For our collection items of the week I have chosen two photographs of Story City musical groups directed by Milton D. Mussehl. Milt was born in Dubuque, IA. He graduated from Dubuque High School in 1938 and from the University of Dubuque in 1942 with a degree in music. Milt served in the US Navy during WWII where he played trumpet in the Navy band aboard the US Princeton Aircraft Carrier. After the Navy, Milt taught instrumental music at Greene and Allison, IA before coming to Story City in 1948. Milt taught in Story City until 1960. While teaching in Story City, his students earned many 1st division awards at various state contests and were featured at the Iowa Bandmasters Convention in 1959. Milt was active in the community as a member of Story City Lions Club, Story City American Legion, director of the Story City Men’s Chorus, past president of the Roland-Story School Board, and past president of the executive committee of the Iowa High School Music Association. Milt passed away this past December. Milt’s daughters, Jean and Kris, have donated memorabilia from their dad’s career in music to the Story City Historical Society. An exhibit has been developed and includes his band director’s uniform, batons, a 1959 concert band photo, a Story City Men’s Chorus photo, and a variety of other items. This exhibit is currently on display at the Carriage House Museum located at 619 Grand Ave. As a memorial to her father, Jean had several reproduction photos printed of the 1959 Story City High School Concert Band and of the Story City Men’s Chorus. Jean asks that any musicians who are in these photos or who are family members of these individuals, to please visit the Story City Historical Society located at 619 Grand Ave to pick up a copy.
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Our collection item this week is a program from the grand opening of Fairview Park in 1891. The park is 123 years old this year. As you can see from the program above, the grand opening celebration was a 3 day affair. Each day started out with forming a procession the paraded to the park. A variety of musical entertainment was provided, there was a baseball game each day, and even a lecture by W.M. Beardshear, President of Iowa Agricultural College.
Local businessmen T.T. Henryson, M.O. Marvick, and L.J. Tjernagel were named to a committee to buy the land for the park from Osmund Henryson. With terms secured for the purchase it was up to the committee to raise funds. "Our first 'stunt' was the sale of some goods that we had gathered from local merchants. Shelf-worn goods and goods that had been invoiced since the Civil War and somewhat out of date." - L.J. Tjernagel The sale brought in a considerable amount of money. Voting on who was the most popular lady in the community was also in style at that time. Three candidates were voted on. Each vote cast cost 5 cents. The naming of the park was also decided by casting votes that cost 5 cents each. The three names voted on were Henderson Park, Scandia Park, and Fairview Park. Originally the name Scandia had won by a decent margin. However, the name did not set well with those who had voted for Henderson or Fairview, so the park committee agreed to have a second vote. Many of the old-time politicians in town lobbied for the name of Fairview. When it came time for the second vote, it again cost 5 cents to cast a vote. After the votes were tallied, it was found that the name of Fairview was on every ticket. It was unanimous, the park was named Fairview Park. -This information was gathered from an article by L.J Tjernagel in the May 21, 1931 issue of the Story City Herald. In honor of the Iowa State Fair opening this week, our collection item is a 1931 Tri County Fair pennant. The Tri County Fair was held in the fall in Story City for several years around 1930. This pennant is part of our Owl Country Club collection. In reading the club minutes from Sept. 25, 1931, a motion was made and carried that the "committee carry on the plans for putting on a stunt at the Tri County Fair."
The club began meeting on February 6, 1919. From the Owl Country Club Constitution and By-laws: "The object of the Owl Country Club was to assist and encourage useful education among young people respecting life on the farm and in the home; to develop the agricultural resources of the community by means of club meetings; to teach by lectures, demonstrations and other means, better methods in general farming, stock raising, dairying, fruit culture and other branches of agricultural industry, including domestic science and home economics; to interest young people in country life; and in general to promote the moral intellectual, social and material welfare of the community." Please share any memories you may have about the Owl Country Club in the comments. Our collection item this week is a $10.00 National Bank Note from the First National Bank of Story City. This note is a Series 1929 note which is the first year that notes were printed in the smaller size of today's money. The new notes were about 25% smaller than previous issues.
Prior to the American Civil War, state banks issued their own banknotes. During the Civil War, in 1863, the National Banking Act established a system of National Banks which were empowered to issue National Bank Notes subject to federal oversight. From 1863 to 1935, National Bank Notes were issued by banks throughout the country and in U.S. territories. Banks with a federal charter would deposit bonds in the U.S. Treasury. The banks then could print banknotes worth up to 90% of the value of the bonds. The federal government would back the value of the notes - the issuance of which created a demand for the government bonds needed to back them. National banks were authorized to issue federal currency under their own names and bearing the signatures of local bank officers. Over 500 national banks in Iowa issued almost $300,000,000 worth of notes between 1863-1935. The Higgins Museum of National Bank Notes is located in Okoboji, Iowa. For more information, please visit http://www.thehigginsmuseum.org/ This note, along with a variety of other Story City related items, is a recent donation from Scott Hansen. We would like to thank Scott for his donation to the Historical Society. Our collection item this week is a unique hand painted commemorative sheepskin scroll. This scroll was given to Ole Andreas Tjernagel on his 80th birthday in 1916. Ole came to the U.S. in 1856 and lived in Illinois. In 1859 he bought land in Scott Township, Hamilton County, Iowa. After which Ole returned to Illinois and married Martha Karina Anderson Follinglo. In 1864 Ole and Martha and their son Lewis moved to Iowa and began farming the land Ole had purchased. Several of Ole and Martha's children attended the Sheldall School, and Lewis was also a teacher at the Sheldall.
The second page of the scroll shows the descendants of Ole and Martha up until 1916. For more information on the Tjernagel family, please visit http://tjernagel.org/. Our collection item this week is a cardboard fan featuring Story City businesses on the back and an image of the holy family on the front. "Attend Church Regularly" is printed on the back. I wonder if these fans were given out in all of the churches in town or if they were made for one specific church. Or perhaps the businesses handed them out to customers. This fan is currently on display in our new exhibit on the weather extremes in Story City. Visit the Carriage House Museum to see a variety of vintage swimming suits, coats, thermometers, and photos. Photos show flooding and blizzards over the years in Story City.
Our collection item this week is a program from the July 4, 1894 celebration that took place in Story City. It was an all day affair with a parade, music, speeches, races, baseball, and fireworks. I found it interesting to see how the town celebrated 120 years ago.
The parade sounds like it would have been an interesting sight to see. I'm intrigued by the "Fat man's race" and what that would have entailed. Were there weight requirements? I'd love to know more about it and if these races were a tradition. Baseball was very popular in Story City, I'm sure the Story City v. Boone game that afternoon was well attended. What part of the program would you have attended? In honor of our recently completed exhibit on the Osheim barn, the collection item of the week is this early 20th century corn dryer. During harvest in the early part of the century, farmers hand-selected the best ears of corn and saved them to use as seeds for next year's crop. These ears of corn would be dried on a device like this to prepare the seeds for the next planting season. The corn dryer was donated by Dave Osheim and was used by his ancestors on their family farm just south of Story City. The barn that was located on this farm was sold and dismantled last August and taken to Texas. Extra pieces of wood from the barn were donated to the historical society, which allowed us to create this unique exhibit. This exhibit is located in our Carriage House Museum. Several of the donated barn wood pieces were doors. The exhibit was built on a 2x6" frame and the doors were attached so they are functional. As you can see in this photo, the 2x6" frame allowed us to be able to have exhibit space behind the doors. Several old tools, cow bells, and horse shoes are displayed. The model barn was built by Theroy Wierson, Dave's great uncle. It is modeled after the design of the original barn on the family farm. The real barn was built by Thor Ericson in 1870. Theroy was Thor's grandson. This exhibit was made possible by the handiwork of some wonderful volunteers. We would like to thank Mike, Al, Dwayne, Dan, and Chris for their hard work on this project.
The historical society recently received this certificate for one share of stock in the Visergutten Publishing Company. The Visergutten was the Norwegian language newspaper published in Story City. The Visergutten was published in Story City, Iowa, 1895 - Oct. 17, 1918. Offices were moved to South Dakota and the paper was published in Canton, South Dakota, Oct. 24, 1918 - May 11, 1944. Editors of the Visergutten included: H. Halleland, 1895-1901; Gustav Amlund, 1901-1928; Sigurd Knudsen, 1929-1944. When Gustav took over the paper in 1901 the annual subscription price was $0.65 to the United States and $0.90 for subscriptions to Norway. Photos courtesy of Tom & Corrine Olson.
Our collection item this week is in honor of Memorial Day and all of the men and women who have lost their lives while serving in the military, both from our community and across the nation. Ivar Egenes displayed photographs of local servicemen and women in the front window of his insurance business during World War II. Many Story City residents served in the war and 20 never came home. Including Ivar's son Lt. Col. Hubert I. Egenes who was killed in action March 28, 1944. He was a member of 362 AAF Fighter Squadron CO and was shot down by light flak. Lt. Col. Hubert Egenes with his plane. To view additional photos of Hubert and read a statement about his plane going down, please visit the Find A Grave website: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=102696304&PIpi=72966411 |
AuthorKate Feil Archives
February 2023
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