It was a lovely summer day in June 1901 when Caroline Jarvis’s heroic actions near the Coralville Dam caused her to make history at the University of Iowa in Iowa City where she was a student — a member of the class of ’02.
"The sun-kissed walls/ Are things of awful might;/ I may but look beyond, above/ With eyes that fill with tears." The poet who wrote those words, James Gordon Stell, knew quite a bit about walls and could only dream about the world beyond them. He was known as the “Prison Poet.”
A “place of enchantment” that promised to “bewilder attendees with its surpassing beauty” and “compel the admiration of all who see it.” Those flattering words described the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 or as most people called it — the St. Louis World’s Fair.
In April 1910 the US Census Bureau reported 2,400 Iowa farmers raised over 20,664 goats and kids on their farms. But only 266 of those reported producing goat hair or mohair. If they weren’t raising the goats for the fleece, why did so many Iowa farmers have the animals?
It was an early spring morning in 1895 when two strangers in a buggy made their way into town at Adel just west of Des Moines. By the time they left, two town folk lay close to death and the bank was short an undetermined amount of cash.
Newspapers called her “a dauntless woman in a ferment” and a “militant temperance advocate.” Carrie Nation described herself as “a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what he doesn’t like.”
Iowa painter Grant Wood, recognized mainly for his regionalist style and portrayal of the American Midwest, was born in Anamosa, Iowa, in 1891, and lived there for ten years until the death of his father. For the remainder of his life, Wood lived mostly in Cedar Rapids or Iowa City, and is still cel
Summertime in Iowa means countless community celebrations and parades throughout the state. Many of today’s Brat Days, Corn Days, and 4th of July festivities had their roots in 19th and 20th century events and continue in the 21st century. That’s a long tradition of summer fun across the Hawkeye sta
Farm women in 1876 were usually called “farm wives” while their husbands were called “farmers,” implying they were not an equal partner in the business of farming. But Susan H. Jennings of Henry County was a true farmer in her own right.
State and county fairs have existed in Iowa since the mid-1800s. Iowa’s State Fair was first held on October 25 to 27, 1854 in Fairfield, Iowa, and county fairs existed before that. As of 2014, there were 106 state, county, and regional fairs in Iowa.
Al and Emmet Burton thought they had a thriving little business going—illegal but profitable. But a German tramp who couldn’t speak English and a club-footed horse put them out of business and into the county jail.
It was the Iowa State Fair of 1860—the seventh ever held. The state was young—only 14 years old. The American Civil War had not yet started in 1860. The capital had only recently been moved to Des Moines from Iowa City. The population of the state was not quite 700,000.
