Cheryl Mullenbach
Where To Find Iowa Stories
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The Iowa Stories series produced by Cheryl Mullenbach and published on IowaWatch on Saturdays has ended. You can keep up with Mullenbach’s latest efforts on her website, www.cherylmullenbachink.com.
Broadway
Iowa Girl Goes From Funeral Parlor to Broadway
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Davenport native Mary Jane Walsh was 18 years old in 1934 and knew what she wanted. She was born to perform, and she wasn’t content to finish college as her family wanted her to do.
Black Hawk
Iowa History Pulsates With Life
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A new book on Iowa history was released in the fall of 1931, and it was “no drab account of records and dates” according to some who had seen it. The author, Edith Rule, had spent the summer at the University of Iowa completing research “amid the exhaustive” documents of the state’s beginnings and consulting with professors.
farmers
Iowa Farmers and Fence Posts
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If Iowa’s farmers would just practice a few economizing steps they could save time and money when it came to fence posts, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics released in 1910. The USDA estimated that farmers in the state used $1.4 million worth of new fence posts each year and could save money by using more durable wood or wood treated with preservatives.
cedar rapids
Fire! Fire! Fire!
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It was a scene of complete chaos in downtown Cedar Rapids on May 3, 1919. An explosion had occurred at the Douglas Starch Works. Wrecking crews searched the debris for bodies as women gathered outside the gates of the factory hoping for word of their husbands who worked inside.
Iowa History
Camp Hantesa: Oldest Camp in Iowa
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It was known as the oldest girls’ camp in Iowa and one of the oldest in the United States. Camp Hantesa was established by the Des Moines chapter of the Camp Fire Girls in 1919.
Iowa History
The 1938 Maytag Strike
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In early May 1938 management at the Maytag Washing Machine Company plant in Newton posted a notice to employees that a 10 percent pay cut would soon take effect. The nation was still in the midst of the Great Depression, and Maytag families were more than a little unhappy about the news.
Iowa History
Snake Charmer Charms Man
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Ruth McCollough was paid to work her charms on snakes in a traveling carnival show. It’s not known how successful she was at her job. But there’s no doubt she worked her charms on Charles McCormick who came under her spell in the summer of 1914.
Iowa History
Rain and Snow Won’t Stop the Mail; But Thieves Will…
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Maybe rain and snow won’t stop the mail; but thieves will. People who were waiting for articles sent through the U.S. Mail via Council Bluffs in the fall of 1922 may have had a long wait for those items.
Iowa History
No More Alcohol for George
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It’s a pretty sure thing that saloon keepers in Davenport in the summer of 1872 wouldn’t be selling any more liquor to George Cook after they heard about an episode that took place at a saloon on Main Street just east of the Lindsay & Phelps mill.