix Adler

Children’s Discovery Center Clinton, Iowa’s Children’s Museum!

FREE

“Stop in for a peace!”

ADMISSION

BOMBFIRE PIZZERIA

Sabula, IA 563-249-8688 www.bombfiresabula.com

with purchase of 1 at regular price

The Lincoln Highway @ US 67 (563) 243-3600 the FelixAdler_SOIowan_2015.indd Visit 1

OPEN: Wed–Sun 1–4 pm Gallery, Theater, Gift Shop, Art Classes, Rainbow Pottery 229 5th Avenue South Clinton , IA (563) 243-3300

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George M. Curtis Mansion

3/18/14 11:22 AM

420 5th Ave S, Clinton, Iowa

Home of the Clinton Lumber Industrialist Saturday Tours 1:30pm & 2:30pm Other times by appointment. 563.242.8556 Go to www.georgemcurtismansion.org to view upcoming events. Available for private rental.

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FISHER HOUSE BED & BREAKFAST 407 5th Ave S Clinton, IA 52732 563-249-8948 www.fisherhousebb.com

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Jackson County Simply Beautiful ... in the Fall

Jackson County Area Tourism 800-342-1837 jacksoncountyiowa.com

Experience a most unique place where the jazz and southern food of Bourbon Street meet the blues and BBQ of Beale Street in a beautifully restored 170 year old grist mill. Ribs, jambalaya, pulled pork and gumbo will feed your inner southern soul.

Tucked into the bluffs just off the mighty Mississippi River, lies The Inn at Potter's Mill. Come and find rest in one of three B&B rooms filled with historic charm, steps away from delectable grub, endless Blues, and outdoor adventure.

300 Potter Drive, Bellevue, Iowa • 563.872.3838 • www.pottersmill.net • info@pottersmill.net •

Why go out for ordinary when you can have

Extraordinary?

Call to book your winter get-a-way NOW!

Whispering Meadows Resort LLC River Ridge ATV Trails LLC

118 North Riverview Bellevue, Iowa 563-872-3164 www.WaterStreetBellevue.com

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34580 100th St., Spragueville, IA Steve & Kathy Tebbe (Owners) 563-357-3784 whisperingmeadows@yahoo.com www.whisperingmeadowsresort.com

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Irish Meadows Yarn Barn & Boutique You’re always welcome.

NEW in 2013 Indoor pool, free wi-fi fitness center, free breakfast 4115 N Riverview Dr. Bellevue, IA 563-872-5000 www.baymontinnsuitesbellevue.com

3 FLOORS OF MERCHANDISE IN A RESTORED GRAINARY

Featuring Alpaca yarns, rovings & fleece, and hand knit gift items: socks, teddy bears, scarves, hats, blankets, and gloves. Large selection of sweaters and jackets. OPEN: Thursday–Saturday 10am–5pm August–March (excluding holidays) Other times by appt., including evenings. 23477 Bellevue Cascade Road (D-61) La Motte, Iowa 563-543-1375

"Where the only thing better than the food, is the view."

4111 N Riverview Dr. Bellevue, IA 563-872-5800 www.offshorebellevueia.com

(25 minutes South of Dubuque, IA)

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www.facebook.com/BellevueArtsCouncil www.bellevueartscouncil.org

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Serving homemade to order ice cream specialties, breakfast and lunch!

306 S. Riverview Dr. Bellevue, IA Open Fri, Sat, & Sun @ 7:30 am 563-872-4240

www.grandpasparlour.com

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Great view of the Mississippi River

Hurstville Interpretive Center

More Than a Room

Educational Exhibits • Nature Trails Outdoor Play Area • Free Admission Open Weekdays 9-4 • Weekends Noon-5

VACATION HOME RENTAL – Call us for your next weekend getaway, family reunion or cozy couples retreat.

U.S. Highway 61, 1 mile N. of Maquoketa. Nature Center/Visitor Center 563-652-3783 Visit jacksonccb.com to learn more.

…when just a room won’t do! 100 Spring Street, Bellevue, IA Call to reserve: 563-542-1243

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A SEASON FOR ALL

Keokuk

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Museums Hunt Keokuk Geodes Mark Twain Historic Sights Iowa’s Only National Cemetery Award Winning Civil War Reenactment Historic Lock & Dam Winter Home for Bald Eagles

KEOKUK AREA CONVENTION & TOURISM BUREAU www.KeokukIowaTourism.org 319.524.5599

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With its 19th-century-style architecture, front porches and stoops, alley-access garages, and mix of housing types, Iowa City’s The Peninsula Neighborhood is a new development with vintage appeal.

Rethinking Suburbia Some new suburban developments are starting to look more like small towns. Here’s what they are, where to find them — and what it’s like to live in one. by AMBER DAWN BARZ

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W

hen people think of the America that used to be, of family farms and roadside diners with great pie, ice cream socials around a town square, and all those other Norman Rockwell scenarios, rest assured you can still find those things in Iowa,” wrote one former Iowan about what he missed most about Iowa on the community weblog A Weakness for Iowa. With urbanization, the writer reflected, “Iowa is becoming a lot more like the rest of the country. But sometimes I wish there was a way to make the rest of the country more like Iowa.” Well, it turns out there is a way — not only to make the rest of the country more like Iowa but to make new Iowa suburbs feel more like the state’s most charming small towns.

The Iowafication of suburbia

This “way” has been called a number of things: new urban development, neotraditional neighborhoods, new traditional developments, smart growth, and the current buzz phrase, master planned communities (MPCs). The movement started in the 1980s as a backlash to suburban sprawl — the typical housing tract development that proliferated around nearly every American city, including Iowa’s, in the second half of the 20th century. MPCs first popped up in states such as Florida and California, where megapolitan suburbs can sprawl for hundreds of miles with little more than freeway exit numbers to differentiate them. Now they’ve come to Iowa.

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Commerce, housing, and green space coexist in planned communities. Lots of sidewalks and landscaping encourage walking in Ankeny’s Prairie Trail.

MPCs feature less traffic and more sidewalks and trails that connect residential areas to nearby stores, restaurants, offices, schools, and parks. Single-family homes, townhouses, and multifamily housing in a range of prices may share the same block, encouraging people of all ages and income levels to connect. Garages tend to be located in back and porches in front to encourage neighborly visiting. Multiuse town centers give the places a geographic locus and a unique character. Conservation principles work to preserve open space and make best use of existing topography, natural waterways, and other features. In some developments, small lot sizes keep the development compact and walkable and conserve land. In short, they are designed more or less the way many of Iowa’s prairie towns were during westward settlement: with a plan. To fit with their traditional town character, many of them feature homes of traditional American architectural styles. MPCs have risen recently near Davenport, Iowa City, and Des Moines. So how are these developments going over with Iowans, who likely know what a great small town looks and feels like?

“A perfect blend”

Nola and Steve Ryan describe life in Prairie Trail, a planned community in Ankeny, as idyllic. At just over 1,000 acres, Prairie Trail is the size of a small Iowa town. Eye-pleasing boulevards with planted medians, alleyways with back44

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facing garages, and community green space are common. More than 13 miles of trails and 200 acres of parks grace the community. “I grew up on a farm in Kossuth County and Steve is from Ankeny. Prairie Trail is the perfect blend of rural Iowa and suburbia. We visited the Prairie Trail Home Show in 2008 and made an offer on a home two days later,” Nola says. Nola works in Ankeny as the Family Services Director for Memorial Services of Iowa Funeral Home, and Steve works in Urbandale as a Senior Business Analyst for MidAmerican Energy. “When we moved in, our kids were in college. Now they are all married and we have grandchildren,” Nola says. “We have a 5-acre park across the street from our home, and it’s the perfect place to entertain little ones. “Our neighbors — we know them all — range from young families to empty nesters,” she continues. “There’s a doctor’s office within throwing distance, and we can walk to restaurants and the grocery store.” Something of Iowa’s small-town neighborliness seems to thrive there was well. For Jorge and Angela Padilla, who are expecting their first child, it was the instant welcome that sealed the purchase of their Prairie Trail home three years ago. “When our real estate agent was showing us the backyard, the neighbors were outside and came over to say hi. They told us how much they liked the area,” says Angela,


who grew up on a farm near Greenfield. “We loved the layout and style of the home, so we made an offer.” Both Jorge and Angela work downtown — Jorge is a banker at Bankers’ Bank of the West, and Angela is a graphic designer for ad agency Flynn Wright — but the 20-minute commute they sometimes take together seems reasonable — especially to Jorge, who grew up in urban California and knows what sprawl looks like. “Originally I was opposed to living in Ankeny, but our Realtor asked us to take a look anyway, and I’m glad we did,” Jorge says. “We bought one of the more modest houses in the area, but there are million-dollar homes close by. I love the friendliness and the diversity of the people who live here. We get together with our neighbors regularly, and they have become some of our closest friends.”

What’s not to like?

If you opt to build or buy in an MPC, by covenant the exterior style of your home or business may be limited to one of the approved architectural styles and color palettes. In Ankeny’s Prairie Trail community, for example, home designs are limited to four traditional styles: Arts and Crafts, Colonial Revival, Victorian, and European Romantic (akin to Tudor). To promote socialization and safety, most homes have front porches or stoops and garages located in the back or on the side. In most MPCs, annual association fees are assessed to cover the cost of the additional community services, activities, and amenities. Although these communities look traditional, they are brand-new. If you’re looking for a century-old home or a fixer-upper, you’re not likely to find one in an MPC.

Back to the future?

Are the retro look and Earth-friendly features of MPCs in more Iowa new-home buyers’ future? Conservationists hope so, pointing out that intensive, mixed-use development combined with green space gobbles up less of Iowa’s farmland than does conventional tract development and — theoretically, at least — reduces driving and promotes walking, bicycling, and public transportation. Real Iowa small towns — especially those that lack a city nearby to attract commuters — may see MPCs as simply more of the urbanization that has pulled people and jobs from rural counties into urban ones. “If people want authentic small-town living,” says one rural resident wryly, “they should move out here and join us. We invented friendly — and we could use the company!”

ELEMENTS OF A MASTER PLANNED COMMUNITY (MPC) MULTIPLE USES. The goal of a master planned community such as Ankeny’s Prairie Trail, above, is to enhance the quality of life of the residents that live there by make shopping and leisure activities available within a short, ideally walkable, commute.

THE FUTURE. An MPC design projects the full build-out condition of the community, taking into account land use, including zoning and environmental sustainability. This includes preservation of historic landmarks, existing wetlands, and other natural features, plus the addition of storm-water retention systems and green spaces.

THE LOCAL ECONOMY. MPCs take into account the local economy in order to better predict a development timeline, including the addition of new businesses. The plan also identifies any improvements that can be made to help stimulate economic development. AESTHETICS. Streetscaping is carefully plotted to encourage socialization, safety, and a healthful, active lifestyle. Residential design is often limited to specific styles and contains requirements for amenities such as front porches and landscaping. Exterior color choices may also be limited to a specified palette.

GREEN SPACE. Parks, open space, and trails are an integral part of MPCs. The goal is to respect and make the most of the natural beauty of the environment and to encourage active, healthful lifestyles. MUNICIPAL SERVICES. Education, public safety, water and sewer, energy, and other services that enhance the quality of life are all part of an MPC’s comprehensive plan. Roads are designed to promote good traffic circulation and parking. Alternate transportation options are also included in the plan.

Amber Dawn Barz is a Des Moines-based freelance magazine and book writer.

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MASTER PLANNED COMMUNITIES IN IOWA THE PENINSULA NEIGHBORHOOD Iowa City peninsulaiowacity.com This neighborhood on Iowa City’s north side, right, features a town square with a playground, gazebo, and a mix of multifamily housing and storefront businesses such as the bistro in the foreground. Here and on surrounding streets, Colonial, Victorian, and Arts and Crafts architectural styles predominate; most homes have porches or stoops that face the street. “Front porches bring residents together,” says Amy Pretorius, The Peninsula Neighborhood’s Assistant Project Manager. “It is a design that shaped Iowa’s historical neighborhoods. Newer communities are bringing it back.” You’ll find a mix of townhomes, condominiums, apartments, and single-family homes in The Peninsula Neighborhood, which features bus service to downtown Iowa City. Prices for homes range from $110,000 to $700,000.

KETTLESTONE Waukee kettlestonewaukee.com Situated on 1,500 acres, Kettlestone, below, is planned

and apartments, nearly 4 million square feet of retail

districts that include parks, ponds, trails, shopping,

space, and 5 million-plus square feet of office space. Like

dining, and entertainment. Building has not yet begun.

other Iowa MPCs, Kettlestone will be walkable and

Kettlestone’s homes will have front-facing porches,

accessible, with wide-ranging housing options, mixed

windows, and entryways; apartment and condominium

land use that even includes a lake and community

exteriors feature elaborate trimwork, brick or stone

amphitheater — and a civic and cultural presence that

accents, and patios or balconies. The appearance of

enhances quality of life.

garage doors will be minimized.

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The area is expected to accommodate 7,000 houses

as a mixed-use neighborhood divided into 10 distinct

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PRAIRIE HEIGHTS Davenport facebook.com/prairieheightsliving As with other Iowa MPCs, Davenport’s Prairie Heights, right, features “traditional neighborhood design and town center appeal,” says Ryan Rusnak, a Davenport city planner. Green spaces, play areas, and paths intertwine throughout the northeast side neighborhood. At 220 acres, the Prairie Heights park is one of Davenport’s largest and includes ball diamonds, a shelter, batting cages, and a playground. Four lit tennis courts, a dog off-leash area, an archery range, a regulation soccer field, and trails connecting to Goose Creek Park are planned. There are also plans for a new elementary school (subject to sale and approval by the Davenport Community School District) and a neighborhood commercial center. Home styles are American farmhouse, Arts and Crafts, Victorian, and American Foursquare. Single-family homes start near $200,000, and tax credits and buyer incentives are available.

PRAIRIE TRAIL Ankeny prairietrailankeny.com Since its inception in 2006, Prairie Trail, above, has grown

restaurants, and entertainment are all open for business.

rapidly. Today more than 300 homes line the streets.

“We have a spectrum of offerings for people of every

Sidewalks and trails connect the development to the city

stage of life, including multifamily rentals,” says Ashley

of Ankeny. Three new public schools have been built.

Johnson, Marketing Director for DRA Properties.

Salons and spas, fitness centers, clothing boutiques,

Prices range from $192,000 to $1,000,000+.

a major supermarket, medical clinics, daycares,

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Where the Story of American Agriculture Comes to Life

Dysart Historical Center Historical and Agricultural Museums Restored Country School & Memorial Rose Garden Silos & Smokestacks Area Site An Iowa Great Place 612 Crisman St. Dysart, Iowa 319-476-7345 www.dysartiowa.com/museum

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The Handcrafted Escape Willkommen to the Amana Colonies! Seven charming villages where you’ll experience our unique German culture, savor our cuisine, sip our locally crafted wines and beers, and marvel at our handcrafted products.

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See the Charles City from its early days. Historic displays from a pioneer’s log cabin to Legel Drug Store, the railroad and of course, tractors built in Charles City.

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IOWAN

ICON

JACK TRICE Lineman Jack Trice was killed in his second game for Iowa State in 1923. He remains a football legend. by JOHN ROSENGREN

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PHOTOS COURTESY IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

O

n October 5, 1923, the day before a football game against the University of Minnesota, Jack Trice sat by himself in a room at the Curtis Hotel in Minneapolis. The lineman stood 6 feet tall and weighed 200 pounds — bigger than most of his teammates and stronger, too. Trice was the only black player on the Iowa State football team, the first black varsity athlete at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University), and one of few black football players in the country playing against white opponents. He would be the only black player on Northrop Field the next day. When Trice arrived at Iowa State, only about 20 of Iowa State’s nearly 4,500 students were black. His teammates had welcomed him as best they could without knowing what it was like for him to be a marked man.


There were even schools in Iowa State’s own Missouri Valley Conference that refused to play against teams with a black player. And the Ku Klux Klan had risen to such prominence at the University of Minnesota that it entered a float in that fall’s homecoming parade. Trice sensed the pressure of being a pioneer, poised to either confirm or dispel racist notions. That night in his hotel room, he picked up his pen and wrote: To whom it may concern: My thoughts just before the first real college game of my life: The honor of my race, family + self are at stake. Everyone is expecting me to do big things. I will! My whole body + soul are to be thrown recklessly about the field tomorrow. Every time the ball is snapped, I will be trying to do more than my part. On all defensive plays, I must break through the opponents line at [sic] stop the play in their territory. Beware of mass interference, fight low with your eyes open and toward the play. Roll block the interference. Watch out for cross bucks and reverse end runs. Be on your toes every minute if you expect to make good. —Jack

BIRTH OF A LEGEND

Trice was born May 12, 1902, in tiny Hiram, Ohio, about 40 miles southeast of Cleveland. His father had fought American Indians as a Buffalo soldier, a member of the all-black 10th Cavalry Regiment of the U.S. Army, and died when Jack, an only child, was 7. His mother, Anna, washed white people’s laundry. She sent Jack to Cleveland at age 14 to live with his uncle’s family and attend East Technical High School. She wanted him to be “among people of his kind to meet the problems that a Negro boy would have to face.” Trice played football on several very good teams at East Tech under a very good coach, Sam Willaman, who had starred at Ohio State. Trice anchored the line, laying out opposing ball carriers with his signature flying tackle and blocking for the Behm brothers, Johnny and Norton, East Tech’s slippery backs. His sophomore season, the team lost only once. The next year, no one could score a point against them for the first nine games. In Trice’s senior year, they were undefeated. The big lineman with the gentle demeanor, one of only two African-Americans on the team, was named All-State and left East Tech tagged in the high school yearbook as “undoubtedly the best tackle that ever played” at the school. Knute Rockne invited Johnny and Norton Behm to play for him at Notre Dame. They were white. Trice took a job on a road construction crew.

Jack Trice, fourth from top left, with his Cleveland, Ohio, East Tech High School football team.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Willaman landed the head coach job at Iowa State. He talked the Behm brothers and two other Cleveland prep stars into playing for the Cyclones. He also invited Trice, who jumped at the chance to both continue to play football and to further his education. But leaving Ohio meant leaving his girl, Cora Mae, behind. So in late July, the two eloped. Cora Mae returned with her secret to her parents’ home in Youngstown to finish high school, and Jack headed to Ames. There Jack worked two custodial jobs to pay for tuition, books, meals, and lodging — and to buy Cora Mae a special necklace. Jack’s mother helped by mortgaging her house. Black students could not live on campus, so Jack rented an upstairs room in the Masonic Temple building downtown, two miles from campus. The East Tech curriculum had not satisfied all of Iowa State’s prerequisites. He had to make up the extra requirements; he did so, earning a 90 average. Trice was not only smart, he was determined — and idealistic. He enrolled in the animal husbandry program and hoped to work with black farmers in the South, teaching them modern methods to cultivate their crops and support their families. He planned to put his education at their service in the spirit of Iowa State’s famous black alumnus, the botanist and inventor George Washington Carver. Trice worked out with the freshman team. The line coach, All-American George Hauser, who moonlighted for the Chicago Bears on Sundays, schooled him in one-on-one workouts daily after practice. Soon Trice had become the coach’s equal, and Hauser predicted that Trice would one day become the best tackle in the country. In a scrimmage against the varsity, he hit upperclassman Harry Schmidt with

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such force that Schmidt later recalled, “I’ve never been hit harder in my life.” “Jack Trice, the big colored boy from Cleveland, looked like a mountain in the line, being in every play, no matter whether it was a pass, plunge, end run, or punt,” according to a newspaper report.

ALONE AND APART

Aggressive on the field, Trice was submissive off it. He knew the place of the black man in white society. He was friendly but deferential. He cleaned his fellow students’ muddy boots, sharpened their pencils, and assisted them into their bulky winter coats, always wearing an endearing wide smile. As another student astutely observed later in the Iowa Agriculturist, “He sat next to us in the classrooms, strolled through the south side, attended convocation, worked out in the gym, rubbed elbows with us, but never stepped over the invisible barrier into our intimate confidences. It is only the truth to say that he lived alone and apart.” The next year, Jack returned to Ames with his wife. Cora Mae moved into his third-floor room and enrolled in Iowa State’s home economics department. She was there for the first game, a tune-up, against tiny Simpson College on the Cyclones’ home field. Cora Mae watched her No. 37 smother runners, block a kick, knock the ball loose, and recover a fumble. He helped his team win 14-6, and Sam Willaman named him a starter against Minnesota.

THE GAME

Trice was keenly aware of his place in history. “The honor of my race, family, + self are at stake,” he wrote before “the first real college game of my life.” Tragically, it was also his last.

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On game day 11,000 fans, including 400 from Ames, crowded the stands. Minnesota was one of the top squads in the Midwest. The Cyclones had previously lost 18 of the 20 games played against them. Trice and his team were underdogs. According to the Iowa State Daily, Coach Willaman told his team, “I know of two men on this team who will fight.” He mentioned Trice first. Back in Ames, Cora Mae headed to State Gym, where fans paid a quarter to watch the game’s progress on a GridGraph, an electric scoreboard that reproduced the game on a gridiron signboard. College football was dangerous in 1923: The protective equipment was inadequate. Defensive players used their hands and forearms as weapons and churned up so much carnage that in 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt had insisted football be made safer or abolished. Yet the game retained much of its raw brutality into the ’20s. In the first series, Trice injured his left shoulder — probably breaking his collarbone — on a blocking play. Rules stipulated that if he went to the bench, he would not be able to play again until the second half. He shrugged off his teammates’ concerns and resumed his position at right tackle, pain be damned.


At 6 feet and 200 pounds­, Trice was big, powerful, and — more important — smart, hardworking, and determined to make a difference with his life.

The half ended with the score tied 7-7. The game was tighter than many expected. Trice had been making tackles, filling holes, breaking through the opponent’s line and stopping the play, and generally inflicting chaos on the Gophers. Minnesota stopped running the ball to his side. After trading possessions in the third quarter, the Gophers intercepted a deflected pass and ran it into the end zone: Minnesota 14, Iowa State 7.

THE DEADLY PLAY

The Gophers kicked off, and the Cyclones started driving. Norton Behm caught a pass. Trice went down. Behm was tackled after a 10-yard gain; he popped up and returned to his position. But Jack Trice lay on the ground, never to play again. According to a game summary printed that day in the Minnesota Daily, the University’s student newspaper, that is the play that killed him. The Associated Press reported that Trice “died from injuries received when most of the Minnesota line piled on top of him.” In accounts printed later that week, players said Trice had “cut back to the right side of the line to check a Gopher line attack” and “he crashed into a fast-charging Gopher forward and fell flat on his back, wincing in pain.” Decades later, his teammates and a coach recalled Trice throwing a roll block, a dangerous maneuver eventually banned, in which the defensive player throws himself

horizontally and rolls to trip up the runner. By this account, Trice ended the play on his back and the onrushing Minnesota players trampled him. Did the Gopher players target Trice because he was black? Because he was a good player? Or was the injury an accident, perhaps the result of Trice’s dangerous play? No talk of conspiracy appeared in the stories of Trice’s injury and death that ran in the African-American press at the time. Nor did his family hint at this. No one will ever know what actually happened and why. We are left with the simple fact: Jack Trice suffered serious injuries on the field. His insides crushed, Trice struggled to a sitting position. His teammates helped him to his feet. He could barely rise and stand. He walked off the field supported between two teammates. The Iowa State trainer insisted they take Trice to the University of Minnesota Medical Center, but the physicians there did not grasp the seriousness of Trice’s condition. Perhaps persuaded by Trice’s downplaying the severity so he could return to Ames with his teammates, they released him after only a few hours. Trice lay on a straw mattress on the train back to Ames in extreme pain and endured the final 12 miles to campus on a jolting bus. He was immediately admitted to the Iowa State campus hospital, where three doctors, including Dr. James

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Classes were suspended and thousands of students, faculty, and fans gathered on Iowa State’s campus for Trice’s memorial. His teammates wore black arm bands for the rest of the 1923 season in his memory.

Edwards of the Iowa State faculty, looked after him. Sunday he seemed somewhat better. Cora Mae visited. But late that afternoon, Trice’s breath shallowed and came in fits. His abdomen ached like he had been gutted. A fever raged. The attending physicians became alarmed. Someone wired his mother back in Ohio. Edwards summoned Dr. Oliver Fay, one of the country’s leading abdominal specialists, from Des Moines. He arrived at 1 a.m. and confirmed Trice was gravely ill with peritonitis — an infection that could spread to his vital organs and kill him. An operation might help or prove deadly. Dr. Fay decided to wait and hoped that Trice’s athletic body could fight off the infection. Instead, his condition worsened. Early Monday afternoon, one of his friends, a fellow black student, left his bedside to find Cora Mae. As she later recalled in a letter, she rushed from the cafeteria to his room. “Hello, darling,” she said. He turned his gaze to her but could not speak. And then his breath stopped. Cora Mae heard the bells of the campanile, the campus bell tower, chime three times. It was 3 p.m., Monday, October 8, 1923, and her husband was dead.

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THE REMEMBRANCE

The school suspended classes the following afternoon for his memorial. His teammates carried him in a simple gray casket to the field fronting the campanile and draped it with a cardinal and gold blanket. Three or four thousand students, faculty, and football fans from the town spread across the lawn. Jack’s mother, Anna, had arrived at 6:45 p.m. the previous day, too late to say good-bye. A faculty member sang “Abide with Me”; the college chaplain delivered the invocation. Iowa State President Pearson read aloud the letter that Jack had written the night before the game. After his death, it had been found in his coat pocket. The Iowa State community presented Anna and Cora Mae $2,259 raised in a spontaneous collection “to express in a material way the sympathy of the college.” It covered funeral expenses, paid off Anna’s mortgage, and provided both Anna and Cora Mae with a little nest egg. They returned to Ohio and buried Jack alongside his father in the Hiram cemetery. The Cyclones wore black armbands the rest of the 1923 football season, and Coach Willaman posthumously awarded Trice a varsity letter, which he mailed to Jack’s mother. The Varsity Club hung a bronze plaque in State Gym embossed


PHOTO BY DAN WEEKS

A cast-bronze statue of Trice reading his famous letter now greets fans at the football stadium that bears his name.

with the words from the Curtis Hotel letter. Cora Mae returned from her parents’ house in Youngstown, Ohio, to campus for the official dedication in February.

THE STADIUM CONTROVERSY

Then Jack Trice was largely forgotten until 1973, when a student suggested the new Iowa State football stadium should be named after the fallen athlete. Students formed the Jack Trice Memorial Stadium Committee; student government and the student newspaper backed the idea with a 4,000-signature petition. But when the stadium was completed in 1975, the Board of Regents voted to delay naming the stadium until stadium debts were paid. The Trice constituency viewed this as a way for the administration to wait for a donor to step forward to purchase naming rights and for the popularity of the Trice idea to cool. It didn’t. Iowa State faculty members Charles Sohn and Tom Emmerson kept the issue alive through the student government and newspaper. Des Moines Register columnist Donald Kaul criticized the University administration for its position. The student government raised money to run

radio advertisements. Several Iowa State students paid for a billboard that proclaimed, “Welcome to Ames, Home of Jack Trice Memorial Stadium.” Others paid for an airplane to fly a “Welcome to Trice Stadium” banner over the unnamed stadium during a game. Iowa Governor Robert D. Ray; Minnesota Senator Hubert H. Humphrey; the actors Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, and Ed Asner; poet Nikki Giovanni; and Olympian Rafer Johnson spoke in favor of the naming. Trice was cast as a martyr. Des Moines Register columnist Chuck Offenburger wrote Trice was “beaten to death … because of his skin color.” In 1983 the stadium debt had been paid without a single donation large enough to claim naming rights. Iowa State President Robert Parks proposed the name Cyclone Stadium/Jack Trice Field. Because that name was regularly shortened to Cyclone Stadium, the movement persisted and also raised funds for a $22,000, 6-foot 5-inch bronze statue of Trice depicted as a student reading his famous letter. It was dedicated May 7, 1988, in a ceremony attended by several Trice relatives.

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EULOGIES FOR JACK “He fought harder than the rest of us; he gave his life for Ames.” — the captain of the football team “He was a man of fine standards, a good student, and one of the best athletes I have known.” — Coach Willaman Jack Trice’s statue portrays him reading his extraordinary letter, found folded in his coat pocket after his death. It offers insight into his character and his thoughts on the eve of his final game.

“Jack Trice was an honor to his race, to Iowa State College, and a conspicuous honor to those activities which he participated in. His characteristic manhood and his sportsmanship we admired.” —President Raymond Pearson

THE LEGACY

Finally, on August 30, 1997, Iowa State President Martin Jischke formally dedicated Jack Trice Stadium. Referring to Trice as a “role model” and “inspiration” who symbolized the ideals of “devotion to the team, giving one’s all,” Jischke declared, “He has become a hero — not so much for what he accomplished, because his life was cut short — but for what he represented.” With that, Iowa State became the first Division I school in the country to name a stadium after an African-American athlete — and remains the only one. Trice remains largely anonymous outside Iowa. But he has risen to mythical proportions in Ames, and for good reason. (In addition to the stadium name and statue, two life-size bas relief images, four panels recounting his virtues, a mural, and multiple reproductions of his image and his letter are displayed on the university’s campus.) Jack Trice did not win a Heisman. He did not captain a national championship. He played only one real college game and didn’t even get to finish that. But something to admire remains. That something has made him the face, the name, and the spirit of Iowa State.

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A “fallen warrior.” — The Ames Daily Tribune “Tribute to him, who, in the first fair flush / Of Glory, won upon a fatal field / Fell, hurt, before the fierce contested rush / And joy of worthy battle; fell to yield.” —The Minnesota Daily “A hero with all the blaze of glory and spectacular accomplishment which is due heroic martyrdom.” — The Minnesota Alumni Weekly “While I am proud of his honors, he was all I had and I am old and alone, the future is dreary and lonesome.” — Anna Trice

John Rosengren (johnrosengren.net) is the award-winning author of eight books, most recently The Fight of Their Lives: How Juan Marichal and John Roseboro Turned Baseball’s Ugliest Brawl into a Story of Forgiveness and Redemption. This piece is an adaptation of “A Football Martyr” published by sbnation.com on November 25, 2014. Used by permission.


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Proudly telling the town’s story of becoming the Pearl Button Capital of the World 68th Tri-State Rodeo

Discover the History

September 9–12 Rodeo Park Arena

Discover Discover thethe History History & Industry & Industry Center Center in in www.muscatinehistory.org Muscatine, Muscatine, Iowa. Iowa.

Open Tuesday–Saturday 10am–4pm & Industry Center in 117 W. 2nd Street, Muscatine, IA 52761 Muscatine, Iowa. 563.263.1052

641-842-6176

www.sprintcarhof.com

NatlSprintCarMuseum_JAIowan_2015.indd 1

Vesterheim

Named one of 15 best small-town museums in the U.S. by Fodors, the world-respected travel guide.

Open all year in scenic Decorah, Iowa. 563-382-9681 • vesterheim.org Special Advertising Section

September 12 & 13 Riverview Park

GERMAN AMERICAN 5/12/15 4:35 PM HERITAGE CENTER

Fort Madison’s 93rd Mexican Fiesta

We host family reunions!

NLCHS Haunted Jail Tours

MuscatineHistory_JAIowan_2015.indd 1 5/7/15 4:11 PM

The National Norwegian-American Museum & Heritage Center

War of 1812 Siege of Old Fort Madison

Group Tours Welcome! 712 W. 2nd Davenport, IA gahc.org • 563.322.8844

September 17–19 Old Santa Fe Town

October 31 Old Lee County Jail (Corner of 7th Street & Avenue F)

visitfortmadison.com 1-800-210-TOUR 9:52 AM THE IOWANwww.IowaMuseums.org July/August 20117/17/1559

FortMadison_SOIowan_2015.indd 1


Now featuring Ford and New Holland

We are an innovative visual art museum dedicated to imagination and learning opportunities. 920 3rd Ave S Fort Dodge, Iowa 50501

www.blanden.org 515-573-2316

Blanden_MJIowan_2015.indd 1

2/26/15 10:18 AM

Open everyday 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Dyersville, IA • 1-877-475-2727 www.nationalfarmtoymuseum.com

Delaware County Historical Society Nine Buildings on Restored Lenox College Campus: Civil War Memorabilia. Local, School, Farm, Railroad, Pharmacy and Natural History. Radio/ Dinner Theater 10/17 Listed on Iowa Scenic Byway and National Register Historic Places 563.926.2639 www.delcoiowahistory.org

2300 Grand Avenue Des Moines, Iowa 50312 515-281-7205 terracehilliowa.org

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5/8/15 Prairie Trails Museum of Wayne County

3/12/15 3:24 PM DelawareCoHist_JAIowan_2015.indd 1

Playing is learning! Family attraction for hands-on, active learning fun, inspires every child to imagine, create, discover, and explore though the power of play.

1451 Coral Ridge Avenue Coralville, IA 52241 319.625.6255 www.theicm.org

Highway 2 East, P.O. Box 104 Corydon, Iowa 50060 641-872-2211 | ptmuseum@grm.net

www.prairietrailsmuseum.org

HUMBOLDT COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION Preserving the past for future generations.

OPEN June 1–September 30 Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri, Sat 10 am–4 pm Sun 1:30 pm–4:30 pm FortMuseum_JAIowan_2015.pdf 1 6/29/15 905 1st Ave N, Dakota City, IA 50529 515-332-5280

www.humboldtiowahistory.org

3/17/15 11:10 AM EXPERIENCE LIFE ON THE FRONTIER

HumboldtCo_MJIowan_2015.indd 1 4:36 PM

at the Fort Museum!

Visit an 1855 log home, 1857 Sutler store & country school, general store, cabinet shop, blacksmith shop, livery stable, and more. 20 buildings in all. OPEN DAILY THROUGH OCT. 11, Mon.–Sat. 9–5, Sun. 11–5

Fort Museum & Frontier Village Located on Business Hwy. 20, Fort Dodge, IA 515.573.4231| www.fortmuseum.com FortMuseum_MJIowan_2014.indd 1

3/18/14 Visit Heritage Square Park in Odebolt

3:25 PM

Amana Heritage Museum Exhibits in three 19th century communal buildings tell the story of the Amana Colonies National Historic Landmark. Introductory video. Museum Store.

319-622-3567 www.amanaheritage.org

Iowa Association 60 Museum Iowan.com

12:00 PM

You still have time to visit our museums. Come check out our new statue. We will be open through the last Sunday in October. Thanks to those that stopped to visit. Find us at: www.iowaruralschoolsmuseum.net www.odebolt.net 712-668-2231

SPECIAL ADVERTISING Special AdvertisingSECTION Section


—38th Annual—

NATIONAL Farm Toy Show

Buffalo Bill Museum and River Pilot's Pier Exhibits on Buffalo Bill Cody, river history, regional history and the Lone Star, the last wooden hulled steamboat in the U.S. 199 N. Front St., LeClaire, IA open year round Mon–Sat 9am–5pm Sun Noon–5pm

buffalobillmuseumleclaire.com 563-289-5580

Shelby County 1/29/15 Historical Museum

BuffaloBillMuseum_MAIowan_2015.indd 1

NOVEMBER 6, 7 & 8, 2015

11:13 AM

held at Beckman High School, the National Farm Toy Museum and the Commercial Club Park in Dyersville, Iowa

1850s log cabins, horse-drawn farm equipment, military exhibit, pioneer artifacts, Native American artifacts, new modern storage & preservation facility and genealogy & research center

Sponsored by

TOY FARMER LTD.

For more information call:

1805 Morse Avenue Harlan, Iowa 51537 (712) 755-2437 www.shelbycoiamuseum.org Open M–F 8–4

ShelbyCoHistorical_MAIowan_2014.indd 1

1-800-533-8293 or visit our web site:

www.toyfarmer.com

The AM Iowan ad 2015.indd 1 1/24/14 9:02

6/11/15 12:12 PM

39th Annual

Fort Atkinson, Iowa

September 26 SEPTEMBER 26&&27, 27,2015 2015

Saturday, September 26 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Belle Plaine Area Museum & Henry B. Tippie Annex Come experience Belle Plaine’s history along the Lincoln Highway. Visit the Belle Plaine area museum and Henry B. Tippie Annex. 901 12th Street, Belle Plaine, IA 52208 319.434.6093 info@bpiowahistory.com www.bpiowahistory.com

Camp Algona POW Museum Come experience the story of World War II German prisoners of war held in a prison labor camp in Algona. OPEN weekends 1–4pm April–December OPEN weekdays 10am–4pm in June–August Admission $3.00 for adults Located at 114 S. Thorington St., Algona, IA

Sunday, September 27 9:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Saturday Sept 26 9:30am–4:30pm

9:30 a.m. Fort Opens to the Public With Cannon Drill 9:30 - 10:15 a.m. Open Shooting (Quarry) (Registered Campers Only) 9:45 a.m. Flint & Ste el Contest 10:15 a.m. Tomahawk Thr owing Contest 11:00 a.m. Primitive Bow Shoot 12:00 p.m. Cannon Drill 1:00 p.m. Shooting Contest (Quarry Area) 1:15 p.m. 1840s Kid’s Games 2:00 p.m. Cannon Dr ill 2:15 p.m. Anvil Shoot 2:30 p.m. Judging of the Cooking Contes t 2:30 p.m. Melodrama 3:00 p.m. Bullwhip Contes t 4:15 p.m. Evening Color s with Cannon Drill 4:30 p.m. Fort Closes to Public Las t Bus Departs

9:00 a.m. Fort Opens to the Public With Cannon Drill 9:10 a.m. Old Time Church Service 9:30 - 10:00 a.m. Open Shooting (Quarry) (Registered Campers Only) 10:00 a.m. Skillet Throw 10:30 a.m. Kid’s Tomahawk Throw 11:00 a.m. Cannon Dr ill 11:30 a.m. Me lodrama 1:00 p.m. Cannon Dr ill 1:15 p.m. 1840s Kid’s Games 2:15 p.m. Anvil Shoot 2:30 p.m. Me lodrama 3:30 p.m. Eve ning Color s with Cannon Drill For t Closes to Public 3:45 p.m. Last Bus Departs

Sunday Sept 27 9:00am–3:30pm

FREE Admission! FREE parking Bring the entire family!

• Cannon Drills • Shooting Contests • 1840s Kids Games Rendezvous Days 2015 – The Military Trail • Flint & Steel Contest • Tomahawk Throwing Contests • Primitive Bow Shoot • Melodramas • Anvil Shoots • Cooking Contest • Bullwhip Contest • Skillet Throw

Sponsored by the Friends of Fort Atkinson and the Iowa DNR. • Held with permission of the Iowa State Preserves Advisory Board.

For more information email:

fortatkinsoniowarendezvous@gmail.com Sponsored by the Friends of Fort Atkinson and the Iowa DNR. Held with permission of the Iowa State Preserves Advisory Board.

Listed on The National Registry of Historic Places

Call 515-295-3719 for an appointment

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7/20/15 12:59 PM FriendsFortAtkinson_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

7/6/15 9:07 AM

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

61


from thearchives

Capital City News

COURTESY DES MOINES PUBLIC LIBRARY

Real accounts of Iowa life in the 1800s taken from newspapers of the time

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MAD SPEED

These adders with their additions

RIVER TRAFFIC

(Des Moines) — Some exemplary

and subdivisions have made a pretty

(Des Moines) — The Des Moines City

stage-drivers ought to be taught the

mess of it so that today it can be said

came into port of Saturday evening with

impropriety of driving through the

that Des Moines is laid out with the least

colors flying. This is the first boat of the

streets at a mad speed. Within a few

regularity of any town in the Union.

season and is entitled to the Elk Horns

weeks, two or three children have been

Court Street, at present the

at least. She left Keokuk on the 5th, and

in imminent peril from fast driving.

principal business street, runs plumb

found locks at Croton and Bonaparte

Last evening, a little boy, three years

against the Court House and of course

in good order. Had some trouble at

old, for whom we entertain a profound

ends there; otherwise it might remain

Bentonsport locks, the upper gates of

affection, was saved as by a miracle

the principal business street to the

which are now removed, and no further

from being crushed beneath the heels

end of time. Third Street goes crooking

trouble anticipated at present. She

of the horses. We have had enough of

and curving northward till it encounters

met the Des Moines Belle at Ottumwa.

that fast driving. Let it be stopped.

a fence which some gentleman is

The City brought up about 150 tons of

building across it.

freight, mostly consigned to business

We could mention some dozens

houses of this place.

of other thoroughfares which start out

A PRETTY MESS (Des Moines) — Everything in Des Moines is lovely with one single exception. We refer to the ground plan of the burgh, the thoroughfares, streets and alleys. There are perhaps one or two straight avenues of a reasonable length laid out (on paper)

A. Hine and J. Martin for a daily line of

foot alley before going far or form a

Steamboats to ply between Des Moines

cul-de-sac by being cut off in mid career

and Ottumwa as soon as navigation

by some kitchen garden or residence.

opens. The steamers Clara Hine, Add

Others widen out to twice the usual

Hine, and Des Moines City compose

breadth and then narrow gradually till

the line, three boats well-adapted for

there is scarcely room for a cart to pass.

navigation on the Des Moines River and

We cannot say whether there is

under the management of careful and

any remedy for these irregularities

accommodating officers. The locks will

but can easily fancy a much better

be placed in such condition as to insure

state of things. If anything is done to

prompt trips. Merchants and

correct these reeling lines, it should

business men generally will

be done before the city becomes more

find it to their interest

densely populated.

to bestow a liberal

while all the rest are subject to the eccentric curves and corners given to them by erratic speculators.

Additions … have grown on [Des Moines] like the warts on a gigantic potato.

Arrangements have been made by

bravely but either collapse to a twenty-

patronage

COURT AVE. BRIDGE

on this

(Des Moines) — This splendid structure

enterprise.

is now nearly finished, and stands out in its beautiful proportions to attract the eyes and accommodate the necessities

NO LONGER A DRAG

of the people. It is an honor to the

(Des Moines) — We notice a movement

builder, the Company, and our city.

in real estate, which has heretofore

The following are some of the figures.

been a drag. A. S. Vorse sold to J. Tuttle

The extreme length of the bridge is 642

a house and lot on Fifth street, near

feet. There are four spans of 135 feet

Sycamore, for $1,000 cash. D. O. Finch

town in comparison to the surrounding

each, with 2 double trusses, upon the

sold two lots in Hoxie’s addition on

scores of additions that have grown on

Burr principle, with double arches of

time, at $400 each. John L. Smith sold

it like the warts on a gigantic potato.

21 feet springbolted to each truss. The

22 feet by 66 feet on south side of

Every man who has laid out his little

width of the bridge is 31 feet, forming

Walnut Street between 5th and 6th

patch of ground in streets and lots

a double wagon track. There are also

for $500 cash. Other transactions are

has consulted his own taste alone and

side-walks, five feet wide, outside of

afoot which have not yet been reported.

proceeded without regard to symmetry

the trusses, and protected by hand-rail

We will be obliged to our real estate

or the demands of the portions of the

and lattice.

men for particulars on these matters as

Des Moines proper was a very small

city adjoining.

they transpire.

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

63


CANTINA, WINERY AND GUEST SUITES Seasonal menu, Iowa made Wine & Craft Beer 119 North Washington St. Edgewood, Iowa 563-928-6908

www.caferoseiowa.com

AND .COM

CafeRose_MJIowan_2015.indd 1

SAVOR UNEXPECTED FLAVORS

Hand-crafted beers since 2007

worthbrewing.com

WorthBrew_JAIowan_2015.indd 1

Soldier Creek Winery

®

TAP ROOM HOURS: Wed & Thurs: 5–9 pm Fri: 5–11 pm Sat: noon–11 pm Central Ave. Historic District Northwood, Iowa

3/23/15 11:52 AM

Award-winning Wines from Iowa’s Prairie

Tastings | Vineyards | Tours | Events

1584 Paragon Ave. Fort Dodge, IA 515-216-0987 www.soldiercreekwinery.com 3/19/15 9:39 AM ANNUAL WINE RELEASE & FESTIVAL

5/11/15 9:16 AM SoldierCreek_MJIowan_2015.indd 1

September 5 & 6 1 - 6 p.m.

Enjoy a taste of rural Iowa with handcrafted grape, berry and fruit wines. Free wine tasting. Spacious tasting room. Gift Shop. Outside patio seating. Open-air stage. Vineyard tours availableguided or self-guided. Groups or private tastings welcome by appointment. Call 641-456-2836 Hours: We are open May - December, Saturday & Sunday, 1-6 p.m. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 2138 160th St. - Hansell, IA 50441

641-456-2836

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– townsendwinery@wbfrec.com

Special events on web site: www.townsendwinery.com

64 IOWAWINEANDBEER.COM iowan.com

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION


Complimentary Wine Tasting & Tours Wednesday Wood-Fired Pizza Specials Friday Live Music

OPENING LATE AUGUST 2015!

Sunday Celebration Brunch Swisher, IA (319)857-4300 | crwine.com

SATURDAY TOURS

Empty Nest Winery

PROUD TO BE IOWAN.

Enjoy our fine beers at the taproom in Knoxville or look for them at you favorite store or restaurant. 641-842-2739

1352 Apple Rd Waukon, IA (563) 568-2758

We use locally grown berries & ferment whole fruit for the best tasting “TRUE TO THE FRUIT” unfiltered wines! Come and taste the difference! Sat: 10–5 pm / Sun: 1–5 pm

www.emptynestwinery.com

Get our latest updates: facebook.com/pulpitrockbrewing Twitter: @PRBrewing 207 College Drive, Decorah, IA 563-380-3610

www.pulpitrockbrewing.com

peacetreebrewing.com

PeaceTree_MJIowan_2015.indd 1 3/6/15 1:25 PM

EmptyNest_MJIowan_2015.indd 1

Tap Room Hours: Wed & Thurs 3pm–10pm Fri & Sat 12pm–11pm Sun 12pm–10pm

AVAILABLE NOW Linda Betsinger McCann’s

3/12/15 PulpitRock_SOIowan_2015.indd 4:23 PM 1

7/22/15 10:55 AM

NEW SE! EA REL

AWARD WINNING WINES Wed & Thurs: 3–9pm Fri: 3–10pm, Sat: 1–10pm CLOSED Sun–Tues 17 North Vine Street Glenwood, Iowa 51534 (712) 525-WINE (9463)

R ···

Firetrucker Brewery Ad.pdf 1 3/24/15 albiabrewingcompany.blogspot.com

3/30/15 1:32 PM AlbiaBrew_JAIowan_2015.indd 1

It’s always

A Party

at Summerset! OPEN: Tues–Sun 10am–5pm

Sunday tunes, weddings, tasting room, The Inn, group tours, special events 15101 Fairfax, Indianola, IA 515-961-3545 www.summersetwine.com Summerset_JAIowan_2015.indd 1

EASTERN IOWA

11 Benton Ave. E Albia, IA 52531 641-932-4085

www.vinestreetcellars.com VineStCellars_MJIowan_2015.indd 1

B PROHIin ITION

OPEN: Lunch Wed–Fri 11–2 Wed–Thurs 5–9pm Fri 5–close & Sat noon–close

5/8/15 9:41 AM

L INDA B ETSINGER M CC ANN

···

3:17 PM

5/8/15 11:14 AM

This book looks at the 13 year span of time known popularly as “Prohibition” through the lens of Eastern Iowa townspeople and others. From the farmers who grew the corn used in making illegal liquor, to the bootleggers who trafficked it and the gangsters who sold it, Eastern Iowa saw its fair share! Read excerpts of interviews with regular people who were swept up in the craziness, and about gun battles on two lane highways. Even if you know something about Prohibition, you will be surprised to read how this period in our national history transpired in, and impacted, Iowa.

books

®

Order all Linda McCann’s books at www.iowan.com

65 IOWAWINEANDBEER.COM May/June 2015 THE IOWAN Prohibition Book ad 1-6V.indd 1

3/27/15 2:06 PM


Iowa’s Country Schoolhouses Why do we love them so? by Dan Weeks

The-one room school: pump in front, outhouse in back, bell atop. It is an American icon, a symbol of something great: the democratic ideal of a free education. Of broad exposure to history, literature, and culture for all — even on the hardworking prairie. These schools shouldn’t have succeeded. One teacher — often in her teens — taught every student in every grade every subject. She was also janitor, cook, principal, and lone almostadult in residence. Students often arrived already tired from chores and cold from walking in from far-flung farms. Yet teachers, parents, and students willed the schools to work. “My first year, I taught 12 children in five grades” in rural Harlan, wrote Louree Clem. “1930s country kids were cooperative and unspoiled. They relished singing at Opening Exercise while I pedaled the tunes on the organ. On winter days everyone brought a potato to bake on the heating stove. At noon we scurried for our lunch pails and sat like a big family eating and talking. This simple setting kept Iowa first in the nation for literacy.” Perhaps that’s why these schoolhouses are so compelling: They served great ends with modest means — and they served them well. Iowa is one of few states where you can still find them by the hundreds, standing at county crossroads with one last lesson to teach about what matters most.

MORE ABOUT IOWA SCHOOLHOUSES A TOUR of 160 of Iowa’s country schools: preservationiowa.org

A DOCUMENTARY Country Schools: One Room — One Nation: countryschoolmovie.com

A BLOG Iowa One Room Schools, Keeping History Alive: schoolhouses blogspot.com

A CONFERENCE “Country School Preservation Conference,” page 9

A CONVERSION “Buckingham Palace,” page 18

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Merry Brook School was built in the 1880s near the current Woodbine airport. It’s been relocated twice since then and is restored and furnished with period school memorabilia. Location: 212 Lincoln Way in Kiwanis Park, Woodbine Open: By appointment: 712-647-2593


PHOTO BY JEAN MARTIN

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

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September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

PHOTO BY GERALD L. ROWLES

Township residents built Bennington Township Schoolhouse #5 in 1909 for their children to attend. In 1988 it was moved to Cedar Falls’ Sturgis Park. It’s now known as the Little Red School House Museum and is furnished with period desks, books, a pot-bellied stove, and other authentic details. Location: 1st and Clay Streets, Cedar Falls Open: May 1­­–October 15, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday 2–4:30 p.m. For more information: 319-266-5149

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September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

PHOTO BY DANI LISK

Tusha Country School taught children from 1878 until 1939. It is now part of the Madison County Historical Society. The furnishings and books inside offer a taste of a country school education circa 1900. Location: 815 South 2nd Avenue, Winterset Open: May–October, Monday–Saturday 11–4 p.m. & Sunday 1–5 p.m. or by appointment: 515-462-2134

71


Framed by flaming sumac on a misty fall morning, the Brandon Township School in Jackson County near Emeline is still used as a community center. Location: Corner of County 17 and SW 50th Avenue, Emeline Open: By appointment. Jerry Schau, 563-652-5268 Dan Weeks is editor of The Iowan.

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THE IOWAN

PHOTO BY GARY HAMER

September/October 2015

73


EXPERIENCE Greater Des Moines

Botanical Garden Exploring, explaining and celebrating the world of plants

EXPERIENCE!

Delicious cuisine and local wine tastings! Annual Band Day & Fall Festivals

SHOP!

Small town atmosphere with big city selection and savings! Gardens and Garden Shop Open Daily 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Trellis Café Open Tuesday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. For more details, call 515.323.6290 or visit dmbotanicalgarden.com

OUTDOOR EXCITEMENT!

33-mile paved trail, fishing and camping, Swan Lake State Park Check the Chamber website for Calendar of Events & Businesses! Carroll Chamber of Commerce 712-792-4383

www.carrolliowa.com CarrollChamber_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

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7/7/15 1:41 PM


ARTBOUND

Experience live theatre in Ames with ISU Theatre!

Treasure Island, The Magic Flute, Love and Information, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Secret Garden, and The Birds.

www.theatre.iastate.edu

ISUTheatre_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

7/14/15 9:57 AM

18TH ANNUAL NORTHEAST IOWA ARTISTS ’

• 55 ARTISTS at • 42 LOCATIONS find us on facebook

October 2, 3, & 4, 2015 Free • Open Daily 10-5

7th A N N UA L

Southwest Iowa

Art Tour

Saturday, Oct 17 9am–4pm Sunday, Oct 18 12pm–4pm ©Zack Jones

Connecting Southwest Iowa communities through Art

Saturday Sept 19,10am–5pm Sunday Sept 20,12pm–4pm Gathering Places in: Malvern Macedonia Red Oak Stanton Clarinda Shenandoah

319-653-3782 or 319-653-7547

www.iowastudiotour.org SEIAStudioTour_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

7/13/15 2:58 PM

Glenwood Winterset Greenfield Corning Council Bluffs and many more!

Like us on Facebook @ SWI Art Tour

www.swiat.com

SWIAArtTour_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

7/7/15 1:39 PM

75


flashback

60 Years Ago in The Iowan

Inside a cover depicting a historic home in Bentonsport, the last issue of 1955 featured a surprising number of references to automobiles.

Bentonsport’s James A. Brown home.

Radar speed checking appeared for the first time in seven Iowa cities in the early 1950s in the form of large boxes strapped to the trunks of police cars. Concealing the units inside the cars was considered unsportsmanlike.

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Conrad maintained its summer outdoor musical events by adopting an auto-friendly venue, according to a photoessay.

Whitewall tires, dual exhausts, and a hint of tailfins display the 1950s preoccupation with speed — and the dangers of unsafe passing in the pre-interstate era.

A life-insuranceless widow in a black dress pleads with a man to buy her family’s streamlined car.

A lone gas pump in Bentonsport provides a focal point for the magazine’s center-spread photograph.

September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

77


WINTERSET

It’s all about That BRIDGE

Which bridge do YOU love the most?

www.madisoncounty.com October 10–11 Winterset, Iowa Courthouse Square 9am–5pm daily

Join us this summer for Music at the Winery. See our web site for a complete schedule of events. 515-729-9463 | coveredbridgeswinery.com | Winterset, IA CoveredBridge_MJIowan_2015.indd 1

3/13/15 9:45 AM

POWPOURRI

46th Annual Madison County

A specialty boutique offering original, handcrafted paper goods & gifts made in Winterset, Iowa. 207 N. 1st Avenue, Winterset, Iowa OPEN: THURS & FRI 11am–3:30pm SAT 10am–2pm 515-462-4744 ✺ www.powpourri.com

COVERED BRIDGE

FESTIVAL www.madisoncounty.com 515-462-1185

Bed & Breakfast

Powpourri_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

Discover Something Special

7/30/15 10:10 AM

by Jass

Please join us for a relaxing experience. We offer private accommodations with a sitting room, fireplace, king size bed, bathroom and kitchenette. Wi Fi and Direct TV are available. Breakfast is served in the privacy of your room.

515-201-7720

Pine Creek, Ltd

715 N. John Wayne Drive Winterset, IA jass4llc@gmail.com

110 N 1st Ave, Winterset, IA 50273 515-468-4736 OPEN: Mon–Fri 10am–5pm, Sat 10am–4pm

B&BJass_SoIowan_2015.indd 1

7/27/15 3:43 PM

Honey, flavored honey, lotion bars, lip balm, goat milk and honey soaps, dip mixes, cheesecake mixes, beer bread mixes, & wine mixes. Call us at 515-210-7445 for all your gift giving needs.

www.randolhoney.com

RandolHoney_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

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7/24/15 12:15 PM

Visit the new Museum! 10am–5pm daily 205 S. John Wayne Dr., Winterset

TOLL-FREE (877) 462-1044

www.johnwaynebirthplace.museum

Photo Courtesy of Maggie Ripperger

Enriching the Community for Over 50 Years

2 Blocks South of Square

KIDS CRAFTS • SPIN ART • ART CAFE Open 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. (during the Covered Bridge Festival) 224 South John Wayne Dr. • Winterset, IA 50273 (515) 975-5444 Like us on Facebook

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION


IOWACITYBOOKFESTIVAL.ORG

OCTOBER 1-4, 2015

EXPERIENCE LINN COUNTY PARKS AND NATURAL AREAS

The Iowa City Book Festival is a four-day celebration of books, reading and writing. The festival includes readings, discussions, and demonstrations from a variety of authors. This year’s authors include: Bryan

STEVENSON Robert REICH Sara PARETSKY Tim JOHNSTON

Bonnie Jo

CAMPBELL Rebecca MAKKAI Brian DUFFY J. Ryan STRADAL

& MANY more...

Explore · Relax · Camp

PRESENTED BY

IOWA CITY UNESCO CITY OF LITERATURE

Iowa’s Largest Quality Arts & Crafts Shows

LinnCo_SOIowan_2015.indd 1

7/8/15 11:44 AM

Des Moines, IA – Iowa State Fairgrounds

September 25-27, November 20-22 Sept. 25-27, 300 Exhibitors. Nov. 20-22, 325 Exhibitors. Fri. 5-9, Sat. 9-5, Sun. 10-4, Sept. Adm. $6, Nov. Adm. $7

Coralville, IA – Marriott Conference Center

Sept. 13, 100 Exhibitors. Nov. 7-8,150 Exhibitors. Sept. Show 9-4, Nov. Show Sat. 9-5, Sun. 10-4, Adm. $5

Council Bluffs, IA – Mid-America Center October 10-11, December 5-6 Sat. 9-5, Sun. 9-4, 200 Exhibitors, Adm. $5

Dubuque, IA – Grand River Center

October 31, Sat. 9-4, 125 Exhibitors, Adm. $5

Cedar Falls, IA - UNI Dome

No show due to scheduling conflict. Hopefully back in 2016.

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September/October 2015

THE IOWAN

79


escapades

The Haunting of Ham House Finally, the shocking truth

by LAWRENCE TABAK | illustration by DAVE TOHT

Dubuque’s Italianate Ham House was built in 1856 for Mathias Ham, a wealthy businessman and lead miner. Evidence of haunting, including a mysterious blood-curdling scream, peaked in the late 1960s. I know because I was there, and so was Carol, my girlfriend. The statute of limitations for trespassing has long expired, so I might as well come clean. In 1964 the Dubuque County Historical Society acquired the house for use as a museum. It had both the reputation and

grand staircase toward a murky bedroom. Inside, a woman in

the decaying look of a haunted mansion. Back then, its large,

a hoop skirt held a parasol. Next to her stood a man gesturing

double-door entry was secured by a single-bolt lock. During a

with a top hat. Carol confidently released my hand and

volunteer work weekend, my best friend Howard surreptitiously

stepped up to the velvet rope in the doorway and leaned in.

obtained a key (his father was the historical society’s president).

“Look,” she called back. “These seem almost real!”

Our late-night excursions into the mansion soon became

Suddenly the parasol popped open in Carol’s face and

regular entertainment. Climbing to the cupola was a rite of

the man with the top hat leapt forward and grabbed her

passage for initiates into our Ham House club. Surmounting

arm. Carol let out a scream that would have satisfied Alfred

the creaking steps while a hidden club member produced

Hitchcock. It lasted well into the hysterical laughter of my

nerve-wrenching groans or sent a clattering broomstick falling

dressed-up friends. I had nearly dropped to the floor in shock

past the initiate tested their will.

myself. Even after she stopped screaming, Carol was shaking

Floodlights illuminating the exterior made access without

and laughing at the same time. Her fright quickly shifted to

discovery dodgy. But once inside, they allowed us to navigate

anger. At me. I lamely insisted I had no idea the guys would go

the ornate furnishings and mannequins in period dress without

so far, but she didn’t buy it. We quickly put the place back in

a flashlight, although occasionally someone would panic and

order and scooted, sure that a neighbor had heard the scream.

hit a light switch. One foggy night we even held a séance while circled around a skull retrieved from the Society’s collection in the basement. We were disappointed to raise no spirits. When one of my friends suggested I visit Ham House with

We were right. Years later the Dubuque Telegraph Herald ran a feature on the “haunted” Ham House. Neighbors reported mysterious lights flashing inside at night, and one described a chilling

Carol, it seemed a capital idea. He even promised a special

scream. Today you can find the Ham House on such websites as

reception. That Saturday night, after a seemingly aimless

prairieghosts.com and hauntedhouses.com. Dreadcentral.com

drive that ended at Ham House, I convinced Carol to take an

calls the house a “textbook haunting.”

exploratory stroll. When we got to the front door, I gave it a tentative push. It opened. She gasped.

Well, now you know the truth. The only thing I learned about ghosts there was that introducing your girlfriend to

“Hey, someone forgot to lock up,” I said. “Let’s go in!”

them under rigged circumstances is no key to a long-lasting

It took some cajoling, but Carol had an adventurous

relationship.

streak. We tiptoed in, mannequins casting monstrous shadows.

Sorry about that, Carol, wherever you are.

“This is amazing,” Carol whispered. She became increasingly curious while I grew ever more tense. My friends and I typically ambushed one another just inside the front

Writer Lawrence Tabak grew up in Dubuque.

door, but there was no sign of them. I was jittery as we

Dave Toht is an illustrator, writer, book publisher, and blogger (davetoht.tumblr.com).

checked out the main floor. Then I cautiously led Carol up the

80

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M O C . Y A W E C A R E L L I V KNOX November/December 2013 | THE IOWAN

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