Eagle Grove Iowa

They Called This Young Iowa Woman Plucky For Running A Newspaper In The Late 1880s

By |

“I am strong and hearty, and as willing to work as any man,” Katie Prehm wrote in a letter to the White House in 1878. The Traer, Iowa, girl was only 11 years old and hoped to receive 160 acres for a farm through the Homestead Act. Her older brother and dad were already in Kansas working a farm; and Katie promised they would help break up the land in her plot of land, if the government granted it. She planned to fence it all in with willows. And she had a half peck of maple seeds that she could use to establish a big grove on the land.

Della Weeks

A War Hero in Skirts: Iowa History

By |

When the students of Mrs. Jennie Huegle’s classroom in Des Moines contributed the money they collected at their spring program to the Della Weeks Fund in June 1898, they were part of a city-wide effort to make sure she joined the soldiers of the 51st Regiment. Iowa History, a weekly column, appears at IowaWatch on Saturdays. Cheryl 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.” Her most recent book, Women in Blue traces the evolution of women in policing.

geneology society

IowaWatch Connection: Newspapers, Past and Present

By |

Bundles of newspapers are in the state historical archives, waiting to be preserved…but there’s disagreement over how to do it. One state agency refused a quarter million dollars to do the work. We’ll tell you why, and also look to the future of the industry.

Iowa history

IowaWatch Connection: Newspapers, Past and Present

By |

Bundles of newspapers are in the state historical archives, waiting to be preserved…but there’s disagreement over how to do it. One state agency refused a quarter million dollars to do the work. We’ll tell you why, and also look to the future of the industry.