IowaWatch (https://www.iowawatch.org/category/iowahistory/)
Iowa History, a weekly column by Cheryl Mullenbach exploring Iowa history, will appear on IowaWatch on Saturdays. Mullenbach is a former history teacher, newspaper editor, and public television project manager. She is the author of four non-fiction books for young people. Double Victory was featured on C-SPAN’s “Book TV” and The Industrial Revolution for Kids was selected for “Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People.” Visit her website at http://www.cherylmullenbachink.com/.
“Father was a gold seeker, and when he determined to adopt the roving miner’s life he put me in training for rough experiences, for I had no mother and he would not leave me behind,” Cynthia Westover described her early childhood as the daughter of a geologist father. “He taught me to shoot, I could handle a rifle, and always carried a small Colt’s revolver in my belt.”
Loud noises coming from the front of the bank woke John Eldridge and his wife in Sully, Iowa, on January 30, 1920. The couple lived behind the Sully State Bank, and Eldridge didn’t hesitate to grab his shotgun as he headed toward the front of the bank building to investigate.
Elizabeth Carney had a great opportunity in 1935 — a trip to Spain. Of course, Civil Wat broke out there the next year.
“Burlington must not be less charitable and humane than other cities of the state…” Burlington Hawkeye
“The people of Iowa have been blessed with abundant harvest, and the appeal should be generously responded to.” Iowa City Citizen
“Davenport has raised enough Russian relief money to buy two cars of corn. Let us make a better record in Dubuque,” Dubuque Times
Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people. Her work has been recognized by International Literacy Association, American Library Association, National Council for Social Studies, and FDR Presidential Library and Museum. Visit her website at: www.cherylmullenbachink.com
Across the state newspapers encouraged readers to contribute to famine relief efforts for Russia in 1892.
“I have experienced the first real trial of my life. After a few days of suffering our little Hannah died of lung fever so we are left with one baby,” Keturah Belknap wrote in her diary in November 1843 of the death of her first child. But it would not be the last time she would endure similar pain. Three of her five children would die before reaching adulthood. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays.
It’s unlikely most Iowans recognized the name August Escoffier, the French chef famous for creating the delectable dessert called peach melba. But an Iowa couple living in Paris in the 1920s had crossed paths with the chef and had somehow acquired the recipe, consisting of a peach arranged artfully on a bed of vanilla ice cream smothered with raspberry sauce. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people. Her work has been recognized by International Literacy Association, American Library Association, National Council for Social Studies, and FDR Presidential Library and Museum.
“I have never had a sheet of paper mussed, a chair put out of place or lost the slightest object,” said Tama, Iowa, native Helen Jackson as she spoke about the women she oversaw at a munitions factory near Bourges, France, in 1918. A 1917 graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., Jackson held a degree in oratory and was working as a playground director in St. Louis when the director of the YWCA offered her a position in France. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people.
“In my opinion, there is no business in the world so large or so complicated that Miss Millar could not handle it with intelligence and success. I have not met with any one of clearer brain, greater tact or clearness.” A wealthy New York businessman couldn’t say enough good things about Anna Millar, the business manager of the Chicago Orchestra in 1896. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people. Her work has been recognized by International Literacy Association, American Library Association, National Council for Social Studies, and FDR Presidential Library and Museum.
“It’s no place for a young lady,” Agnes Powers’ friends advised her when she announced she was preparing to leave for the northern most regions of Canada in 1929. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people. Her work has been recognized by International Literacy Association, American Library Association, National Council for Social Studies, and FDR Presidential Library and Museum. Visit her website at: www.cherylmullenbachink.com
The Webster City native and former Des Moines Register reporter planned to travel with a college friend to fulfill their dreams of prospecting for precious minerals in Lake Athapapuskow in Manitoba.
“Booze was not the issue at all, it was woman suffrage,” JR Kane, newly elected mayor of Charlotte, Iowa, claimed in explaining his win in a city election in 1922. Women had won the vote through the 19th amendment to the Constitution.
“We start out sometimes and find a body but not a trace for identification. But we just won’t give up. We know some mother back home will be glad we stuck to the job.”
Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl Mullenbach is the author of non-fiction books for young people. Her work has been recognized by International Literacy Association, American Library Association, National Council for Social Studies, and FDR Presidential Library and Museum.
