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Various Small Towns, Northeastern Iowa
Heading north of West Union, Iowa, there are a series of small towns with surprising large churches. It’s a testament to just how many more people used to live in the countryside, when agriculture was...
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South Bass Island and Perry’s Victory Monument
A critical moment in the early history of the United States, and also the Midwest, was the Battle of Lake Erie, where the Navy secured the large body of water for America from British control. On my...
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Two Midwestern Towns, 500 Miles Apart
The town of Rushville, Indiana, possesses one of the more exceptional courthouses out in the country that I’ve seen in awhile. Built in 1896, it still sports its central clocktower, which sometimes is...
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Gumbo
Detail of Northwest Publishing Company, Plat Book of St. Louis County, Missouri [Page 20] [Malcolm Terrace, on Section II-45-5; Gumbo, in Surveys 1010 & 126. 1909, Missouri History Museum,...
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Metropolis, Illinois
It dawned on me when we visited Metropolis, Illinois, which in no way has any connection to the Superman comics other than its name, that if you have innovative business leaders, you can create a...
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Ventura High School Gymnasium, Iowa
Please bear with me for one more post from Iowa. While stopped in the small town of Ventura on the western shores of Clear Lake to get ice cream, we spotted this amazing gymnasium attached to the...
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House Springs, Jefferson County
I stumbled onto the original small community of House Springs, which is built right on Gravois Road in Jefferson County. Route 30, which is frequently associated with Gravois, has been reoriented to...
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Bentonsport, Iowa
We hit several towns along the lower Des Moines River in Iowa last weekend to examine the economic ties that riverboats once served with the area and St. Louis. The first town, Bentonsport, was laid...
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Bonaparte, Iowa
The next town is Bonaparte, which is named after Napoleon, of course. Many people don’t realize that many Americans admired the supposedly Enlightenment-inspired French emperor due to his conflict...
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Farmington, Iowa
The last town heading downstream on the Des Moines River is Farmington, named after the one in Connecticut. Founded in 1839, around the same town as the other settlements in this area, there are some...
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