Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

Bullets Whistling, She Milked Family Cow At Gettysburg During Civil War

"He thanked me, and, oh, he was a fine gentleman,” Mary Wiseman Hindman recalled in 1930 when a Wisconsin newspaper reporter interviewed her. Mary was talking about Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee.

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 28 Oct 2017

Bullets Whistling, She Milked Family Cow At Gettysburg During Civil War

110 Years Ago, When An Iowa City Girl Saves Drowning Friend

An 8-year-old girl was on the Dubuque Street dock in Iowa City and using a pole to test the depth of the water when she lost her balance. What happened next was deemed to be heroic.

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 21 Oct 2017

110 Years Ago, When An Iowa City Girl Saves Drowning Friend

Iowa Businesswoman Identified By Bobbed Hair And Flapper Clothes Managed Big Canning Plants

“People don’t like to take orders from a kid,” La Blanche Farmer told a newspaper reporter in 1925 when asked about her experiences managing a canning factory. La Blanche was talking about her first position in her dad’s canning business.

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 14 Oct 2017

Iowa Businesswoman Identified By Bobbed Hair And Flapper Clothes Managed Big Canning Plants

Back When Iowa Had The Only Deer Farm in the West

In some ways John W. Griggs was a typical Iowa farmer. But in 1909 a New York City newspaper described Griggs’ Iowa operation as the “only deer farm run for profit.”

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 7 Oct 2017

Back When Iowa Had The Only Deer Farm in the West

New Ideas From Iowa Get Big Military Test in 1870

A group of soldiers gathered at an artillery field on the grounds of Fort Monroe, Virginia, on Monday, Feb. 7, 1870. The U.S. government had authorized the Army to carry out the testing of a new product designed by an Iowa man.

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 30 Sep 2017

New Ideas From Iowa Get Big Military Test in 1870

Iowa’s 1880s Big "Beat ‘Em-all Barbed Wire Company" Patent Controversy

“A lot of fellows tried to drive the bull into the wires with him on it,” J.H. Harrington described an incident that had occurred at the Delaware County fair at Delhi in 1859. When a “somewhat intoxicated” fair goer hopped on a bull’s back and rode around a track enclosed by a strange looking fence,

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 23 Sep 2017

Iowa’s 1880s Big "Beat ‘Em-all Barbed Wire Company" Patent Controversy

Iowa's 1920s Populist Congressional Candidate Who Ran On A ‘Mind Your Business’ Platform

Ella Bushnell Hamlin announced her candidacy with a motto, “Mind your business.” And she boasted she was running her campaign “without money.”

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 16 Sep 2017

Iowa's 1920s Populist Congressional Candidate Who Ran On A ‘Mind Your Business’ Platform

The Prairie City Bank Robbery That Ended In An Iowa Cornfield

It was about 1:30 in the morning on October 28, 1902, when Prairie City dentist, Dr. S. B. Gidford, woke up in his room across the street from the bank. As he stuck his head out a window, a “loaded 44-caliber Colt” was “presented to his face” by a stranger who told him his life was “worth less than

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 9 Sep 2017

The Prairie City Bank Robbery That Ended In An Iowa Cornfield

An Iowa Desperado’s Greatest Sorrow

“Aside from the overt criminal acts described and a too liberal use of profanity, my life has been approximately pure and correct,” Polk Wells said from his prison cell at Anamosa, Iowa. And he swore he never used liquor or tobacco.

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 2 Sep 2017

Iowan's Life As Professional Singer In The 1800s: Not All Wine and Walnuts

Experts said Hope Glenn had a rarely beautiful contralto voice, a winsome face and a graceful physical presence, helping this Iowan become a celebrity in 19th century opera houses in America and Europe.

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 26 Aug 2017

Iowan's Life As Professional Singer In The 1800s: Not All Wine and Walnuts

The Time Abe Lincoln Defended An Iowa Preacher

When Nixon “Nick” Denton died in January 1878, his friends in Manchester, Iowa, reminded people of a story Nick liked to tell about an encounter he had with a man

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 20 Aug 2017

The Time Abe Lincoln Defended An Iowa Preacher

Safer In Her Car Than In Her Home: The Iowa History Tale Of Eva Jordan

In an era of “entirely too much reckless driving,” Ripley's "Believe it or Not" cited Eva Jordan for achieving an “enviable record of safety,” having driven a million miles—with no accidents. That's only part of her story, though.

By Cheryl Mullenbach/Iowa History

/ 12 Aug 2017

Bullets Whistling, She Milked Family Cow At Gettysburg During Civil War

110 Years Ago, When An Iowa City Girl Saves Drowning Friend

Iowa Businesswoman Identified By Bobbed Hair And Flapper Clothes Managed Big Canning Plants

Back When Iowa Had The Only Deer Farm in the West

New Ideas From Iowa Get Big Military Test in 1870

Iowa’s 1880s Big "Beat ‘Em-all Barbed Wire Company" Patent Controversy

Iowa's 1920s Populist Congressional Candidate Who Ran On A ‘Mind Your Business’ Platform

The Prairie City Bank Robbery That Ended In An Iowa Cornfield

An Iowa Desperado’s Greatest Sorrow

Iowan's Life As Professional Singer In The 1800s: Not All Wine and Walnuts

The Time Abe Lincoln Defended An Iowa Preacher

Safer In Her Car Than In Her Home: The Iowa History Tale Of Eva Jordan

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