“Left Canton Iowa 4 Oclock AM April 24th, 1864. Arrived at DesMoin City at 10 PM Monday May 9th.” “Camped by a pond near an encampment with others.” “Stampede of horses at night.”
Waiters in the state’s restaurants predicted unsatisfactory service for patrons starting in July 1915 after a new law was passed by the 36th General Assembly of Iowa.
The Anti-
“Fire! Fire!”
Arlo Everling, a guest at the Saylor Hotel in Harlan, Iowa, staggered from his second floor room at 1:30 a.m. on February 21, 1949. Nearly overcome
Officer Down! The call went out to law officers throughout northeast Iowa. Vigilantes were called out. Everyone was on the lookout for two young men who had shot and killed the Dyersville town marshal on Saturday, March 15, 1930.
“Baggage, Baggage-smashing, and Baggage-Smashers”
A Kansas newspaper ran a lengthy story about the disastrous experiences of train passengers entrusting their bags to railroad baggage handlers in the late
When a passenger train crashed near Knoxville, Iowa, on Monday, May 24, 1909, J.M. Harrison, a detective with the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, was baffled.
Some clues led
The rat, mice, and ground squirrel populations of Iowa were about to be drastically reduced if the state department of health commissioner had his way. In December 1911 Dr. Guilford Sumner issued a statement that was circulated throughout the state. He wanted to exterminate every rodent that potenti
In August 1910 the St. Louis Dispatch newspaper devoted a full page to a “Real Western Suffragette.” The reporter was writing about Carrie Vaughn Anderson, a former school teacher who was running for county recorder in Wright County, Iowa.
Deranged, lunatic, crazy as a loon: Those were words used to describe Mark Gray in April 1879 after he unsuccessfully tried to murder, Edwin Booth, the brother of John Wilkes Booth who had assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
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
“Eugene Ely Fatally Injured in Airship Accident.” In July 1910 newspaper headlines announced the death of the Iowa native. However, it turned out the reports were greatly exaggerated.
I’m not going around trying to get kissed. I haven’t done anything brave. No one but a darned fool would have gone on that Merrimac trip.” Stuart, Iowa, native Osborn Warren Deignan was being modest when he claimed he hadn’t done anything brave. Most Americans in 1898 disagreed with the Spanish-Amer
